I love lots of things.
I love my family, my friends, my cats, crisps, going for wanders, dancing, the view of London from Alexandra Palace, jeans, Brussels sprouts, writing, writing in cafés, and smiling at dogs, to name a few.
But who loves THIS object? And why? [click on the title above to find out more!] 

So what new-ness have I got to tell you? Well, I have a very shiny new book out this month – it's the second in my younger You, Me and Thing series, and it's called 'The Dreaded Noodle Doodles'. So there.
I've also just seen some cover ideas for my brand new Scholastic book, due out in May. More news on that extremely soon!
There's also something new that I need YOUR help with...
[click on title above for more>>] 

...of COMPETITION WINNERS!

Yep, the three girls who won a bundle of my Scholastic novels AND the five girls who have snaffled a signed copy of 'You, Me & Thing: Curse of the Jellybabies' (plus actual jellybabies!!) are...

Drum roll, please...

announced here!!!
[click title above for more...]

...enter the 'You, Me and Thing' competition!
I'll announce the winner on WEDNESDAY, along with the winner of the Scholastic 'Bundle Of Books' competition*.
Can you stand the suspense?!?
Karen McCombie :c)
*Yep, I promised to announce this last week, but my computer was very ill and is only JUST feeling better!

...chance to win a gift-wrapped bundle of my novels! (The competition closes at the end of today.) I'll read through all the entries over the next few days and announce the winner by the end of next week. Promise.
But – hurray! – there's still time to enter the competition to win signed 'You, Me & Thing' stuff (THAT comp ends on January 9th).
Anyway, hope you have a very lovely end-of-the-year day, and speak to you in 2012! Ha!!
Karen McCombie :c)
 

...for lots of reasons. Just wrapped the last of my daughter's presents, after being over at a neighbour's for a lovely Christmas Eve party. That's a good reason to be happy.
But what I've loved most of all the last couple of weeks has been the fun going on at my daughter's school. It's an ordinary state school at the end of our road, and there've been a whole bunch of end-of-term shows happening. And all those shows have given me goosebumps, looking at these happy kids, who are a fantastic mix of Christian and Muslim and Jewish, well-off and not-so-well-off and refugee.
And all of the kids are happy and together and don't care about differences.
So that's why I want to say Happy Christmas, or happy holidays, or happy Channukah, or whatever else makes you happy... Be happy!!!
Big love,
Karen McCombie :c) 

Pets are great, aren't they? Till they stress you out by getting...
a) lost
b) sick
c) dead.
Luckily, none of my pets have died for a while (RIP Cecy, Mioaw & Bysshe), but my younger cat Dizzy did make me panic by going missing at the end of last week. She finally turned up (phew!), but when I checked her over, she felt like a pin cushion... full of holes from cat bites! They'd gone a bit yucky, so she's had to visit the vet, and is now sporting a new trendy look – the plastic cone collar.
I'm sure all the cats in the neighbourhood will want one now!
Karen McCombie :c)
PS She's keeping us awake at night by wandering around the house, constantly clunking her collar against stuff. Aargh!

A few minutes ago, I was sitting in my office (OK, tiny back bedroom) trying to figure out what the 'snee-snee' noise was that I could hear, and where exactly it was coming from.

There are workmen building something in the house next door... was it them? Nope.

It's freezing and my husband stuck on the heating earlier. Was it a gurgly pipes sort of noise? I stuck my head beside the radiator (ouch - hot!), but nope, it wasn't that either.

Then I realised the snee-snee-ing was coming from under my desk...

I bent down – and there was my Very Elderly Cat Gus, snoozling. (It's what he does best.)

So mystery over.

And if you ever hear strange noises in your home, check that it's not just random cat snore-age...

Karen McCombie :c)

I was in Swindon yesterday, talking to two great groups of Year 7&8 girls at Dorcan Technology College and Highworth Warneford School *hello! I'm waving at you girls if any of you are checking out my site!*. 
In my talk, I mentioned how shy I was when I was young. You can't really shut me up these days, so people think I'm well over my shyness. But that's actually not quite true.
The thing is, the little Miss Shy part of me is still there, but I try not to take any notice of her, so she doesn't stop me doing what I want to do! Of course, she still trips me up sometimes, making me blush and hesitate and say no to stuff when I want to say yes.
But the older I get, the better I get at saying bye, bye to little Miss Shy...
Karen McCombie :c)
PS Hello to fellow shy girl Stephanie!!

"Do you just write for a couple of hours a day?" asked someone at a book talk recently.
They obviously thought authors only scribble a little bit and then spend the rest of their time lying on velvet sofas daydreaming and eating Belgian chocolates.
Well, the truth is, I write all day every day while my daughter's at school, and sometimes in the evenings and weekends too if I'm on a tight deadline.
But this morning I did take time out to catch up with three authors who live nearby: Fiona Dunbar (her series The Lulu Baker Trilogy got made into 'Jinx' on CBBC; Keren David (she writes gritty young adult books and wins lots of awards) and Kaye Umansky (Pongwiffy the witch is just one of her gazillion book creations).
At the end of our catch-up, we said, "We all live so close – why don't we do this more often?"
The answer is, of course, because we're too busy working, with not a velvet sofa in sight!
Speaking of work, I'd better get on with some before my editor comes chasing me... (eek!)
Karen McCombie :c)