This was the sight after the very last Spill the Ink 2011 event in Stoke Newington, London. Yes Ivan – we know you need a drink, it’s coming!

Phew.

Hi all, Ivan here.

So apparently the world ends this saturday. I’m fine with that as long as it keeps the noise down. Trust me, I’ll be sleeping right through the weekend and into monday as long as Jesus doesn’t return to judge us etc.

We’re almost done with SPINK now. Eight events down (and something outrageous like 915 kids I’ve sung backwards songs to in a week) and there’s only one to go. Tonight I’m staying in London in some strange hotel called “home”. I didn’t need to check in and the room service is terrible, but I think I’m going to be able to steal the shampoo before I leave, so that’s awesome.

Tomorrow we close the lid on SPINK.

The day after that the world ends.

The day after that we’re all off on SPONK, an eight-month sold-out stadium tour where No, no, it was all just a horrible dream. See you in the morning, folks!

Hi everyone, Ivan here.

Well now, SPINK is gaining momentum at a horrifying speed. Just this morning we were leaving Plymouth, our first destination, and now we’ve already arrived at our third.

Plymouth provided excellent material for us writerly types. The man with a ferret and outstanding hearing, the Roman Centurion who’s actually a hairdresser from Exeter called Gary, and the very pleasant hotel that, (as it turns out) were being extra lovely to us because they were critically panned on an episode of ‘The Hotel Inspector’ last year. Not haunted after all (unless the rooms were REALLY bad). Ooh, and a train that was delayed because of a ‘yacht on the line’.

HC team two kept the wheel of Ixion turning in Exeter, whisking us off to our respective events and watching us perform like trained seals. Tom and his hairdryer were more than fantastic, providing all the moral/financial/handing-out-of-papery support an author could ever hope for. Today I met two more great groups of kids who created some incredible Corne-on-the-Kobb idiots. Check those out either on this blog or on mine: http://www.caspercandlewacks.com

And then, before Exeter had even noticed we’d arrived, we were off to Bristol, my old haunt. I was here for three years learning how to scratch my beard (sometimes referred to as ‘philosophy’). Good news though, we’re not staying in my old student flat (which comes complete with faulty fire alarm and your complimentary ceiling of dry rot). Our hotel is posh posh poshity posh, and it makes hilarious puns on its breakfast-ordering cards. See title.

I’m off downstairs for some posh posh poshity nosh, but I promise to keep you updated with EVERY SINGLE THING I DO over the next three days whether you like it or not.

Have you been wracking your brains wondering (agonising?) about who will be on the Spill the Ink tour this year, organising train tickets, trouble-shooting hotel rooms and removing all the brown M&Ms?  Well, wrack no longer book folks, here they are (looking weirdly elongated).

 (L-R) JP Hunting, Sarah Benton, Tiffany McCall, Alison Ruane, Laura Di Giuseppe and Harriet Wilson. Missing Inkers in action are Geraldine Stroud, Sam White, Kate Manning, Karen Harrison, Nick Lake, Tom Stabb and Ygraine Cadlock.

This motley crew will be let loose in the SE this May to bring fabulous authors Robin Jarvis, Linda Chapman, Ivan Brett and Will Hill to (erm, a South Eastern) town near you.

See you on the road, folks!

Snapshots of a weekend in Cardiff, at the YLG Conference (with Geraldine, Sam, Rosie and Laura)

Roald Dahl once declared: ‘If you want to remember what it’s like to live in a child’s world, you’ve got to get down on your knees and live like that for a week.’

The librarians at the YLG Conference in Cardiff ‘got down on their knees’ for definitely more than a week! They talk about children’s books (old and new) with contagious enthusiasm…

They are in love with the latest Skulduggery title, Mortal Coil. They’ve read it, their sons have read it, and they can’t stop telling us how much they love the characters and the illustrations.

They were all very impressed with the new cover of Diana Wynne Jones’ Homeward Bounders. One of the librarians told us this was the very first book she brought home from a library when she was a child, and she was immediately enthralled by Diana’s parallel worlds and sinister creatures.

And the new covers of Alan Garner? They couldn’t stop talking about them…

Dancing Jax was also a librarians’ favourite. We ran out of proofs in no time!

‘With your nose stuck in those books, you are the symbol of what YLG is all about… If I had a camera I would definitely take a picture of you two!’, a librarian told us. Luckily we had a camera and the librarian was very happy to take a picture of us: two 29-year olds reading young fiction titles and giggling…

In moments of quiet (when the librarians were at the seminars), Rosie was reading Iggy and Me by Jenny Valentine, and I (Laura) was enjoying Frankie Foster, the new title by Jean Ure. I find reading young fiction titles very refreshing, and…cathartic. It’s nice to look at the world through the eyes of a 10-year old and find the perfect excuse to stop wearing high heels! ‘If a herd of maddened elephants suddenly came roaring down the street you would at least be able to make a run for it’, says Frankie Foster (very wisely!)

This weekend in Cardiff, we talked about parallel universe and funny stories, and we forgot for a second that it was the 9/11 anniversary. Hope this is ok…

- Laura