A couple of weeks ago I visited Eastwood High to give a talk at the launch of their S1 ‘Read to Succeed’ initiative. Parents and pupils were invited along to find out more about the initiative and got to listen to me talking about the Joy of Reading, and how my love of reading ultimately led me to become a writer. When I was putting together my presentation I had fun constructing a collage of images of some of my favourite books from childhood, ranging from The Worst Witch to the Nancy Drew mystery series. So much of what I have read has shaped my writing. There have also been important books which have taught me a lot about craft; reading White Oleander by Janet Fitch when I was in my early twenties reminded me of why I wanted to write. Her style of writing in this book was so lyrical I got lost inside the paragraphs and yearned to be able to construct such a story of depth and beauty. I don’t know if I’m quite there yet, but that’s the great thing about writing – your style always continues to grow and adapt as you begin new projects, and experiment with different forms.

After the talk and presentation from the English department I got to speak to some of the pupils and parents afterwards as I signed books for them. We had interesting conversations about writing and ideas. One girl also told me she plans to beat the ‘Read to Succeed’ challenge of reading 12 books by Christmas (I think that was the number) and plans to read 43.  I was impressed by her enthusiasm and she took away Follow Me to read as one of her 43!

Tomorrow I am off to Portobello High School in Edinburgh to deliver a talk to some 2nd year classes and I am also being interviewed by pupils for the brilliant Teen Titles magazine. Looking forward to that!

A reminder that there are  a couple of weeks left to enter the ‘Paisley Adventure’ short story I am judging for Oak Tree Arts. See the poster below for more details: