Port Ness

After a wild drive to Port Ness, on the most northwesterly tip of Lewis, I arrive at the school and settle down in their new Library. The school kids are at the door to greet me and they lead me inside to give my workshop. They are fantastic and soon tell me about the real Gugas Hunters. One girl’s dad is an actual Guga Hunter and disappears for 2 weeks every year to harvest the gannets. He is only allowed back in the house after 3 showers. I ask them what the birds taste like and how they cook them. They are very salty and fishy in taste but many of the kids enthuse about them and the teacher tells how they are cooked. They are scrubbed with washing-up liquid and then boiled for an hour before being served with boiled potatoes and veg. The gannet skin has the complexion of an old tramp and the fat layer is extremely thick. Some of the class say how you have to eat the fat and the dark flesh together. The teacher isn’t too keen on the fatty parts. I eventually take the road to Callanish. It’s been 20 years since I’ve visited the stones that appear on the cover of The Magic Scales. There is a visitor centre there now, so I track down the manager and show him the cover of the first book. He loves it and sees that it will sell in the shop, so takes 6. I take some pictures of the magnificent standing stones and realise the time. Racing down the road towards Harris, the site of Windscape, my new book-to-come, I just get into the library in the nick of time.

Auchinairn Primary School - Recent Visit

What a great school! Auchinairn Primary children explored their own writing talents through a brilliant workshop where the children created their own characters and wrote out their own story board. Split into groups, they worked furiously under the guidance of Kirsty Rawley, a truly inspiring teacher, and myself to produce some fantastic work. They also used mind maps and passages from the Denthan series to give them a greater insight into their own work and really amazed me with their slick cartoon scenes and inventive plots. Great Work all round guys!

Return to Denthan released in 7 days

At last, The third and final book in the Denthan Series is to be released any day now.
Find out how the whole story ends and perhaps begins...

Some Library Visits

Well, I'm a bit rusty but I'm still looking forward to some really great library visits with the help of Christine and the Scottish Book Trust. Arriving at at the library, I get organised and greet some 50 kids plus teachers and librarians. The Imagination session goes well with an array of fantastic questions at the end. Their drawings were tops and they behaved so well. You get the odd wee chestnut like - How much to do you make? What age are you? etc. These were fantastic children who seemed motivated and were very talented. I then speed on to the next spot where the children are equally enthused. I am particularly blown away by a boy called Lewis, who cannot see at all, but is totally part of the whole event, answering questions and showing his sense of fun and excitement during the reading section. I cover my usual Asthma Awareness section and am completely surprised to receive a gift from the Hecklegirth Primary School class. Lewis has written out the first few pages of The Magic Scales in Braille and the rest of the class have made an artistic collage of the front cover. I am totally lost for words. Sign posters etc and make my scary way north.