In the last couple of weeks I've had two little books published - 'Farmer Finn's Silly Sheep' - a very short story (only about 200 words) for young readers, and 'The Disastrous Dentist' a longer story with chapter (about 2000 words) for those that are Racing Ahead with their reading. Both books have been beautifully illustrated - one by Steve Brown and the other by Ben Scruton. A web page for both of these will be added to my website in the next few days...
The last few weeks and months seem to have flown by. I've been busy writing, visiting schools and doing lots of other things... In the weeks before Christmas I hope to tell you about what's been going on and next year I aim to write at least one diary entry every week so that I can keep things up to date. I know that one diary entry might not sound a lot but it can be really difficult fitting everything in... Lets see how it goes shall we?
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Lots of work to do at the moment and lots to tell you about too but here's a quick hello to everyone at St Andrew's CE Primary School "The Rainbow School" in Hull... looking forward to seeing you all very soon. I will be back to my diary very soon and will let you know where I've been, what I've been up to and what I'm working on right now...
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The Awful Astronaut has finally splashed down to Earth and you can buy the hardback right now from Amazon, order it from your local bookshop and keep your eyes open for it landing in your local library (the paperback version comes out next year).
I must confess, I'm really happy with the way the book looks and feels, It's just what I wanted it to be - a good mixture of information and fun, and it's been illustrated by the fantastic Davide Ortu (click HERE to visit Davide's website). The publishers, Franklin Watts, were looking for stories about quirky characters doing jobs that they weren't very good at. The idea was to show some of the things that the jobs might include as well as the funny stuff.
Sam has dreamed of being an astronaut all his life and he finally gets the chance after seeing an advert in the newspaper. But becoming an astronaut isn't easy and Sam has to do a lot of training and things keep going wrong for him - he worries that he might just be the worst astronaut ever.
I was fortunate to get the chance to write two books in the series - The Awful Astronaut and the Disastrous Dentist. The Disastrous Dentist is published next month and is much sillier than the Astronaut book... I will tell you more that nearer the time.
There are some other great books in the series by different authors... you might like to keep an eye for them in your local library: The Terrifying Teacher by Claire O'Brien - illustrated by Santy Gutierrez, The Calamitous Cook by Rachael Delahaye -illustrated by Janet Cheeseman, The Petrified Pirate by Vivian French - illustrated by Mike Phillips (who also illustrated my History Heroes books about Neil Armstrong & Christopher Columbus), The Not-so Brave Knight by Kate Woodward, illustrated by Yulia Somina (who also illustrated my History Heroes book about L.S.Lowry) - and my Disastrous Dentist which has been illustrated by the brilliant Ben Scruton.
Here's a HUGE HELLO to everyone at St Gabriel's C of E Primary School in Huyton - I'm really looking forward to my first visit to school tomorrow.
See you all soon...
A little while ago we got to spend a few days visiting Iceland.
It was a bit cloudy as you can see from these pictures, but it didn't spoil our walk around the harbour - taking in the mixture of new and old in the city.
The picture below is of the impressive Harpa Concert Hall - if you look carefully you might just be able to see us reflected in one of the windows...
After walking around for a few hours we finally headed back to the hotel and checked into our room. We couldn't wait for the next few days. We also needed a bit of sleep as it had been a long day. One thing you might find odd about a visit to Iceland is that, at the time of year we went, the sun hardly sets at all - easy to understand why it's known as the land of the midnight sun. It's a little strange waking up in the middle of the night though and finding that it's still light outside. On the first night I woke in the middle of the night and thought we'd overslept - but it was only 2 in the morning.
After breakfast the next day we went on a trip to the Blue Lagoon - a natural geothermal spa where you can spend the day relaxing in the mineral rich water that comes from deep underground. It's amazing how long you can spend there just relaxing. The water was very warm and it was a hot sunny day so we got quite a sun tan too. There's even a bar in the pool so you can bob along and get a refreshing drink to cool you down.
The picture above is of the natural pools outside the Blue Lagoon bathing area. The water you bathe in looks just like this... The Blue Lagoon is open until late at night so next time we visit Iceland we plan to go in winter so we can relax in the water and look at the Northern Lights.
The day after we took a coach trip around the Golden Circle so that we could see some of Iceland's famous sights - Gullfoss Waterfall, The Geysirs, and Thingvellir National Park.
