With one of my manuscripts under serious consideration at the moment, I’m almost chewing my fingers off - the nails have long gone and I’m almost down to the knuckles. So, it was lovely to see a comment about it from Helena Pielichaty on her blog.

"Lunch with a David Tennant fanatic and a-soon-to-be-published head of English. Great kids. Great staff. Great stuff."

At this stage, I can only hope. The book’s a good one; I just need a bit more patience before I wear a hole through the rug with all the pacing! Helena has more faith in me than I do!

Helena is fab, by the way. If you haven’t read any of her books, you really should. I picked up Never Ever a while ago, mostly because I was writing a dual narrative and was looking at how a few writers did it. I was hooked. It’s actually rare for authors to nail teenagers so well, but I was reading along, smiling and nodding, thinking ‘Yes, I teach him,’ or ‘I remember having one just like her a couple of years ago.’ Accidental Friends was also a wonderful read. Full of warmth, a clever structure, and real characters that you can’t help but empathise with.

So, once today’s training for the Olympic team’s pacing event is completed, I’ll write a bit more of my demon and then get the Christmas tree up so we can have a happy Neurotypical Christmas, albeit with a few more trains around the manger than is strictly necessary for a Nativity scene and a spot of Weetabix for Christmas lunch for the Autistic contingent. Have a good one!