t's an early Sunday morning in September. Outside is misty and grey. So far I have:

• Had my first cup of tea – which I didn't finish because I saw an earwig crawling close to the base of the cup and it put me off.
• Finished reading Johnny and the Dead by Terry Pratchett. I was able to do this easily because the earwig had already been dispatched to the garden and Terry Pratchett makes me laugh.
• Pondered whether to go back to bed or not.
• Tried to finish my application to be included on the new contact an author website (www.contactanauthor.co.uk) but couldn't because I can't get a cursor on one of the sections. It should be up soon which means schools have another way of contacting me for bookings and appearances (see School Visits page)
• Had a look at the next section of my book and closed it again. I am not in a writing frame of mind yet. As I mentioned last time, I have started this book again and it is going to be a corker when it is finished but it needs my full attention and I am not in a full attention kind of mood. Instead I shall update my diary and tell you what I've been up to since my last entry.

As you can see these are for the younger end of the market. The Worst Ghost of All and The Blue Bog Baby are part of the OUP Trackers series for struggling readers. The idea for Worst Ghost came from a few years ago when I taught a ten-year old boy called Martin. He used to come to me for private tuition because his reading and writing were poor and his parents were worried about him. Martin loved the Goosebumps books but couldn't read them so I write a story for him and this is the modified version of that. Martin was like many children I came across as a teacher – bright as a button but his brain just couldn't decipher all those horrible letters and combinations of letters that went on to become words.

I hope the Trackers series really takes off and helps readers like Martin to make sense of the written word. A world without reading is one just too awful to contemplate.

For more information about Trackers check out the website on www.OxfordPrimary.com and go to the Special Needs page or phone Oxford Primary care-line on 01865-353881. The books can be bought as part of a pack or as individual titles.

Stinky Street (ISBN 978-0-19-9113552) comes from another OUP range – Tree Tops. These books are for emergent readers. Stinky Street is Stage 11 for 7-8 year olds. It's a cute story, in my humble opinion, about a boy who doesn't want to move house and the lengths he goes to in order to prevent buyers wanting it – sticking fish down the back of radiators, for example.

One of the names I used in Stinky Street – Josh Barratt – is a real boy. I rarely use real names but in this instance I was asked to donate something 'unusual' for a charity fundraising event and offered to name a character in one of my books after a person of the bidder's choice as the prize. Josh's mum and dad won. I just hope the real Josh doesn't mind what the fictional Josh gets up to!

The American version of Starring Alex from the After School Club series is out now. Simon & Schuster US renamed the series 'the girls of avenue z'. I noticed they have also changed the bit on the front from 'Starring Alex… as the girl with the voice of an angel who can also be a little devil too' to: '…whose wings need to be clipped'. Bright cover, though!

Last term's school visits seem so long ago but hello again to all the girls I met at Turves Green Girls' School near Birmingham, the schools who came to see me as part of the BirminghamYoung Readers festival at Kent's Moat Library and Weoley Castle Library and to all the schools who came to see me as part of the Lancashire Library Services Shout About Books event in June.

I spent two gloriously sunny days in Lancashire libraries and venues large and small (Savick, Fulwood, Reed libraries and Mellor Village Hall). I had a great time at all these events. What is so stimulating is that no two audiences are the same, which means I can never rest on my laurels! No two librarians are the same, either. All of them work so hard in encouraging children to read and organising the author visits but a special mention to Alison Turner and Paul Robinson at Lancashire Library Services. They both go that extra mile and I always feel so welcome when I am invited to take part in Shout About Books.

I ended the academic year with my follow up session with primary school teachers at Ruthin Library in North Wales. Oh, they had worked hard in the five weeks since I met them! Their classes had produced some fantastic writing based on either the after school club books or a short piece I wrote in the OUP Voyage series called The Do-it-Yourself story. In fact, the stuff was so good I am going to get a new section on this website for children's writing up and running. So watch this space.

At the beginning of August I went on holiday with my family to Italy. We stayed in St Agnelo, near Sorrento, for four days and Rome for three. I still have the midge bites on my legs to prove it! Boy, was it hot and our hotel in Rome was a bit dodgy to say the least but what an incredible country. I have never been before but I'll definitely go back.

The most recent 'writing' thing I have been up to, apart from actually writing, is spending two days with the SAS (Scattered Authors' Society). As writers tend to work in isolation this is the nearest we get to an office party. We come from all corners of the British Isles to chat, exchange ideas and drink tea. It still gives me a boost at breakfast to ask a Carnegie Medal winner to pass me the toast! Writers I hadn't met before included the poet Wes Magee (funny guy) and picture book writer Miriam Moss (good taste in clothes).

Loads!

As I mentioned earlier, Terry Pratchett. I can't believe I've reached fifty and not discovered him before! I think the a-bit-too-fantasy-for-my-liking Discworld covers always put me off before.

I started with Maurice and the Amazing Rodents then went on to The Wee Free Men and finished with Johnnie and the Dead. Pratchett's the man! So funny and he hits just the right tone for children. We're not worthy!

What else? In adult books I started Jodi Picoult's Vanishing Acts but only got as far as the first chapter. It just didn't grab me. I then got half way through Bret Easton Ellis's The Rules of Attraction. I liked his fast pace and multi narrative style but I just didn't feel enough for the characters which is my problem not Ellis's. Sorry, Bret and Jodi. No disrespect intended and long may you prosper. I enjoyed Stephen King's quartet of novellas 'Different Seasons' especially as it contained The Body on which the classic buddy film Stand by Me was based. Robert Harris's 'Pompeii' was great as a follow up to my visit to that destroyed Roman city by adding that human element.

My favourite adult read over the holiday – which is in the adult section but could also be a children's book – was The Princess Bride by William Goldman. I saw the film version of this a few years ago and thought it was hilarious but I didn't realise it was a book until I was browsing in Borders and found it. Better still, the opening pages talked about a teacher called Miss Roginski. That sent shivers down my spine as my maiden name was Rojinsky and I too, was a teacher! Weird. The Princess Bride is not a spoof exactly but gives a really original twist to the traditional quest story where the handsome guy sees to rescue the Princess. It is funny, moving, cleverly written (the story within a story is a genius ploy). If you thought Shrek was cleverly done, read this!

A few things in the pipeline, though my priority is to get on with my teen book. I have a title now and know exactly where I'm going with my story but I won't say too much in case it all goes horribly wrong, like when I try to make Yorkshire puddings.

Forthcoming events include:

Phew! Well that's it! The fog has cleared. It's a sunny day! Time for a cup of coffee methinks.

Until next time, happy reading...