In my last post, I recounted my day in Dublin, when I picked up a reading champion medal from Ruairi Quinn. There were lots of sports stars in attendance that day, and some of their ambition must have rubbed off on me. Before I knew it, I had registered for the Great Limerick Run.

Since I’m not super-fit, I decided to go easy on myself, and just do 10k – (and I also walked it!)

Still, it was a start, and including the walk to and from the race, I covered about 14k, which wasn’t bad.

Unfortunately, someone couldn’t count, and they ran out of medals. Here I am though, looking very relaxed as I cross the finishing line.

Last year, Dublin libraries asked me to be a part of their new Reading Champions scheme. I was very happy to say yes – I love to be part of anything that encourages young children to read.

This week I got my reward when I was invited to the big Reading Champions launch in Dublin.  The place was awash with children, writers, mayors and sportsmen.

Oisin McGann drew this brilliant picture:

 

The highlight was when all the reading champions were presented with a gold (coloured) medal by Ruairi Quinn, minister for education and skills.

 

 

I confess I was very proud  –  I’m not sure that I’ve ever won a medal before.

Here are the authors who attended, all showing off their medals and their favourite books. And no, I have no idea why it looks like we’re all just about to slide off the stage.

I celebrated World Book Day a few days early at the big We❤️books event in Thurles. I was sharing the stage with the incredible Derek Landy, and I think it’s fair to say that everyone had a really good time  (Well, Derek and I did anyway!)

Tour organiser, Tom Donegan had arranged everything beautifully, and the staff at The Source arts centre did an amazing job. The nice people from Bookworm in Thurles sold stacks of books, and distributed bookmarks, postcards and posters like they were going out of fashion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were 250 lovely and enthusiastic children in the audience. They listened attentively, and laughed in all the right places – i.e. pretty much all through Derek’s talk.

Derek and I told our life stories, including his very interesting take on a parallel universe.  After that there was a Q and A, and the only problem was that there were far more questions than we had time to answer. Best question of the day was directed at me.

‘Judi, do you like the way Derek acts?’

My answer – ‘How long have you got?’

We had delicious pancakes in the on-site restaurant, and Tom presented Derek and me with our very cool limited-edition tour mugs. (One day these will be collectors’  items.)

 

Finally it was time for me to return to Limerick. I took the slow route, over the mountains. Sometimes only the long and winding road will do.

 

 

Now that January is nearly over, it’s probably time to wish everyone a happy new year. Hope it’s going well so far.

After a really nice Christmas, I struggled to get back to work. There always seemed to be things to stop me from sitting down at my desk and writing. (Going on Facebook never seemed to be problem though!)

Anyway, the good news is, I’ve finally disciplined myself, and I’ve started to write. I’m working on a TOP SECRET project, and I’m really excited about it – so excited that I’m going to finish this post right now, and get back to work.

Watch this space!

2013 was a lovely year. I had a really nice holiday in Spain with my family, I attended a number of great book festivals, I published two books, and worked hard on a few more – (watch this space for details!)

I hope things went just as well for all of you.

I wanted to post a picture of Domino with a Christmas greeting, but I’m afraid she’s a bit camera-shy today. Instead, here’s the card that I got from her daughter, Rolo, and her friend Algernon.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas, and an amazing 2014.

xxxx