Situated on the northern shore of lake Þingvallavatn, Þingvellir (Thingvellir) is the national shrine of Iceland and UNESCO World Heritage Site. It's a very important location in Icelandic history as the oldest existing parliament in the world first assembled there in 930 AD. As well as being place of historical significance, Þingvellir is also protected as a national park due to its unique geology and natural features.
From there we went on to see the Geysir hot springs. The area became active over 1000 yers ago and is made up of lots of hot springs and boiling mud pits...
Others, like the one above just steam and bubble away gently.
From the geysers it was only a short drive to the impressive Gullfoss waterfall. On sunny days you can see rainbows over the falls but as you can see - it was a bit wet when we went.
The final outing of our visit was to go whale watching... I didn't manage to get any pictures of the humpback whales that we saw but I did manage to get a little picture of a puffin swimming in the sea.
On Saturday I will be joining a host of other authors at the Rhondda Book Fair which is being held in Penycraig, in the Rhondda Valley. The event has been organised by the excellent Colin Parsons (click on his name to visit his website).
Colin has been hard at work all year to ensure that the fair is a big success - gathering authors of Fantasy - Science Fiction - Crime Fiction - Romance - Historical - Horror - Steam Punk - Wartime - Younger Children's - Children's - Chick Lit - Mythical Fantasy - Poetry. There will also be an author Q&A panel with the audience. And don't forget the refreshments; tea, coffee and cake.
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... I'm visiting schools in Bolton with the Bolton School Library Service so here's a HUGE HELLO to everyone at Cherry Tree Primary School, The Ferns Primary Academy and Sharples Primary School. This time last year when I went round with the SLS it was hottest day of they year PHEW!!! Looks like tomorrow will be a little cooler and a whole lot wetter...
Saturday was beautiful and warm so we called in at Woodfest in Caerwys to see some of the events that were going on there - like carving with chainsaws... this bear was done very quickly.
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I'm very excited to be able to tell you a bit about three new books that are going to be published later this year with Franklin Watts...
The first book, "The Awful Astronaut" is published on 22nd September, illustrated by Davide Ortu, and is about two thousand words in length (five little chapters). The book tells the story of Sam Jones - probably the worst astronaut in the world and soon to be the worst astronaut in space. Ever since he was a little boy, Sam has wanted to be an astronaut. But when he finally gets the chance he discovers that being an astronaut isn't as easy as he had imagined.
"Farmer Finns' Silly Sheep", a short story illustrated by the excellent Steve Brown is also going to be published on the 10th November. This is the second book that I've done with Steve but he's used a different style of illustration for this and I think it's great. (Steve also illustrated Meerkat's Marathon).
It's a wet and windy day on the farm and Farmer Finn would like nothing better than to sit by the fire; but there's work to be done. He feeds the hens and milks the cows but when it comes to feeding the sheep there's a problem... there's no sign of the sheep anywhere. Where could have gone?
I will be adding a web page for each of these three books very soon so keep coming back to take a look. Each page will include information about the books as well as fun things to do; word searches, mazes and more...
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Last week I had a wonderful time with everyone at The British School of Tashkent in Uzbekistan for a school visit arranged by Authors Aloud. At over 5000 miles from home it's easily the furthest I've ever travelled and I really didn't know what to expect. Here's a little map of my journey...
No more delays and I'm off down the road and at the airport in less than an hour. I check my case in and then it's through customs and passport control with a couple of hours left until the plane is due to depart. Time for breakfast. Full English... (sausage, bacon, egg, beans, tomato, mushroom, little fried potatoes and toast - plus a coffee) yum!
This leg of my journey takes me to Istanbul, Turkey. Turkish airlines hand out pieces of Turkish Delight to all the passengers on board (delicious), and as we take off I settle down to listen to some music and read my book - Rick Wakeman's 'Grumpy Old Rock Star and Other Wondrous Stories'. It's a great read and one that I will be dipping into again.
The flight is pretty smooth and we touch down in Istanbul at 17.00 they are two hours ahead of British Summertime so it's taken about four hours to get here.Istanbul Airport is big and busy... its also very warm. I'm not here long though as my next flight leaves in just over an hour.
Another smooth flight though not quite as much room as last time as the people next to me keep wanting to get up and sit down. I listen to my Ipod (Tom Hanks and then Francesca Simon @Simon_Francesca on Desert Island discs... I also watch Jack Black playing R.L. Stein in Goosebumps (a good fun film).
