It's been a bit longer than I had hoped since my last post, but I had to move at the beginning of the month and only just got Internet access back on my laptop - I didn't fancy writing a blog post from my phone!
I've set up a new e-mail address as well, and I do wish Google just had an option to change e-mail addresses or transfer control over easily, but that doesn't seem to be the case (unless I completely missed it and if so, I'm going to feel like an idiot...).
Other than moving, the big thing that's been going on for me has been the second Manchester Children's Book Festival, organised by MMU. The first festival took place in 2010 and it was a fantastic achievement and I was proud to be a part of it but this year has taken it to a whole new level for its second year. I missed most of the Family Fun Day on Saturday 30th June due top moving, which happened two years ago as well - I'm hoping to make sure this does not happen in two years time - but in the last hour, I managed to talk to a lot of the families attending and everyone had a great day with the zombie make-up being a big big hit!
Last night, Thursday 5th July, I volunteered at the Philip Pullman event and that was a fantastic evening with some interesting insights into his work and themes inside his writing, as well as a good way to get a bit closer to the author himself1 I'm a big fan of Philip Pullman's work, especially the His Dark Materials trilogy, which I did manage to get signed at the end. Hopefully there will be a photo to follow!
The man himself is a great role model for any writer, as he seems to be devoid of ego. He writes because he wants to, it's his passion and that's something I can really relate to as I feel the same way. There is nothing that I found I could dislike about him, even if I wanted to. He may have differing views on things from me but so do a lot of people and that has never stopped me from respecting or getting along with anyone. One day, I'd like to have a longer talk with him and go into further detail about things I found curious in his writing but there is hopefully plenty of time for that!
This afternoon I attended an event at the Museum of Science and Industry, here in Manchester. This was to announce the winner of the Midland Future Manchester competition, of which I helped judge the entries and create the shortlist that the winner was chosen from. The standard of the writing from these young people is astounding and very scary for someone like me, who can already see that in a few years, they will be at my level or even better. It shows that I can't stop writing for too long or risk missing out completely!
I do want to mention something else, on a much sadder note. Earlier this week, one of the F1 test drivers, Maria de Villota was involved in an accident during a straight line test and suffered serious injuries. It was her first time in the current F1 car and she has lost her right eye as a result of the accident, which is an awful thing to happen to anyone. Thankfully, while her condition is described as critical, it is also stable and anyone who reads this, I hope you join me and many other people all over the world in wishing her a speedy recovery. My thoughts also go to her family who must be suffering as well. It is a great thing that so many names in the F1 paddock are offering their support and wishes to someone who is new to this formula and it shows that even though each team is competing against each other, they are also part of a larger body that works together to help in the hard times.
A lot of people over the world can learn from this. Hopefully when they see communities and organisations doing this, it will happen more often and reach more people.
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