Yesterday I was doing my stuff at The Marlborough School, in Oxfordshire. It was my second visit to the school, and a fantastic day – every bit as good as the first one, maybe even better!

To my great glee and delight, Marlborough’s awesome librarian Alicia Marshall had invited me back for three double sessions – of an hour and a half each – to speak to the whole of Year 8. Now: I don’t normally speak for that long at a stretch, but all sixty students in each group were so attentive, and their questions so good, that the time zipped past just fine. There were just two minor hitches…

In the first session, a member of the audience got a terrible nosebleed and had to rush from the room: I hear she’s fine, no worries, but a casualty in one of my audiences was sort of an unwelcome first for me! And in the third session, my rambling was suddenly interrupted by some ominous DONK DONK DONK-ing sounds coming from the library ceiling.

The culprit turned out to be a crow, pecking on one of the skylights as if trying to get our attention. Well, it worked. Initially I thought that maybe the bird was signalling approval of how the day had been going: appreciative reactions to my work are always welcome, from all species, so I felt kind of pleased. But the true nature of this corvid’s feelings about my bletherings was about to become all too clear. Abruptly the young lady sitting beneath the skylight looked down at me with a terrible look of horror and disgust.

‘What?’ I said. ‘What’s happened?’

‘It pooed,’ she said.

Well, I’m glad I got a better reception from Marlborough’s students than I did from its bird population! ;p

Today’s big Guestbook shout goes out to Katherine, who asks: Why did you want to write?

Hi, Katherine! Thanks for your question.

The reason I wanted to write is the same reason I’m still writing – the reason that being a published author is my dream, and I’m pedalling to keep up with it as fast as I can: I write because I love it.

I love imagining things – making up fantastical situations, characters, stories and, heh, monsters!

I love the way that there’s always something new to learn about writing – new skills and techniques to develop and, one day (I hope, if I’m lucky and work hard enough), to master.

Best of all, I love the effect that good books have on me – and the tantalizing prospect of one of my stories having that effect on someone else.

Writing suits me. It gives me things that seem worth hanging big chunks of my life on. For anyone reading this, I hope you find something that does the same for you.

My thanks to Alicia Marshall for inviting me back, and to the Year 8 students of the Marlborough School for giving me such a warm welcome.

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