Watched England lose 3-2 to Croatia last night, meaning there will be NO team from these isles at the 2008 European Championship -- not England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland or Northern Ireland. That's the first time since 1984 that no country from these two islands has qualified for a major championship. Grim days indeed!!! While I'm first and foremost an Ireland fan, if we're not in a competition, I would always throw my support behind (or at least look on with interest) England or Scotland or whoever. This means I'll have no vested interest at all in the games next summer -- it will be a purely academic contest as far as I'm concerned. *SIGH*

On a more positive note, I got back to my normal editing ways this afternoon. I spent the early part of the day writing some new material for book 8 of The Demonata, but then it was back to simply editing, not re-writing. There might be another scene further down the line that I have to adjust, but I don't think so -- it looks like I might be in the clear for the rest of the book's run ...

Received the following very nice email from a teacher called Michelle in Canada:

I am a high school teacher in Oromocto, New Brunswick, Canada. I want you to know how much my students enjoy The Darren Shan Saga.  I've been using this series as a read aloud for the past two years with my grade 9's and 11's.  They cannot get enough, and each class starts with someone asking, "Are we reading Darren Shan today?"  A few students have sped by me and they are well ahead of the class in the series.

Many of the boys have told me that they had not read a complete novel until I introduced them to this series.  They are completely spellbound by your work.  I had to ask the librarian to buy the series for the school because they were in such high demand. I have even suggested to my babysitter's daughter that she read this saga as she is a reluctant reader herself; she is now on the second novel in the series.

As a parent and educator, I appreciate that you have written books that are highly interesting, but are innocent enough for young adults. Truly your work is magical. I have been known to read aloud in class for half an hour without a student making a sound - it's amazing the impact your books have on my students.

I have never been one to email authors, I figure you have a lot of fans and a lot on your plate, but I have never seen books become so popular in my 8 years of teaching. I felt it was necessary to contact you to express my gratitude for creating books that easily promote literacy in my classroom. Thanks again for sharing your talent with my students, and I wish you continued success.

Awwww ... I love it when an email like that pops through!!! I don't think any author ever gets so busy that they don't want to read feedback like this -- and more fool them if they do!!!! Success can distance you somewhat from your audience -- it might become impossible to reply to every email or letter, to go to every school which requests a visit -- but you should never let it drive a wedge between you. Responses like this are why I became a writer in the first place, and if all the money and trappings pass away (as they somtimes do), at least I'll have emails and letters like this to remember and come back to -- and ultimately I think that's what matters most. You shouldn't become a writer to makes loads of money and get famous -- you should do it in the hope of telling a story that will reach out and touch people. If you can do that, you've done all that any writer should ever ask or expect of themselves -- and anything after that is a bonus.