There ain't half been some...

I have a deal with N° 2 sprog whereby I read every book he reads. His favourite author at the moment is Marcus Sedgwick and I have just finished his 2008 The Kiss of Death, succinctly summarised in the blurb as being about ‘Venice and vampires’. I am full of admiration for children’s authors like Sedgwick who manage somehow to keep ‘brand loyalty’ whilst ranging far and wide in historical, geographical and even purely imaginative terms. I am also deeply envious of somebody who, as the homepage of his website makes clear, is doing something he loves. He also gives sage advice about the importance of finishing things. For writing, as John Boyle, one of the members of my writers’ workshop once put it, is about re-writing.