2008

1st January
Happy New Year, one and all!  Today sees the launch of my shiny, new blog - do feel free to visit!


15th January
I was lucky enough to see the brilliant War Horse at the National Theatre - a spectacular production that I'd have absolutely no hesitation in recommending to anyone!  You can read a longer review of the show on my blog by clicking here.


23rd January
The first Barnes Literary Society (BLS) event of the year was a talk by the BBC's Andrew Marr: 'Political Journalism - A Proud Trade'.  An engaging and witty speaker, he had much to say on the subject of modern journalism and its decline.  He also shared several amusing anecdotes with the audience, before answering a number of their questions.  A very interesting evening indeed!


14th March
I had great fun visiting Lytton House, the Junior Department of Putney High School, to give a reading of Uncle Alonzo to the Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 children, before answering their questions about the book, My Freaky Family, publishing and writing in general.  The girls were a wonderful audience and everyone made me feel very welcome indeed.  Read more about the afternoon here on my blog.


5th - 7th April
I enjoyed another great weekend at the Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival.  Once again, I stayed in Christ Church College - absolutely the only place to be in order to make the most of everything on offer.  Seven talks, presentations and panel events, along with one carvery lunch, in less than a day and a half made for a very busy weekend indeed - frantic, but fantastic!


19th April
I spent a very interesting morning visiting Shakespeare's Globe with the BLS.  The guided tour was fascinating.  I managed to restrain myself from buying any books in the shop, though - I'm still wallowing in post-Oxford book-buyers guilt!


17th June
My birthday!  I had a lovely day, culminating in a trip to the Royal Academy of Arts in the evening to view their Summer Exhibition.  The pieces on display were not all to my taste, I have to admit, but there were a few that I really loved.


18th June
The BLS ended their year with the traditional summer party.  Last year we enjoyed a delicious supper and a performance from a professional storyteller; this year we were treated to a generous helping of delectable canapes - both savoury and sweet - whilst being entertained by the supremely talented Cameo Opera company.  I look forward to seeing the Society attempt to top this next year!


24th June
With the help of Mr Site (as always!) I have created a website for The Athlone Trust - a small charity I have recently become involved with that endeavours to help adopted children with special needs.


15th October
The 2008-2009 BLS season kicked off with an evening's conversation between writer and broadcaster Christopher Cook and well-known playwright and novelist Michael Frayn.  An extremely entertaining start to the season - my favourite part of the evening was the brief performance of an extract from Frayn's Shakespeare spoof 'Error for Error'!


21st October
Having recently heard about Storyville from another writer, I was quick to sign up for their October Masterclass with Sarah Davies from The Greenhouse Literary Agency.  A specialist in  representing fiction for children on both sides of the Atlantic, she had a great deal of extremely interesting information to share on the subject and several top tips on how to improve your work.  After the disappointment of being prevented from attending the SCBWI Agents' Party in September by illness, this was a fantastic opportunity to get out and meet other 'writing people' again!  An excellent evening.


1st December
In honour of the season, I have just added a 'Festive Fun' page to this website!  Answers to the crossword will be given soon after January 6th (Twelfth Night - the official end of Christmas), at which time the Christmas-themed crossword and wordsearch will be replaced with Alonzo-themed puzzles instead!


17th December
Call me insane (since I clearly am) but I've just signed up to Twitter.  I'm not at all sure why I've done this, since I've yet to decipher the basic functions on Facebook and regular blogging has not become the ingrained habit that I hoped it would, but, who knows, perhaps Twitter will be different.  At 140 characters per update, how taxing could it be? ;-)  My latest 'tweets' can be read on the About Me page.