Week Ending 24th June 2012 - Torbay Literacy project steaming ahead!

As stated in last weeks post, I planned to return to White Rock on Monday and did so to a rapturous welcome from the teachers and students to sign more books for those children that were unable to attend last weeks presentation. During the visit I took the opportunity to meet some more of the younger students and spent some time with the KS1 children in classes 1 & 3.

I also revisited Brixham on the same day to see all the wonderful Bradley Baker pictures painted by the children in year 5. As promised, here is a photo opportunity taken during my visit.

The Bradley Baker literacy project in Torbay is going really well and I also presented to more school children this week. On Tuesday I met the teachers and students at Shiphay Learning Academy and special thanks to Emma Gorman for arranging the visit. On Thursday I paid a special visit to Ellacombe Academy in Torquay to meet with yrs 4, 5 & 6 to present my Bradley Baker adventures and also carry out a workshop with yr 6. Here are a few pictures from the Shiphay event...

The students celebrated the Diamond Jubilee in "red, white and blue" attire and queued patiently to have their Bradley Baker books signed. More events to report on next week when the last few schools take part in the Torbay literacy project... until then thanks for checking in to this weeks blogspot.
Best wishes
DLJ

Week Ending 17th June 2012 - A fantastic reception from Torbay Schools

Hello Everyone...

With the disappointment of missing the Wychwood Festival in Cheltenham last weekend behind me because of a niggling back injury, I was determined not to miss any more events. So I dosed myself up with strong painkillers and headed off to some local schools in Torbay.

This week I've been very busy visiting schools in my local area to present the Amazing Adventures of Bradley Baker to over 1200 students! The author visits are helping the children to learn about the story lines and main characters in the first three Bradley Baker adventure books. All KS2 school children in the Torbay area have been invited to enter a literacy competition to win Waterstones Gift Cards and a chance for their written work to appear in the third book... "Bradley Baker and the Pyramids of Blood"!

I visited four schools this week. Starting at Torre Primary on Tuesday followed by Brixham Primary, Ilsham Academy and finishing on Friday at White Rock in Paignton. The reception I received at all the schools was fantastic and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all the teachers and students for making me feel so welcome.

Here are a few pictures from the events;-

I will be returning to White Rock on Monday to sign more books for those children that were unable to attend this weeks presentation. I'll also be revisiting Brixham on Monday to see all the wonderful Bradley Baker pictures painted by the children in year 5. There will be some more photo opportunities and I'll post them here next week.

All the best for now and catch you again same time next week... DLJ

Week Ending 10th June 2012 - Wychwood disappointment

The week didn't get off to the best of starts... a recurring back injury has been niggling me for some time and has ultimately forced me to withdraw from the Wychwood Children's Festival at Cheltenham Racecourse at the weekend. This was a cruel blow, as I was really looking forward to taking part in my first Festival of the year. Special thanks go out to my festival contact Josie and Barbara at Waterstones for their support. I sincerely hope that all the other children's authors who attended the event had a great time. Hopefully, I will be be able to make up for my absence next year!

On a more positive note, I received a request from Michele Darmanin asking if I was able to donate one of my Bradley Baker adventure books to the school children of Viwa Island, Fiji. Of course, I obliged without hesitation and if you would like more information about this very worthy cause, please send Michele an email to heart2heartsydney@yahoo.com.au or check her out on FB; https://www.facebook.com/#!/ShellyBelly63

I have spent some quality time on the third Bradley Baker adventure book "The Pyramids of Blood" ... it took some getting there but I finally broke through the 40,000 word count barrier! I'm getting to my favourite part of the plot line and the words should flow even faster over the coming weeks. Remember, you can pre-order the book ready for its release in September either from Waterstones or Amazon or Gardners Books!

Finally I'd like to thank all my Facebook Friends, who have liked the Bradley Baker page. You have been really great and the number of likes have passed the 70 mark. I would be most appreciative if you could please "like" the new page on Facebook and spread the word about the new boy hero! Here is the link... https://www.facebook.com/thebradleybaker  Thank you :)

I have four school events scheduled for the coming week and hopefully the back pain will ease off so I can spend some important time with the students. These visits form part of a Torbay wide literacy competition that has been organised... with the overall winner having their written work edited to appear in Bradley's next adventure.

