World Book Day 2008

It’s a busy time of year for us authors. We dash around schools in our droves looking to inspire people to read our books … and indeed any books! Let’s face it: readers rule the world. If you’re going to go anywhere in this world, then you need to be a reader.

This week I enjoyed one manic writing day on Monday trying to finish ‘Shadow’. It’s being rather stubborn about ending at the moment and despite writing a monstrous 3000 words + on Monday, I still didn’t manage to back the storyline into a corner and finish it off. I’m fairly certain I’m writing the final chapter now, but I’ve already been proven wrong once on that count, so I’ll have to wait and see.

Tuesday was St Edmund’s School in Herts. A lovely school with the most amazing chapel and beautiful frescoes painted along the walls of the corridors. It was rather awe inspiring really.

Wednesday it was off up to Staffordshire. First to Burntwood library where I enjoyed a morning with a group of about 30 students from one of the local secondary schools, then on to Tamworth where I had a similar session in the afternoon for a couple of hours.

Today I went to St Edward’s School in Cheltenham. Big audiences in a ‘Performance Hall’, which was fun. The school was in a state of chaos when I arrived and I felt for the staff involved, who were all working hard in difficult circumstances. The heating had gone down and the contingency plan was to use lots of electric heaters to warm the classrooms … a great idea in theory. In practise, however, this caused a secondary disaster by overloading one of the main power relays to the school! No heating and emergency lighting! Just what you need. Despite all the problems, the visit went well and I enjoyed my time at St Edward’s very much.

Tomorrow it’s off to Prince Henry’s School in Evesham. I’m looking forwards to that, though I’m feeling a bit drained already. If I just needed that one burst of energy to finish the week I think I’d be fine, but that’s not the end. On Saturday I’ll be signing books all day in WH Smith, Oxford and I’ll leave there around 4pm to drive to Coventry where I’ll be meeting up with a crowd of authors for dinner in the evening. Then, and only then, will I get a chance to wind down.

It’s manic, but it’s great fun. Don’t let anyone tell you life as an author is dull and sedate!