We touch down it Tashkent, Uzbekistan at 1.05 in the morning... (another two hours ahead of Great Britain so four hours ahead altogether. It takes quite a while to get through customs and passport control but I eventually meet the driver who is going to be dropping off at the hotel. A relief to know I don't have to make my own way there. By the time I get to my room, unpack and get into bed it's after three in the morning - my alarm is set for seven as I will need to get up, shower, have breakfast (cold meats, cheese, bread, olives and other delicious things) and meet the driver again... he has the unfortunate job of taking me to and from school all week. I love driving but wouldn't want to have had to drive myself this week. Drivers in Tashkent have 'an interesting' way of navigating the roads so I was glad of his expertise.
That day is the start of Book Week and everyone gathers in the auditorium for a fun assembly and book quiz. Almost everyone is wearing their pyjamas and carrying a cuddly toy and their favourite book. It's great to see that all of the teachers have their favourite books too (and pyjamas). The teacher's show their favourite books and tell everyone a bit about them... a great way to get children interested in reading is showing how interested in reading you are too. I have the copy of Flat Stanley with me that I had when I was in Primary School and tell everyone a bit about it.
I love the handy seats in on of the libraries...
I'm in school all week and it is a great experience. I get to share stories with everyone, talk about what I do as an author and also try and show everyone how I come up with ideas for stories. Everyone is keen, interested and eager to talk about their favourite books and to show me what they have been doing in class.
As it's Book Week, every class has decorated their classroom doors with a book theme, and they are fantastic. Here's just a few of them.
Above you can see Anthony Brown's Café door and David Walliams' Billionaire Boy and below is pre Nursery's Dear Zoo (the boxes oven up just like in the book to reveal the animal that's inside. there are lots of other great doors and I will post pictures of those later in the week.
It's another long flight back home so I read Harlen Coben's excellent thriller 'Fool Me Once', watched Kung Fu Panda 2, listened to lots of music and more Desert Island Discs on my Ipod - Stephen King, Dawn French, Jack Dee, Stephen Fry - and listened to Rhod Gilbert and Alan Davies talk about the way they write their comedy. By the time I got home it was about 5 o'clock and I was worn out... It had been a long day.
I had a fantastic week with everyone at the British School of Tashkent - I made lots of new friends their and had lots of fun. Huge thanks to everyone for looking after me and making me feel so very welcome. Hopefully I will be able to go back again... Take care everyone - have fun reading, and keep in touch.
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This week I'm at the British School of Tashkent in Uzbekistan. I'm having a great time with everyone and will be writing about it all when I get back home...
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Click here to go and visit my web page all about Just Like Me! The page isn't quite finished yet so please keep coming back for another look... I'm working on it right now.
I've not had chance to write anything in my diary over the last few weeks but I just wanted to say a huge HELLO to everyone at Willows Primary School in Manchester - I can't wait to meet everyone today.
I'm up early this morning doing a bit of writing before I head off out... Just enough time here to say a quick hello to everyone that's coming along to Workington Library, Carlisle Library, Barrow Island Primary School, Flint Library (Croes Atti School and St Mary's School), Buckley Library (Westwood CP School), Mold Library (Bryn Gwalia), Holywell Library (St Winifred's School) and to everyone at Tonge Moor Junior School... See you all soon.
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Having a mad busy time at the moment visiting schools and libraries all across the country. Yesterday was lots of fun with my Key Stage 2 friends at Eveswell Primary School in Newport, and today I'm back there to see everyone in Key Stage 1... it always a pleasure visiting the school and seeing everyone so here's a BIG HELLO to you all. On Monday I was at Daisy Hill, Bolton with everyone at St James Daisy Hill, and tomorrow I will be at Waterfoot Primary School in Rochdale - I'm looking forward to meeting everyone...
As well as all the book week fun I've been busy writing late into the night, but despite all this we still managed to find time to go and see the excellent James Morrison in concert in Rhyl. Rhyl Pavilion is a small venue so it makes for a really intimate concert.
James Morrison has a great rock n soul voice and it was fantastic to see him perform a mixture of old favourites as well as songs from his brilliant new album.
