Caroline Roche, the brilliant, tech savvy school librarian behind last week’s Skype sessions with Holmesdale Technology College has been blogging about the experience here: http://uulibrarian.wordpress.com/2010/01/23/skyping-with-tommy/

You can also see how the link-up looked from the other end (although this picture was taken on a different day to mine, hence the change of t-shirt!)

The future is here!  Forget your flying cars and robot secretaries – this week, I’ve been teaching in a school 270 miles away, via computer!

Instead of driving from my home in Lancashire to Kent and back to run my creative writing classes, I’ve been linking up with year 8 pupils at Holmesdale Technology College over the Internet each day.

Using Skype (a free Internet telephony and video conference program), I’ve been teaching pupils at the opposite end of the country how to come up with unique story ideas, develop three-dimensional characters and plan a three-act plot.  And I haven’t had to charge a penny in travel expenses!

As you can see in the image below, grabbed from screen during today’s session, I get to see the class in front of me and – at their end – I’m projected on a screen on the wall (very Big Brother!)  This is the view I get – the pupils filling the window and me in a box in the corner.  They, of course, see the opposite.

The whole thing is still a learning process and, as with any new endeavour, there are pros and cons:

On the plus side…

• I get to work from home, so I can get some writing done instead of driving to and from the school

• The school only pays for my time and not travel and/or accommodation expenses

• I’m working on ways to show screen elements, such as graphs, illustrations and writing examples

On the minus side…

• There are occasional technical glitches – but nothing, so far, that’s stopped us from linking up

• I can’t point to individual members of the class to ask questions

• I have to make my own cups of tea!

It is, however, HUGELY EXCITING, and I intend to set up many more of these sessions.  If any other schools are interested in linking up with me in this way – from wherever you are in the world – please drop me a line.

There’s no end to where we could go with this kind of event – in fact, the Skype’s the limit!

Tommy

Those of us held captive at Trapped By Monsters have been here for a year now. Perhaps if I can find a way inside your computer, I may be able to get a message out…

It’s taken me a while to get to as I’ve been swamped by deadlines recently, but I’ve finally managed to sit down and read And Another Thing… – the sixth installment of Douglas Adams’s Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy series, written by Eoin Colfer.

Now, I suspected I might enjoy the book as I’m a huge fan of Adams’s work AND a huge fan of Eoin Colfer.  But what I wasn’t quite expecting was the scale to which the Hitchhiker’s galaxy would spring back to life as though Douglas himself was wielding the pen.  That’s not to say you can’t feel Eoin’s touch – you can, and it makes for a wonderful new sheen to the characters we know and love so well.  Many fans thought it unwise to continue the series but, to me, it just all felt so, well… right.

I don’t want to give anything away – but if you’ve ever enjoyed an afternoon in the company of Arthur, Ford, Trillian and the stupendously shallow Zaphod Beeblebrox – then you’re in for a real treat with this book.  Plus, we are introduced to a fantastic new character (among others) in the lumpy shape of caring Vogon, Constant Mown.

If you’ve never read a Hitchhiker’s book before – you’ll love And Another Thing… And, if you’re a dedicated H2G2 fan – it’s just like visiting old friends.

Highly recommended!

Tommy

Are you thinking of booking me for an author visit in 2010?  Download my new Author Events eBook, which tells you everything you need to know – from organising the day to how to get my books for your pupils on sale or return, with free delivery!

Click here to download your copy!

Tommy

Those of you in the UK may have seen the recent TV ads for Flips – the new way to read books right on your Nintendo DS…  Now, I’m all in favour of encouraging kids to read in any form – but I’m particularly excited about Flips because one of the available series is Too Ghoul For School – in which four of the eight books were written by me (under the creepy pen name, B. Strange)!

My four Too Ghoul For School books in the collection are: Terror In Cubicle Four, Silent But Deadly, School Spooks Day and Attack Of The Zombie Nits.

So, treat your DS to a little creepy action this Christmas with Flips!

Tommy

While I had my undead glad rags on recently, I figured I should make a trailer for Zombie! – my first book to be published by Barrington Stoke.

Here it is…

Great news for those of you wanting to enter the writing contest where you could win the chance to become a character in a future Scream Street book – the deadline for submissions has been extended to 1st March 2010!

Find out more at: http://www.watchthemgrow.co.uk/quest_missionfive.html

Tommy

Check this out…

Residents in the village of Westbury-sub-Mendip in Somerset were so distraught at losing their library and ‘phone box in quick succession, that they bought the latter from BT for £1, and turned it into the former.

Yes, that’s a ‘phone box library right there – with 100 books waiting to be borrowed (so long as you drop a book off in return, that is).  A triumph for local people power over the current trend of library closures.

Read the full story here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/8385313.stm

Brilliant stuff!

Tommy

Great news – Scream Street books 6 and 7 are now available for download from the iTunes App Store!  We’re not sure why SS5 hasn’t been approved for sale yet – but I’m confident it will be available soon.

So, get downloading!

Tommy