Rocking Steady

I'm at such an exciting part of the book-publishing process. The publishers (Protea) and I are busy with typesetting Rock Steady, the sequel to Turtle Walk. Hopefully this week we'll get to play around with covers!

I had great fun writing this book - it just flowed and I was able to write quickly. I think it's tighter, funnier and more intense than the first book in the series. Checking the typesetting last week, I had another giggle at some of the parts. I know it's considered "cool" to put down your own work and twist in neurotic agonies about your inadequacies as a writer, but I never aspired to be cool. So I'll go on record as saying I love this book and hope you do too! Like Turtle Walk, it falls into the Young Adult genre, for readers 11 to 15, but I've had readers as young as nine and some way older than teenagers.

It's due to come out in February, and I can't wait. Thank you to all the readers who have told me how much they loved Turtle Walk. One reader said she had read it six times - we writers live for this feedback! A mother approached me in the school parking lot (where I do a lot of waiting and occasionally even some writing) and said her daughter "never read", but had read Turtle Walk after I did a visit and talk to the girls. Now she can't wait for the next book to come out.

Reading has been such an important part of my life - a loyal friend, a reliable comfort, an excellent escape. It is my deepest desire to bring the pleasure of good stories, well-told, to other youngsters - to get them addicted to reading.