On the run up to the end of term I was asked to go in to deliver creative writing workshops at Govan High and Hillpark Secondary in Glasgow. I met with some very enthusiastic 1st and 2nd year pupils who came up with some brilliant weird and wonderful characters and settings when we started to ‘build’ a story together. Weirdly, both groups independently chose an Asylum as a setting – one was a Dental Asylum which was a nice play on words. Neither were places I think I’d want to find myself spending much time in 🙂

I always leave these sessions buzzing as they wake up my creativity too, and it reminds me of the fun you can have with images and letting your imagination run wild. I’m hoping over the Christmas holidays I can make a big dent in the first section of my third book. I’m really excited about the idea and can’t wait to get on with it. I don’t want to say too much about it just now, but it will be another dark story, with teenagers at the centre of it all.

Last Saturday I attended the launch of the Oak Tree Arts young writers book, ‘Creative Chaos’, which includes the winning entries from the poetry competition I helped to judge. It was great hearing the winners read out their work to an audience of parents and friends. I loved the fact the woman who runs the group, Sue, asked them to write their favorite books on decorations to hang on their tree. A picture of this and the book is below. You can check out the Oak Tree Arts website here  They meet every Saturday at Abbey Books in Paisley and Sue does a lot to encourage young writers.

Well, that’s me signing off for 2017. It has been a jam-packed year and I was so happy I managed to finish writing my 2nd book. Really hoping I get to bring that out into the world next year. Wishing you all a fabulous Christmas (I’ve already eaten my body weight in chocolate coins!) and here’s to an amazing 2018 x