How Cool Is This?

Being a veteran of one school visit and not having a book to sell, my mind turned to the prospect of turning up at schools when I do have a book to sell but some of the darlings mightn't have the readies for a book.

A book plate to stick in the front of a book was one idea. But I also liked the idea of a stamp.

Who hasn't wanted to work in a post office and slam down one of those important, chunky-looking stampers?

Admit it. The first time they passed your library books through a barcode reader and it gave off a pathetic beep, you felt the slight sag of disappointment. What happened to the 'Kerchunk!' of the librarian's date stamp?

The truth is, we all love a stamp. So I indulged myself. All my children now carry the Mortlock brand...

Winchester Wonderland

The SCBWI Winchester Weekend Conference. Ah! What a treat. I met the charming and very funny Mr Philip Ardagh...

He's also very tall. Thanks to Kathy who is as short as I and had to stand on fifteen milk crates to get this perspective.

But then he tried to drive me into the ground with one blow of his mighty fist. Philip's after dinner speech was very illuminating and left us with a lot to ponder on... not least the wisdom of reading to the public from one's own book.

And then I met up with the lovely Karen Ball, ace writer and all-round good egg. I had spoken to Karen on the phone but not met her so it was great to catch up.

As well as the socialising, there were lots of opportunities to sharpen the writing craft, meet real authors (not imaginary ones) and get books signed (which is fast becoming something of a fetish). Cliff McNish's session on story archetypes particularly set me thinking about my current draft of Book 2!

But I have a confession... during that weekend I fell in love. It was during a workshop about school visits. Our eyes just met across the room, over a sea of heads...

I never managed to get to see Woofy close-up, his minders hustled him away before I had chance but what an inspiration. My life has changed.