Horses, holidays and whatnot

Hello!

First of all, an apology. It's been months since I last wrote, but life has been keeping me busy and a couple of other writing projects have kept me away from Poppy, Cloud and the gang. I do have some exciting Riverdale news to share. But more of that later.

How are you doing? Mr Wills and I are feeling relaxed after a week's holiday in beautiful Northumberland. It was the first time we'd been and although I love our little corner of Kent, it was fantastic to explore a completely new part of the country.

We visited iconic places like Holy Island and Hadrian's Wall, explored Northumberland's vast beaches and walked for miles. We even managed to fit in a day trip to Edinburgh, stopping off at the cafe where JK Rowling wrote the early Harry Potter books while gazing at the atmospheric Edinburgh Castle.

But it's great to be home, not least because we have a new member of the family! Luna, a rescue kitten from a local animal sanctuary, joined us in the New Year, when she was just nine weeks and almost small enough to fit into the palm of my hand.

She's now nearly nearly eight months old - a teenager in cat years, I reckon. She certainly has plenty of catitude, as you can tell by this photo!

She is also an absolute sweetheart, and we are all head over heels in love with her. Except, perhaps, for our older cat Minstrel, who would rather we'd brought home a pet hamster for her to play with!

I'm still riding Dobbie once a week, and every now and again I ride his big brother Lockie, who I have nicknamed The Big Friendly Giant, as he is HUGE!!

Between them these two definitely give me plenty of ideas for future pony books...

So, what of Riverdale? Well, I am planning to start work on the eleventh book in the autumn. If all goes to plan it'll be out before Christmas.