BarryHutchison.com

I’ve changed the look of the blog, as you may well have already noticed.  I still need to do a few things to get it looking just right, but what do you think so far?  Better?  Worse?  I’d love to hear your comments.

While I’m posting one video, I might as well post another…

She Farted And Created The World from Scott Coello on Vimeo.

See I usually consider myself pretty creative, and then I see stuff like this and realise I’m really not all that creative at all…

Well, after much tweaking, retweaking and thrice-tweaking, I’m now happy to announce draft two of the second book in the INVISIBLE FIENDS series is finished.

I thought it was finished last week, but I decided to make a few changes.

I was sure it was finished a couple of days ago, but then an idea on how to improve it hit me last night while walking the dog, and I got stuck back into it again.

Today, though, it’s finished.  Draft 2 is complete.  The next round of changes/additions/amendments/corrections will be done in draft 3, when I have had feedback from Nick, my editor at HarperCollins.

I quite like the draft as it stands.  It’s nowhere near perfect, but it’s a lot better than draft two of the first book was.   There will no doubt be another two or three drafts to go before the book is finished, but for where I am at the moment, I’m happy with the manuscript I’ve got.

Nick, of course, might think differently.  Only time will tell…

One year ago today I was on a train to Glasgow to meet my then-potential agent, Kathryn Ross.  I wrote this, the first post on BarryHutchison.com

A lot has happened in the year since then.  I’ve covered most of it over in this post, so there’s not a lot of point going into it here.

Instead, let’s gaze into this crystal ball I just happen to have found, and look forward to what’s going to happen over the next 365 days.

Feb – By the end of this month I will have proof copies of INVISIBLE FIENDS: MR MUMBLES in my sweaty, clammy hands.  It’ll be the first time I’ve seen the manuscript in anything even vaguely resembling the finished product, so I’m dead excited, so I am.

March – The Bologna Book Fair is on, and HarperCollins will be showing INVISIBLE FIENDS.  Lots of foreign rights/movie rights deals either begin or conclude at Bologna, so it could be a very interesting month.  Or it might be heart-breaking if no-one else likes it.

May – Ben 10 books 3 & 4 are released.  Pre-order them on Amazon now by clicking their images on the right of this screen.  That way >>>>

June – Another book I’ve written for Egmont is released.  It’s insanely top-secret, so I can’t say anything about it without risking my life and the lives of everyone reading this blog.  Sorry.

July – Final draft of INVISIBLE FIENDS: BOOK 2 is due in.  I’ve now finished the second draft, so I’m well on target for this.  Assuming my editor doesn’t hate it and I have to start from scratch again.  That’d be a bummer.

August – Start book three of IF.

September – Second child due to be born on the second of September.  Not expecting to get a lot of writing done that week…

October – Possibly 4 new Egmont books coming out this month, although I haven’t had it confirmed yet that they’re happening.  Fingers crossed.

January 2010 – Book 3 of IF due in.  Start on Book 4.

1st February 2010 – INVISIBLE FIENDS: MR MUMBLES is released.  Huzzah!

So that’s what I expect to happen.  No doubt there will be a number of surprises thrown in along the way – both good and bad.  It’ll be interesting to look back in a year’s time and see what else happened.

Of course by then I’ll be living in a palace made of diamond on the moon.

As part of my ongoing quest to physically become the internet, I’ve now signed up to Twitter.

You can follow me at Twitter.com/barryhutchison

If you want.  No pressure.

But if you don’t, five hundred baby seals will die.

Today my email inbox is virtually bursting at the seams with the amount of artwork I’ve been sent.

First in was a jpeg of the cover that will be gracing the proof copy of INVISIBLE FIENDS: MR MUMBLES.  It looks utterly brilliant, and as soon as I’m permitted to post it here I will.

Fortunately I can post some of the other artwork I received in.  I’ll only put up one page for now, but wrap your eyes around this – the fully coloured, fully lettered first page of GANGRENE.

I’ve been clearing out my hard drive today, and I just found this photograph.  I took it last year during a family outing to some park or other in Inverness.

I should set the scene.  It was coming towards early evening on a glorious summer’s day.  We had walked a fair distance away from the activities on offer in the park, and were about to sit down for our picnic when I spotted the object below.

Aside from my family there was not another living soul in sight.

Well the ending I had come up with for Invisible Fiends book 2 was a bit rushed and rubbish, so I sat down today and wrote the ending the story deserved. As the title of this post announces, I managed to write over 4000 words in 5 hours, and have now properly finished the first draft. I shall celebrate this evening with a cup of tea and one of Mr Kipling’s finest French Fancies. Rock and Roll or what?

I was surprised to get the draft finished today. I had planned to do some yesterday but ended up taking the day off to go sledging and build a big snowman. Here he is here with my son and me.

I called him Snowgor, Destroyer of Worlds. My son called him Snowy. Oddly enough, both suit him quite well.

To give some idea of his height, I’m six feet four inches tall. I reckon Snowgor/Snowy must’ve been pushing eight feet. Getting the top half of his body on was a bit of a nightmare, but fortunately we had my son’s cousin, Jamie, there with us to lend some muscle.

We decided a snowman of his scale needed four arms and a scowling face. You can’t see one of the arms because he’s hugging me with it. When Snowgor isn’t destroying worlds he’s all about the hugging.

Oh and yes, I’m well aware how ridiculous my hat looks. I was too cold by that point to care. I’d have worn a big Carmen Miranda fruit stack if it’d have kept my head warm.

After the snowman was built we went sledging at ludicrously high speeds down a sixty-degree slope. It was massively entertaining, although the hike back up the hill didn’t do much for my aching old bones.

Taking a few days off now. Back sooooon.

I’ve been given a nice mention on this blog.  I feel all special now…