I cannot think of anything that has given me more pleasure than the reaction of classes of children who are having The Battle for Gullywith read aloud to them. And what people they are, these volunteers and part timers and classroom assistants who do the reading aloud ! This week I had three packages of drawings and stories, poems and letters from children at three different schools, done in response to the book. The latest came from 7-8 year olds at St Mary`s Catholic Primary School in Fulwood, Preston who apparently love geology and have some exhibits of stones and fossils in their classroom. Gullywith, of course, has a great deal in it about Stones, which are the Baddies in the story. The teacher reading it aloud writes that when she started,  'I felt thirty seven little pairs of eyes eagerly watching the stone exhibits for signs of movement.' 

The boys at Pedalo, who look after my websites, are having a busy time keeping the Gullywith.com up to date with all the news. I`ve told them, it beats working for a living.

More excitement when finished copies of the new Simon Serrailler crime novel, THE VOWS OF SILENCE, arrived. I have ten first editions, first printing, signed and with a line from the book handwritten inside. These always get snapped up so if you want to buy one for £15  including postage, let me know quickly.

Someone asked me if wasn`t blase by now, at seeing yet another finished book. No, no no ! It is always exciting, it always looks somehow a real, true, proper book at last and I daresay I`ll be just as excited when I get to 100.

Mind you, judging by the way the next Serrailler has been going, I wonder if I will get to 40 books, which is what this would make the tally, let alone 100. I had knitted myself into a jumper but not left holes for the sleeves and the lines of the pattern were all over the place. .... I tried every whichway to get myself out but in the end, of course, I had to unpick most of it. The overall design of the jumper is fine but think Fair Isle and then think having to re-arrange the way the different coloured yarns weave in and out to form the pattern. I had to go to one of my favourite cafes first thing with a notebook and pen, turn my back to the room in case any old friends dropped in, then patiently work out how the threads should go to make the pattern work. My head  went fuzzy. I then came home, deleted half of what I had written, saved the rest in case I can work it into the design, and started over. I think it is going to be fine but I won`t know definitely for a couple of weeks. 

It was always going to be one of those days. An author e-mailed to say he thought I owed him about £9,000 and my accountant asked where were all my tax papers for the year ended in April and which I posted off  to her 3 weeks ago. It`s all fine, it`s fine, I don`t owe £9,000 after all and the package of tax papers was sitting modestly on a shelf in the accountants office waiting to be dealt with.

I`m off to lie down in a darkened room with some lavender water dabbed onto a small lace handkerchief.