Last week I had to face the truth. My trusty computer, on which most of my books have been written, was suffering from a very bad case of old age. I could no longer ignore the creaking sound as I urged it into life each morning. I couldn’t pretend not to notice how often it went on strike, for no reason that I could determine. I couldn’t overlook the fact that surfing the Internet was like wading through porridge.

And so I took a huge step – I bought a new computer. At first, it felt like a betrayal, and I didn’t even try to control my anger when I couldn’t figure out how exactly to do something in the new, 21st century way.  I regularly switched back to my old computer, and revelled in its familiar, quirky ways.

But today, something terrible happened. I switched on the old computer, to check something in an old file, and all of a sudden, my trusty old computer felt strange and unfamiliar. The mouse felt wrong, and I struggled to find what I needed.

It looks that, despite myself, I have moved on.

I wonder if I will write better books, on my new, better computer?

Watch this space!

This is always an exciting and scary moment – when a book has gone from my hands, and I can’t change it any more. I’ve been working on Eva’s Holiday for a long time now and I will miss the characters, as I move on to work at my next Friends Forever book. In a way, it’s like when my son went away to university last year. I was proud and happy for him and yet………

Still, I’m not really complaining. I’ll have another book on the shelves next month, and I’m looking forward to reacquainting myself with Lauren and Tilly and their new friend, Prima.

Watch out for Eva’s Holiday – in a bookshop near you at the end of August.

On Monday, I went all the way to London for the Puffin Summer Party. It was a bit of a trek, but very well worth it. The venue – The Banqueting House (pictured above) – was amazing  and the food and drink were delicious, but the best thing was meeting all the great Puffin people. There were heaps of authors, illustrators, editors,  and all the other people who work so hard to make our books so successful. It’s a great treat to be in a room that’s crammed with people who love books as much as I do.

The second ever Dalkey Book Festival is on this weekend, June 17th – 19th. There are heaps of brilliant events for adults for adults and children. I’ll be there on Sunday at twelve, and hope to meet lots of you there. All details are at:

www.dalkeybookfestival.org

The clever people at the Mountains to Sea festival have organised a great letter-writing competition. All you have to do is write to one of the authors attending the festival (one of them is me) and you could win great prizes.

All details are here: http://www.mountainstosea.ie/dear-author-competition.html

Your letter has to arrive by June 24th so start writing!