Finished!

So the third Aggie Lichen book is now finished. Hero Required should hit the shelves July 2009 - well, that's the plan. It all takes a while to pull things together, but I feel confident that the date will be hit!

Hopefully, there will be a launch party at my local Waterstone's branch in Sutton. If you would like to come, please forward me your email address so that I can send you an official invitation nearer the publication date.

Not just yet ...

Well, to date no publisher has been bashing down my door to get me to sign with them. I'm not too downhearted as I have many other things occupying my brain at the moment. With 'Hex Marks the Spot' finished, I am now concentrating on the third Aggie book and I'm determined to have it published by Feb 2009. I get a lot of emails from people asking about it so I have decided that it is my duty as a writer to get the book finished!! The third book of the series will be called 'Hero Required' and picks up from the end of book two 'Arty's Revenge'. It's written differently in that I am the narrator rather than Aggie herself. Well, I think talking as a Grublin all the way through would not only be too much to write but be a little onerus to read. Look out for it in the new year.

Possible publisher?

So I now hear that nine publishers are interested in publishing my books. Hurray! And ... Fox films have taken the manuscript back to the US to have a look at. Hurray!

Now comes the long wait - it could be months, it could be years, it could be never!!

Still, I have plenty of school work and writing to keep me busy in the mean time. And - I'm very patient!!!

I have an agent!

It's been a while since my last post but I have truly exciting news! I have, at last, signed with an agent! Suzy Jenvey of PFD Literary Agency will now be representing me worldwide. For me, this means I may now attract a mainstream publisher which will leave more time to concentrate on my writing. But for the time being, I shall still be signing in book stores and giving author talks in schools ...

If you would like an author talk please contact me at purpleraypublishing@hotmail.co.uk

A new world

So I wanted to know where the tooth fairy put all those teeth, after all, they must have to go somewhere! Surprise, surprise - none of the children knew! It was then that it came to me - a world where the tooth fairies lived - Mirvellon. It all seemed so clear. They needed a world to live in, a portal to come and go through to the human world, a school to educate them in the ways of teeth. But what would they look like and what DID they actually do with all those teeth?

The brain starts ticking ...

At first I just started getting ideas that made no real sense. I thought about fairies or Ppfairies as I called them They were a mixture of pig and fairy living at the bottom of gardens. Quite bizarre! But these early images were to have a profound effect on my writing life. As young girl - yes, I was one too - I had always loved fairies and mythical creatures. Then as I began teaching fate stepped in - in the guise of Year 2 children. Have you ever noticed how children aged 6-7 never seem to have all their teeth? Yeah, well me too! I used to get inundated with tales of how the tooth fairy had been the previous night and left money under the pillow. Day in and day out came the news of the tooth fairy visit. It all got too much one day and my kind exterior finally broke down ...

Me - write a book??

I was never really one of those writers who had always wanted to become an author as a child. I wanted to be a window dresser! The fact that my artwork was actually rubbish did not deter me. I was determined to be a window dresser and guess what - at fifteen I left school ( no exams taken!) and became ... a banker!! So much for doing what you really want to do! I stayed with banking for quite a few years and accquired a marriage and two children on the way.
Yet still at this point there was no story even contemplating entering my head. I don't even think I read that much at this point, so what changed? Well, let's just say that after my first marriage collapsed I found new confidence. I started to realise that I could do anything I put my mind to and with that went off to college to train for five long years to become a teacher. Then the strangest things started happening in my mind ...