That's all for now... hope to catch you all same time next week. DLJ 

Week Ending 7th June 2012 - Birthday Wishes

I have been writing non-stop all week (well not quite non-stop but it certainly feels like it) so its going to be difficult to comment on much else and complete a blog entry without giving away too many plot lines from my next Bradley Baker instalment... the Pyramids of Blood. Well obviously I'm not going to spoil it for the Bradley Baker readers so I thought I would be totally self indulgent and dedicate this particular blogspot to my birthday, which I celebrated last Monday... and to the way a single day in your life can gauge just how effective social media is on shaping your future. Just over a year and half ago I joined Facebook and Twitter to start sharing my writing experiences and my journey as an author with others. It's amazing how social media has changed the way we interact with each other in many different and diverse areas of our lives. In particular, where my wriiten work activities are concerned... during the last twelve months the awareness of my Bradley Baker children's adventure books has grown dramatically, which is fantastic. A good example of how social media relationships grow over such a short period of time on cyber-space can be gauged by the responses I received on a single day this week. As mentioned, I celebrated my birthday and the same time last year I received some happy returns from a handful of FB followers... a dozen to be exact. However, this year I received over 90 messages to celebrate the anniversary of my birth and I feel this demonstrates very well just how strong social media friendships can become and have developed over such a short period of time. I was blown away by the attention received and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all my FB friends that sent me birthday wishes this year and I honour you all here; Melissa Studdard, Barry Stone, Zoe Powell, Tracey Jones, Zoe Jones, Phil Trenfield, Jane Lovering, Mandasue Heller, Elaine Manton-Rattee, Adrienne Hennessey, Clement Hendrix, Athina Paris, Giles Paley-Phillips, Sue Hyams, Susan K Franklin, Aquablast Drains, Jane Harris Dickinson, Rikin Parekh, Sheri Larsen, Bev Jepp, Denise Parton Plunk, Nikki Mutch, Gabrielle Balfour, Meg Sanders, Darran Lambe, Martha McCabe Current, Pauline Elizabeth Kerslake, Andrew Birbeck, Joe Whittington, Dan Tunstall, Market-Harborough Waterstones, Jeanne Hogle, Kitty Dinners, Deborah Carr, Laura Goodall, Christoff Rodriguez, Annabelle Bryant, Nell Dixon, Bobbie Derbyshire, Jeannette Towey, Dee Shulman, Annaliese Matheron, Vanessa Harbour, Mark Goddard, Kathryn Evans, Thomas Taylor, Suzan Collins, Geraldine Finnegan Gaul, Francesca Nield, Helen Stirling, Kimberley Chambers, Lee Howell, Julie Cole, Sammy Deen, Barbara Spencer, Melissa Spencer-Jones, Anita Loughrey, Kizzy Kemp-Gee, Lobke Gill, Mike Walsh, Johanna Farrell, Steve Rolfe, Nikki Goodman, Sam Jones, Wendy Phelps, Trauma F Newell, Trish Thomas, Susan Halley, Helen Robinson, Penny Jones, Becky Bettesworth, Carrie Jones, Nancy J Para, Remarkably Raven, Authors ArtistsMag, Leesa Link, Sue Whitehead, Steve Travers, Nick Gunning, Bev Tregunna, Nicky Lewis, Tom Kilpatrick, Laura Hooson, Colin Page-Smith, Sarah Lee Thank you so much for taking time to send me your messages :) On a quick note I was really pleased to receive confirmation this week that pre-orders are starting to come in for the third book in the Bradley Baker series. This is very encouraging for pre-sales in September when the Pyramids of Blood will be released. This is also having a very positive knock on effect for the current sales of books one and two. Thank you to everyone who has purchased a copy of my Bradley Baker books so far. I'd like to finish this week by congratulating my very good FB friend and author Giles Paley-Phillips for winning the children's award for the peoples book prize. His picture book The Fearsome Beastie is a great read and I'd recommend anyone with very young children to purchase a copy. That's all for this week. Catch you again this time next week. David :)