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Up bright and early today - though not very bright as it feels like the middle of the night... Today I'm off to spend a day with everyone at St Edmund and St John C of E Primary School in Dudley - so here's a BIG HELLO to everyone there.
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I hope you're enjoying the half term holidays... I've had a busy time since Christmas and things are just going to get busier so I thought I' d take this chance to write a little bit in my diary.
My two latest little books were published by the wonderful people at Franklin Watts a couple of days ago. Meerkat's Marathon and Hippo's High Dive. Both of the books form part of a little six book series themed around animals in the Olympic Games - two books are written by me and the other four have been written by other authors... There are only around 200 words in each of the books so they are quite short but the illustrations are great and I think they are a lot of fun.
Meerkat's Marathon has been illustrated by a brilliant new illustrator called Steve Brown. This was only Steve's second book but I think you will agree he's made a brilliant job of it. I'm delighted that Steve is illustrating another one of my stories at the moment (more about that later)... I think he's going to be a really big name in the children's book world in the future so it's great to have the chance to work with him. You can find out more about Steve by visiting his website HERE.
You can find out more about Meerkat's Marathon and Hippo's High Dive by clicking HERE... you can also print off some fun things to do.
I had a great time last week with everyone at Hadnall Primary School near Shrewsbury - followed by a long drive down to Edgware where I spent a day at The Orion Primary School for part of their wonderful Word Up Festival. I hope everyone enjoyed the day as much as I did...
After leaving The Orion Primary School I had a short drive (though it took ages) down to Wimbledon ready to visit the Ursuline Preparatory School for Girls.
It was fantastic meeting everyone and coming up with story ideas... lots of great questions and I even got to see a fox snoozing in the sun. You can see him at the top of the page...
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The weeks since Christmas seem to have whizzed by and it's hard to believe February is already here. In the last few weeks I've been busy working on a story about an Awful Astronaut, visiting schools, catching up with all my letters and paperwork, and lots more.
Last week I visited Bowlee Park Primary School in Bolton, Black Lane Primary School in Wrexham, Byron Primary School in Bradford and Westbury School in Nottingham - a really good few days sharing stories and talking about writing.
This week I will be visiting Woodbank Primary School in Bury, Hadnall Primary School in Shrewsbury, Orion Primary School in Edgware and Ursuline Prep School in Wimbledon... I really looking forward to meeting everyone... See you all soon.
I've had a great time this year visiting schools and libraries all over the place and I'm really looking forward to visiting more in the New Year. There's going to be lots of travelling involved... but there's also going to be a lot more writing done in 2016.
There's a few little books due to be published in the early part of 2016 and I will tell you more about those in January. Have a lovely Christmas and a very Happy New Year...
Keep on coming to visit my diary as I will be posting a lot more in the New Year.... news of what I'm doing and what I'm working on.
I've even got a story to be getting on with over Christmas... It's like having homework!!!
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Yesterday I had lots of fun meeting and working with everyone at Ysgol Llanddulas and hopefully I will be seeing everyone again rally soon. There were some great story ideas and lots of great questions... It only took me half an hour to drive to school as it is only about 34 miles from where we live but not all schools I visit are as close to home.
Last week I was more than 650 miles from home visiting schools in Switzerland. It took me a lot longer to get there...
I was up early on Monday morning putting my bags into the car and then driving down the motorway to Manchester airport so I could catch the morning flight to Geneva. It was a wet and windy Manchester morning as I boarded the Easy Jet flight.
Once in the air, the plane soared above the clouds and into bright sunshine at a height of over 37,000 feet. From up there the world looks very different.
The flight only takes about an hour and a half so there was just time for a cup of coffee and a little read of my book before were we flying over Lake Geneva and touching down in Switzerland where the sun was shining brightly and it was very warm.
From there I collected my suitcase, made my way down to the railway station and caught a train to Aigle, a small town at the far end of Lake Geneva. The railway line runs along the side of the lake and it seems strange being on a train for so long (an hour and twenty minutes) and still having the lake by the side of you... but then the Lake Geneva is about 45 miles in length.
I arrived in Aigle sometime after 5pm where I was met by Marco, a mini bus driver from the school that I would be visiting the next day. Marco drove me up into the mountains to the village of Villars-sur-Ollon and dropped me off at the hotel where I would be spending the night.
The hotel would be a perfect place to stay for a skiing holiday but there was no snow around last week (except on the highest mountains). After unpacking my case I went for a little wander around the town and picked up a pizza for tea... Delicious!
