Carmarthen

I am in Carmarthen for a week of schools. I got a direct train from Manchester. It took over five hours. I had a look round the town. It is very nice. Small, friendly. The hotel is nice too.

All day I have been reading the first draft of Football Detective 4. To get an idea of what is wrong with the plot, the characters and the themes. There's a bit of work to do, but it's not as bad as I thought it would be. Once I've sorted all that structural stuff out I'll read it through word for word. I expect that will take a while. Some of it is pretty loose. I did so much of it on trains. Train writing needs a bit more editing.

But I have all the evenings this week to crack it. Then a couple more weeks until I submit it to the writing group.

In fact, a class of 12 children in Basildon is reading it now. I get their feedback in early February. Ghyllgrove Junior School, Basildon. They're great.