It's the end of term next week. Only five more days of school then the holiday begins and this year I'm feeling an extra buzz of excitement as I count down the days. Why? Well, because the story in my current work-in-progress takes place during the summer holidays. This synchronicity has never happened before. I've written about Halloween at Easter (Scarlett Dedd) and a chilly London Spring while roasting in August heat (Verity Fibbs). Now, in book four, I'm exploring the summertime dramas of a teenage surf girl and her family and planning to visit the real location, a beach resort on the south coast. It'll be fun to recreate some of the scenes in the book but I hope I don't experience ALL of the traumas I'll been putting my character through!

I got new glasses this week. They're great, but there is one down side. I've got to change all my profile pics on all my different blogs and sites. All seven of them! I'm off to the Hay Festival this weekend so I don't want people to come to my events and say 'you don't look anything like your profile pic' with a really disappointed expression on their face. Having an accurate profile pic can be terribly useful in schools too. Sometimes 'I've got orange hair' just isn't enough info for a school librarian and pupils are somehow reassured when they see my actual face just about matches the multiple images plastered up around the school in anticipation of my arrival. If you are coming to Hay then look out for me. FYI, I have orange hair and glasses like this... Oh, and a very bright pink cardigan!