The next morning I was up early, took this picture of the view from my window and went downstairs for breakfast (fresh, crusty bread, Swiss cheese, salami, ham, coffee and fresh orange Yum!) At eight o'clock I was picked up from the hotel and driven up to La-Garenne International Bilingual School for an early start.
It was fantastic meeting everyone at school and I was made to feel extremely welcome by all of the children and teachers... The school itself looks very different to schools here in the UK as you can see from this picture of a couple of the school buildings...
The views from the classrooms were beautiful too. It's hard to imagine how anyone gets any work done.
The school day flew by even though its a much longer day than we have here and, after a great time sharing stories and talking about writing, I was soon waiting for a bus to take me back down the mountain to Aigle. I was on the bus by five o'clock and winding my way down the narrow road. Forty-five minutes later I was on the train to Nyon, then an hour or so later was jumping into a taxi for a short ride to my next hotel. It was just after 7 o'clock in the evening when I finally flopped onto my bed - Phew! it had been a long day but lots of fun.
Another early start on Wednesday with a coffee and a croissant for breakfast before being picked up and taken to see the wonderful infants at College Champittet in Nyon. The school is only open in the morning so I had the afternoon free.
There wasn't much to see by the hotel I was staying in but one of the teachers kindly drove me up the mountain to look at the amazing view... and it was well worth the trip. This picture was taken from high up on the mountain where you might normally get a good view of Lake Geneva, however, the lake and the surrounding towns and villages were overcast with clouds. After driving up through the clouds though there was a fantastic view. It looked as if a sea of clouds had covered the lake with only the Alps towering above on the other side of the lake. There was even a good view of Mont Blanc covered in snow.
to my beautiful lady, Vicky.
Today is our 3rd Wedding Anniversary and rather than writing about my writing... I wanted to say how lucky I am to have this wonderful lady in my life and to let everyone know how happy I am am that she is my wife.
I love you with all of my heart Vicky - Truly, Madly, Deeply.
Forever yours...
Damian
...looking forward to meeting eager readers from St Begh's Catholic Junior School and Monkwray Junior School this morning - and St Patrick's R C Junior School this afternoon in the library...
Now it's time for some breakfast :-)
See you all soon.
A busy working today but I'm really looking forward to meeting everyone that's coming along to the Buzz About Reading Festival tomorrow... and everyone that's coming to the libraries on Thursday. I'm looking forward to sharing stories and having lots of fun. Make sure you come over and say hello...
This week I've been working on a new picture book story. It's been bubbling around in my head for a little while now so the story is flowing nicely. I still need to change the name of one of the characters though. Still not quite sure what to call him.
My fingers are still crossed as I wait to hear final word on some Twisted Fairy Tales that I have been sending to my editor over the last couple of weeks or so... I'm very much hoping that one or two will go down well and get published.
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Lots of writing and other bits and pieces to get done today but before I get started here's a BIG HELLO to everyone at Thornhill Junior and Infant School in Dewsbury...
I hope you are all having a great book week.
See you all very soon.
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Just a very quick post here to let you see the covers of three new books that will be coming out for young readers early next year... it's always exciting when new books are going to be published.
To coincide with the 2016 Olympic Games there are two Animal Olympic stories: Meerkat's Marathon and Hippo's High Dive.
Meerkat's Marathon has been wonderfully illustrated by Steve Brown, and Hippo's High Dive by Andrew Painter. Both of the artists have great individual styles which suit the stories very well and give them both a different, fun feel which I love.
I have added web pages for both of the Animal Olympic titles to my site which include information about each book and some fun things to do like crosswords, word searches and colouring sheets. Click on HERE to go there now.
The third new book is called Just Like Me! a very short story with around 50 words. So far I have seen the cover and some of the rough artwork... but it's already looking like a lot of fun. This is still being illustrated by two illustrators - Federica Muccio and Roberta Vottero at the moment so the web page isn't quite ready. It's interesting that there are two people working together to do the illustrations but then the story itself was created by me and my wife Vicky... so it's taken 4 people to make this little book...
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Here's a really BIG HELLO to everyone at Garswood Primary School. I'm really looking forward to meeting you all very soon. I've got lots of stories to share and lots to tell you about... and I'm really excited about creating some new story ideas with you and answering all of your questions....
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