Competition fever!

Two competitions, one outcome: fame, fortune, and prestige!

Well, not quite. One of the competitions is the World Cup Final, and if Spain and Holland manage to make it through their tricky semis to the final, this budding author will receive £513 from the very nice people at BETFAIR. And if they don't? Well, the very nice people from BETFAIR will give him his money back. Can't ask fairer than that.

But the more exciting competition is the one with my poem, 'Sick Sid'. It's been watched by getting up to 200 people now (or rather, 100 who have each watched it twice!) and it's looking good against some of the other competitors. Although having said that, the winner 2 months ago got over 4000 views, so some perspective is needed!

But with the competition and my book coming out, along with lots of people BUYING and READING my book, this little poet is feeling rather fab dabby dozy at the moment (particularly 'dozy' actually, as the girls were all up at 5 this morning!).

So, if you haven't already, please log on to www.smories.com/watch/sick_sid/

Twice!

Thanks muchly.

Con

THE HUNGRUMPTIOUS BLUMPFH

Well, my book is finally here. Or, should I say, my 1044 books are finally here. In lots of boxes in the dining room. They look ACE (the books, not the boxes) and I'm already out there getting them sold - much thanks to my twin brother for acting as my marketing manager!

It's very exciting and slightly bewildering seeing all those books that I've made come into being (with the VERY able help of Lilian my illustrator, and David my printer, designer etc. etc. extraordinaire).

So...if you want a look, wait for it and go to my website. Something should be up shortly.

Cheers for now, and if you want one, just let me know!

Smories

One of my poems from my new poetry book has made it to the last 50 in an online competition. 'Sick Sid' will be read (and filmed) by a child and posted on the website at the beginning of July. When that has happened it will be available to be viewed by ANYONE for the whole month. At the end of the month, the story that has been viewed the most times will win $500. So come on everyone, help me to win this thing!

Just go to http://www.smories.com/ and look for my story - it will be on the home page from July 1st - every time you go on the stories change places, so you'll have to hover over them to find mine. It's the one called 'Sick Sid'. Watch it, get your friends to watch it, get EVERYONE to watch it!

Nearly There

The book is almost finished! Proof 2 has had my beady eye survey it in its entirety (i.e. I've looked over it to see if there are any mistakes - there were - they were almost ALL mine), and once it's gone back to be fixed by David, it's ready to be printed. Which is good really, considering that I will be taking it into schools at the beginning of July. Very very exciting times at the moment. Yippee!!!!

Nearly Finished

The book is nearly done! I've seen a first proof and it's looking good. It's also now got a title: 'The Hungrumptious Blumpfh and other poems'.

It's all very exciting. I'm booked in to take my book to several schools in July, and hopefully to lots more in the coming academic year. I'll be selling / signing / reading / workshopping my way around as many schools as poss.

More details soon! It's a busy old time what with going into schools, putting together my book, and collecting panini world cup stickers (!!!)

The book, The book!

So...I have finally done it - collected my best poems together, passed them on to an illustrator, and asked her to do some drawings. Once they are done, it's all going to a printer, and my first book will be done, ready to sell in schools. So...any school type people reading this - if you'd like a look, do get in touch! It's a mixed feeling of excitement and nerves that greets the thought of publication. Will it be liked? Will it sell? My name will be on the front!

Ancient Egyptians and buckets for sick

I was working in a school today, and one of the boys in a class started to cry and was passed a bucket in case he was going to be sick. I naturally assumed that he was not feeling very well and continued on with my lesson.

Only to find out later in the day...

He'd been fine until I'd started talking about the mummification process, specifically the part where a hook was inserted in a dead person's nose to extract the brain. Apparently that had suddenly make him feel rather unwell. Goodness! I didn't realise that my description could have that effect - needless to say I felt rather bad about it afterwards.

Here's hoping that he's now feeling better and that my Ancient Egypt workshops don't have similar effects in the future!