Look what Iseult spotted in Waterstones in Drogheda today when shopping with her mum. That's right - Mango the Unlucky Monkey! She was clever enough to snap a photo and send it into me. Where have you spotted Mango or my first novel, Leaf? Let me know!Thursday, June 21, 2007
#1 Waterstones in Scotch Hall, Drogheda
Look what Iseult spotted in Waterstones in Drogheda today when shopping with her mum. That's right - Mango the Unlucky Monkey! She was clever enough to snap a photo and send it into me. Where have you spotted Mango or my first novel, Leaf? Let me know!
Sunday, June 17, 2007
MY EXCITING NEW PROJECT!
Summer is here and everyone is out and about, including me. With the longer evenings, and holidays and everything, loads of people are going into bookshops and taking books abroad. This put in mind for an exciting new project -
HOW FAR CAN MY BOOKS TRAVEL THIS SUMMER!
Before the end of the summer, I want to see pictures of my books abroad on holiday or in bookshops around the world. What I want you to do - my loyal Mungobots - is bring your books with you the next time you are out and about and snap a photo of them. Email me the photo and the location, and I will post it on the blog. The best picture at the end of the summer will earn a fantastic mystery prize for the person who snapped it.
So get out your cameras, your mobiles and any other photographic devices you might have and start shooting!
Mungs xxx
HOW FAR CAN MY BOOKS TRAVEL THIS SUMMER!
Before the end of the summer, I want to see pictures of my books abroad on holiday or in bookshops around the world. What I want you to do - my loyal Mungobots - is bring your books with you the next time you are out and about and snap a photo of them. Email me the photo and the location, and I will post it on the blog. The best picture at the end of the summer will earn a fantastic mystery prize for the person who snapped it.
So get out your cameras, your mobiles and any other photographic devices you might have and start shooting!
Mungs xxx
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Technical Problem
A few months ago my good friends Mango and Tottie made a trailer for my first novel, Leaf. In lieu of the recent excitement about Dean Koontz's trailer competition for The Good Guy and Darren Shan's trailer for his new book, I decided I would load my trailer on to youtube and post it on my blog.
Sounds like a good idea, right?
Starting the youtube account was easy, but then I got into problems. Iseult recorded the trailer from her sony handycam dvd onto ordinary dvd and opened it in windvd on the laptop. She has successfully captured pictures from movies plenty of times using this programme, and assured me that she could also capture video. However, she found that the 'quickclip' function only works for - you guessed it - quick clips of no more than 30 seconds and it doesn't record sound. This isn't too bad, because we can always loop in the sound for the trailer, but it might cause a problem for later projects. Also, windows movie maker is causing problems with editing the clips together. All in all, the task is proving extremely time consuming if not near impossible.
When things didn't turn out easy, Iseult came crying to me for assistance. Now, I know I can sort it out but I thought I would turn to my friends out there on the world wide web first to see if they have any tips for me. What I want to know is, what is the easiest and/or best way to get clips (with sound) from dvd onto your computer and posted onto youtube. Ideas for editing software would be great too.
Come on fans, there must be one of you out there who is pc savvy.
Mungs xxx
Sounds like a good idea, right?
Starting the youtube account was easy, but then I got into problems. Iseult recorded the trailer from her sony handycam dvd onto ordinary dvd and opened it in windvd on the laptop. She has successfully captured pictures from movies plenty of times using this programme, and assured me that she could also capture video. However, she found that the 'quickclip' function only works for - you guessed it - quick clips of no more than 30 seconds and it doesn't record sound. This isn't too bad, because we can always loop in the sound for the trailer, but it might cause a problem for later projects. Also, windows movie maker is causing problems with editing the clips together. All in all, the task is proving extremely time consuming if not near impossible.
When things didn't turn out easy, Iseult came crying to me for assistance. Now, I know I can sort it out but I thought I would turn to my friends out there on the world wide web first to see if they have any tips for me. What I want to know is, what is the easiest and/or best way to get clips (with sound) from dvd onto your computer and posted onto youtube. Ideas for editing software would be great too.
Come on fans, there must be one of you out there who is pc savvy.
Mungs xxx
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Heavy Weather
The last few days have been so hot and heavy I haven't been able to do anything but lounge on my cup and think about Rainbow (and talk to Miss Monkey too, of course). Then, today, it is so cold and dark, wet and windy, that I just want to curl up with some hot chocolate and snooze. Lesser geniuses than myself would use the weather as a comment on their writing, but my works speak for themselves.
Still no new competition entries.
Mungs xxx
Still no new competition entries.
Mungs xxx
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
This one is for you Pamela!
Wow! It has been a long time since I last blogged, hasn't it? Well, dear fans (and one dearest fan in particular) I apologise for my long absence. I know that being deprived of my pearls of wisdom must be hard on you all.
First of all, a catch up of what I have been doing over the last few months. Unlike Darren Shan (who I believe is a favourite of Iseult and Valerie), I have not been able to get my nation wide and international tour on track. Iseult was recently visiting in Blackpool and I tried to persuade her to take me along with some of my books to flog them to the Brits, but she didn't agree (weird). So, all plans for a tour with Mango are off. I will, however, have plans for touring later in the year with Rainbow and the Mountain of Life, publishing date 14th August. Watch this blog for further news on this. Also, if you want me to visit your school/bookshop/home, write to me with your idea for the event, how many people will be there and how many books you will want and I'll see if I am free.
The weather has been really nice here for the last few months and Miss Monkey and I have been enjoying it, but time has come for me to work again. I have to get back to writing if I am going to make my publishing date for Rainbow. I plan on starting it this week, so watch this space!
On news of Mango, the Unlucky Monkey, I have had reports coming in that a young boy and his mother are enjoying it greatly. Apparently the idea of a monkey without a tail has captured his imagination (I thought it was a good idea too!). If you have any stories about how much you love my books, let me know and I might report them here!
Anyway, I'm off now. Til next time, Mungo-bots!
Mungs xxx
First of all, a catch up of what I have been doing over the last few months. Unlike Darren Shan (who I believe is a favourite of Iseult and Valerie), I have not been able to get my nation wide and international tour on track. Iseult was recently visiting in Blackpool and I tried to persuade her to take me along with some of my books to flog them to the Brits, but she didn't agree (weird). So, all plans for a tour with Mango are off. I will, however, have plans for touring later in the year with Rainbow and the Mountain of Life, publishing date 14th August. Watch this blog for further news on this. Also, if you want me to visit your school/bookshop/home, write to me with your idea for the event, how many people will be there and how many books you will want and I'll see if I am free.
The weather has been really nice here for the last few months and Miss Monkey and I have been enjoying it, but time has come for me to work again. I have to get back to writing if I am going to make my publishing date for Rainbow. I plan on starting it this week, so watch this space!
On news of Mango, the Unlucky Monkey, I have had reports coming in that a young boy and his mother are enjoying it greatly. Apparently the idea of a monkey without a tail has captured his imagination (I thought it was a good idea too!). If you have any stories about how much you love my books, let me know and I might report them here!
Anyway, I'm off now. Til next time, Mungo-bots!
Mungs xxx
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