Hi everyone! Once again its been a while since I posted, but I've been quite busy! Not only with work, but also with moving house, changing my working schedule and, you know, life.
Over the past few months I've been working on some new projects. First, I've been writing for various magazines, both with one-off features and more regular contributions. I've had a second article published in the Ireland's Own magazine, and an article on getting started as a travel writer in the Writing Magazine. I've got another writing article coming out with them in the next few months, so watch this space. I'm now a regular contributor to the local Town Crier magazine. Mostly I'm writing copy for various features that fit the seasonal themes, but also writing articles of interest and I have a regular Crafty Corner page which is great fun.
I've also been commissioned to write a lot more books! My new client I've been working a lot for produces narrative style travel guides for kids. Rather than a boring list of facts, these books are written from the point of view of a character who introduces the reader to their country. The books are great fun - informative as well as engaging. I've written three so far (China, UK and France) and have 4 more in the pipelines. These books will be available on Amazon when the illustrator has finished with them so I'll certainly be sharing the link.
A company I've been working with for years (Prime Press) has also commissioned some more books - this time we're back to Shakespeare so I'll be getting stuck in to some research for those projects soon.
Other news in my writing life... I'm still submitting my middle grade fantasy book to agents and keeping my fingers crossed. I have faith in my little trolls and think it's certainly one of those stories that needs to find the right agent - not everybody will be interested in flatulent troll adventure books. So that is out looking for a home at the moment. I recently started writing a new novel, for adults. It's a feel-good, uplit genre with timely themes. I've written around 20,000 words so far and my aim is to have a good first draft done by the end of summer.
I've also started teaching English again! After wading through a number of Skype teaching opportunities, I found a small company that I really like. Work is irregular at the moment but I'm hoping that will build. Only trouble is that, between freelancing and Skype teaching, I spend most of my working week sat on my bum in front of the laptop. Well, I've just moved to a new town and want to meet local people so I think I'll have to join an exercise class to A. make friends and B. not get super fat and lazy :D
Thanks for reading!