The Magical Detectives

I’ve had a couple of weeks holiday from writing and, as always, I found myself quite nervous about re-starting. I’ve been writing professionally for nearly thirty years but I never feel able to take it for granted. There’s always the lurking suspicion that I won’t be able to do it this time. So I put off getting back to work for as long as possible, inventing jobs that urgently need to be done. But finally I have to face up to the blank screen and the blinking cursor.

In the meantime I’ve finally received the new cover of my next book, The Magical Detectives. Unlike most of my previous books, this one is intended for younger children.

I never know what to think of a cover. To me, the same piece of artwork can seem terrific one minute and absolutely terrible the next, depending on the barometer of my self-confidence - a commodity that is as unpredictable as the British weather.

It’s because of problems with the cover that this book will not appear in the shops until next year. So that means that I will have had no books out this year. Zero! Zilch! Not so much as a dot on the publishing horizon. I really hate that!

It makes me feel like I’ve died and I’m really a ghost who doesn’t realise he’s dead. Instead he carries on diligently writing books, occasionally wondering why they never appear in print. Perhaps that’s what really will happen to me when my time is up. Maybe I’d better mend my ways.

Anyway, I’d be interested to hear any comments on the cover. And now, assuming I really am still alive, it's back to business.