BarryHutchison.com

I should probably start by apologising for not posting much recently.  Oh, sure, I stuck up a deeply unsettling video of my face stuck onto the scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz, but that’s hardly quality content now, is it?

Actually, it’s probably better than 90% of the stuff on here, but let’s not dwell too much on that.

To be honest, the last month or so has been one big blur of dirty nappies, school visits, press interviews and sleepless nights. Oh, and some writing. Quite a lot of writing, actually, which is probably just as well considering what my job title is.

I visited a lot of schools in and around my home town, including my old school, Caol Primary. That was a very surreal, but utterly brilliant experience, and I left all the kids in the oldest class (Primary 7 in Scotland, no idea what it equates to in England and Wales) with proof copies of Mr Mumbles. I used to think the actual writing stuff was the best part of my job, but the more school visits I do the more I start to think maybe they’re the best bit about being a writer. It’s great to see kids getting excited about creating stories, and the ideas they come up with continue to amaze me.

Anyway, my visit to my old school caught the attention of a few newspapers and some of them ran articles on it, accompanied by the worst photographs of me I’ve ever seen in my life. Seriously, in these photos I look like the Elephant Man after a rather unfortunate accident with a high speed whisk. Definitely didn’t catch my best side.

Or maybe they did. God, that’s a worrying thought. Maybe “deformed Elephant Man” is a step up from my usual look. Cripes, I hope not.

Anyway, between the school visits and the hideousness I got a load of writing done. I’ve now finished and submitted the first proper draft of INVISIBLE FIENDS book 3.  It’s a big step up on the scary stakes and I’m almost certain I’ll be asked to tone it down in places. Still, it’s much better to go too far and have to pull back than not go far enough and always wonder if you could have gotten away with pushing it just a little bit more.

I had some other bits and bobs to write for Egmont after finishing book 3, but at the same time I was plotting out book 4. Now I’m VERY happy with the first three books in the IF series, but if book 4 comes out as good as the outline suggests it’s definitely going to be the best yet. It’s a big turning point in the series, and it’s completely different from any of the other five books. I’m excited about writing it, but a bit scared that I’ll muck it up at the same time. Still, that’s what rewrites are for.

That’s been about it. I’ve got plans to make another video blog, but finding time has been tricky so I haven’t got to it yet. I’ll do one as soon as I get a chance, honest.

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This entry was posted on Monday, October 19th, 2009 at 3:29 pm and is filed under Children's Books, Invisible Fiends, Press. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.