Last week I visited three primary schools around Aberdeen – Glashieburn Primary, Forehill Primary and Hatton Primary – to help them celebrate World Book Day. It was great to meet all the kids, and to see how enthusiastic so many of them were about writing stories. A hefty great whack of them also bought copies of Mr Mumbles for me to sign, which was nice.

This week I have more events – one at a Chatterbooks group in Strathblane, outside Glasgow, and I’ll also be appearing on Thursday at the Aye Write! book festival in Glasgow. After that, on Monday of next week, I zoom off for another event right at the very North of Scotland in Thurso, before coming home to prepare for some more appearances all over the country throughout April, May and June.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. Running events and workshops are quickly becoming one of my favourite bits about this job, but it’s proving more difficult than I thought to squeeze writing time in, too. Good job I got off to such a good head-start with the Invisible Fiends series, or I’d be well behind schedule by now.

Anyway, none of this is any excuse for not updating the blog ages ago. A thousand apologies, and you have my word it won’t happen again.

Very often.

Meanwhile, in other news, over at Tall Tales and Short Stories, Tracy has been giving Mr Mumbles a fantastic write-up. Click here and see it for yourself.

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We spoke about the work I had been doing for Egmont, about some ideas I had, and about a little manuscript I was working on featuring a boy whose childhood imaginary friend returned seeking revenge. At the time, that manuscript went by the working title Imaginary Friends Reunited. You, of course, know it better as Invisible Fiends.

It’s an old cliché, but it does seem like only yesterday I met Kathryn. Prior to that I had tried submitting a couple of manuscripts for both adult’s and children’s novels to various publishers, with zero success. So it’s a testament to the abilities of Fraser Ross Associates that now, exactly two years later, the manuscript we discussed at that first meeting has been published by one of the world’s largest and most respected publishing houses.

Did I think when I started this blog that two years later the first book in my six-book horror series would be on the shelves? No. I hoped so, of course, but things move slowly in the publishing industry (unless Michael Jackson dies, then they’re all like ferrets up a drainpipe) so even with the best will in the world I thought we might have secured a deal by now, with publication still a long way off.

I’ve already mentioned how I owe pretty much the whole thing to Kathryn and Lindsey at Fraser Ross Associates, but my editor, Nick, at HarperCollins had a big part to play, too. There was someone else involved in the book being taken on, though. Someone I don’t give credit to often enough.

Me! I’ve always had doubts about my abilities as a writer. Now that I’ve seen my first book on the shelves, and read the positively glowing reviews it has been receiving, I’m prepared to admit that, yes, I’m actually pretty good at this whole writing lark.

Note the phrase “pretty good”.

I’m not very good. I’m nowhere near great. But I hope to be one day. I feel that every book I write is a little better than the last one. Every time I finish a story, I grow as a writer. It’s cliché time again, but practice really does make perfect. I’m working on the fourth Invisible Fiends book now, and it’s showing all the signs of being the best one in the series so far.

So yeah, I’m pretty good. One day – many years from now – I may well be great.

Hey, a guy’s got to dream, right?

To celebrate BarryHutchison.com’s second birthday, here’s a picture of me with an odd facial expression. It was taken at the launch event held at Scottish Book Trust HQ in Edinburgh recently. Thanks to Chris Newton for the photo. More to follow in a day or so.

Me and Mr Mumbles. I'm on the left.

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On Tuesday I visited St Bernard’s Primary in Glasgow, where I spoke to the Primary 6 & 7 classes. Because it was my first event I was a bit nervous, but I hope I managed to cover it up by rambling on about squirrels for a bit, then talking about the world’s largest poo.

After St Bernard’s it was over to St Michael’s in Moodiesburn, North Lanarkshire. This was a big event, with just under 200 pupils from two schools piling into the hall to listen to me. I was feeling a bit more relaxed about it by this point, having survived the first event. The kids were asking such great questions I really didn’t want the event to end, but end it did – after half an hour or more of book signing!

Once I’d finished at St Bernard’s I was whisked off to Edinburgh, where I checked in to the amazing Tigerlily hotel. That night I met my editor, Nick, for the first time, which was great. We discovered a shared appreciation for He-Man, and I found out that Nick used to read a website I created back in 2000/2001. Small world, and all that.

The next day was just as jam-packed, kicking off with a 3 school event at the Scottish Book Trust. The audience were really charged up and into the event, and as a result it was probably the most successful event of the lot. You can see some photos from the event if you click here.

Finally, after a quick lunch (well, a chocolate brownie and a cuppa in the Scottish Storytelling Centre), I rushed over to Whitburn Academy, the first secondary school I’ve ever visited. Although I had been told, I hadn’t properly realised that I was going to be talking to older kids, so I had to hurriedly adapt my ‘talk’ so it better suited the age group. It seemed to work well, as the pupils seemed to really enjoy the event, and you literally would not have been able to hear a pin drop in the audience when I was reading an extract of the book to them.

On Monday night I was dreading doing the events. By Wednesday afternoon I was wishing I could do more. It’s a fantastic buzz getting out there and talking to potential readers, and I’m not sure whether they or I will have enjoyed it more. Roll on the UK-wide tour (more details to be revealed soon!)

To finish this post, here’s a review I was sent by journalist Jayne Howarth. It appeared in this week’s Birmingham Post, and Jayne was good enough to scan it and email it over. Cheers, Jayne!

Click the image to make it bigger. Otherwise it might be tricky to read…

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All you have to do is zoom over to Bebo.com/invisible_fiends and add me as a friend. At the end of February, all my friends will be entered into a draw to win one of the free copies. Simple as that!

Right, must dash.

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This coming week is going to be a biggie. Tomorrow I hop on a train to Glasgow, ready for two events I’m running in schools on Tuesday. Once those are done, I zip over to Edinburgh, meet up with my editor from HarperCollins – who I haven’t met in person yet – then head to the hotel so I can prepare for another two events on Wednesday.

These will be the first ‘official’ events for Invisible Fiends, so I’ll be talking about how the series came about, reading an extract, and maybe even dropping some hints about what the future has in store for the characters in the story. I’ll also be talking about how I became a writer, and my favourite subject of all – fear!

It should be fun, and I’ll do my best to update the blog and my Bebo page with photos and videos from the events.

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If you want to get in touch with me, follow the link to the contact page right up at the top of the blog, and drop me a line through there.

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Back when I started this blog – 4 days short of 2 years ago – I had no idea if the series was ever going to be published. I wrote the first post sitting on a train, on the way to Glasgow to meet with my then-prospective agent, Kathryn Ross. Soon after, Kathryn ceased to be my prospective agent, and became my actual agent. A few months after that, HarperCollins expressed their interest in Invisible Fiends. Not too long later, they took the series on.

And now here we are. Publication day. At last.

To those of you who have followed the blog right from the start, thank you. Your comments and emails have been a huge boost during those times I thought this was never going to happen.

To those of you just tuning into the blog now, welcome. Join in, comment, argue with me, even – I love hearing feedback from my readers, good or bad, so don’t be afraid to chime in.

And now I’m going to go and enjoy those rarest of treats – a day off. I am not going to write, I am not going to promote, I am not going to pitch my workshops to schools. I am going to relax, and I am going to enjoy this day. The day it begins. The day Mr Mumbles and my other creations are sent off out into the world to stand on their own two feet.

It’s a scary day, but then, scary’s what I do best…

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