The Reader's Voice

'What happened to Jack?' A 7 year old asked at our school visit last year. Alix and I were invited to talk about our book The Keepers and after reading an extract about our main character's encounter in the past with a boy called Jack, one girl wanted to know more about Jack. Well, that was all there was to know about him - then. Now, Jack is a major character and the 7 year old - our prospective reader, had reminded us that Jack had more to say and do in our book.

There are many voices in my head when I'm writing. I try to listen to my own and in the case of The Keepers - Alix's. We went to the school knowing we were about to embark on a major re-write. Now we've answered our own questions about our book as well as the lingering one from the 7 year old! I wonder whether the story would have been the same if we hadn't met our prospective readers...

How Long Does It Take To Write A Children's Book?

How many writers begin working on a children's book knowing how long it will take to write? I've heard one author say it takes 4 months, any longer and something isn't working.
Where do you start counting from - the moment an idea pops in to your head, or the moment you put pencil to paper/ fingers to keyboard? What about the story that has changed so much, it has become a completely new story years later?
Writing my first children's novel has been a series of self-imposed deadlines - they all add up to several years of co-writing the story that has become The Keepers. On the way, we have laid the foundations for other stories, maybe even a series based on the first draft in 1999.
I think I can safely say, it will have taken me a lifetime to write a children's book!

Cathy's Book YA Birthday Party

Has anybody ever heard of a 15th birthday party where everyone reads a book? I am so shocked that I am compelled to sit at my computer on a Saturday night and it's the night of my daughter's 15th birthday party! We gave our daughter a book for her birthday and now everyone is reading it - together. Cathy's Book by Sean Stewart and Jordan Weisman is an interactive detective story with a wallet of evidence (a teen equivalent of The Jolly Pocket Postman by Janet and Allan Ahlberg), online clues and voice messages, there's even a forum for Cathy's Book readers (www.doubletalkwireless.com). This is the first year my daughter didn't want anything arranged to celebrate her birthday - O.K. they probably won't read ALL night but the party's off to a great start and it looks like it's going to be an all-nighter - for them. For me, Comic Relief Fame Academy and a visit to myspace.