Whee for WORLD BOOK DAY!!

I've been madly busy this week, doing lots of talks for World Book Day (hope they celebrated it at your school!). On Monday I was at Hillview Girls School in Kent (hello, Hillview!), then yesterday was Campsbourne School in Crouch End, North London (Campsbourne rocks!!) and today – also in North London – I was at Bounds Green School, in, er, Bounds Green! (Hi to all the fab Year 5s!!)
I've had a lot of fun seeing the weird and wonderful book character costumes that've been on display. And before you ask, I dressed as an author. Yes, that means I was useless and wore my normal jeans and stuff...
OK, must scoot – got to take Milly out of school a little bit early, as we're off to York for the weekend, to check out the museums and eat cake in all the cute tearooms there. Hooray!!
Karen McCombie :c)

posted @ 05 March 2010 06:23 by Karen

Luminous pink cheeks of embarrassment

So, did you have a nice half-term holiday, hmm? Yep, I know that not everyone gets the half-term (hi to all in Scotland, who still had to slog away last week), but for those who did, hope you had a fab laze-about. I had a most excellent time doing nothing much, in the company of my gorgeous little Milly. We went to see a puppet show (fairly excrutiating), met up with friends (very lovely) and pootled to garden centres (stopping to test the cake in their cafes, of course).
I also had to do one booky sort of thing; my local library in Crouch End is installing something called a 'Wundawall', which means when you scan your library book out, up pops a mini film-ette of an author burbling about their book! Getting filmed gives me dinosaur-sized butterflies, so apologies to any of you who might want to take out one of my books locally, and are forced to watch me waffling randomly, probably with luminous pink cheeks of embarrassment...
Must go – got to pick up Miss Milly from school and see how her day was (her usual answer: "Um, I forgot").
Karen McCombie :c)

posted @ 22 February 2010 07:50 by Karen

News Of The Week...

[Solemn voice] Here are the headlines:
LEFT KNEE STOPS CLICKING!! Yes, by last Wednesday, the weird noise had gone away, so it didn't seem like my knee was about to drop off after all. Phew!
LEFT KNEE INJURED!! Then last Thursday – on my way to meet up with my old school buddy gal pals Yuli and Alison – I ran up the stairs in the Tube Station and tripped over, whacking my left knee on a step. What a numpty. A nice guy helped me up, and I found myself saying, "Thanks! No, honesty, I'm fine!!" a lot, while he watched me hobble in agony up the street, trying not to cry.
RIGHT KNEE BEHAVING ITSELF!! Thank goodness for that...
And we end with some non-knee-related news...
SMALL, CUTE BABY ENTERS THE WORLD!! Karine, who is the designer of this website, has just gone and had herself a wee boy called William. Hooray! Karine is going to be having a bit of a break, but in the not too distant future, she'll be doing some fab re-vamped looks for my site (with William perched on her lap, no doubt, cooing over all the prettiness). More on that soon...
And that's all the news for now. Have a nice day!
Karen McCombie :c)

posted @ 09 February 2010 05:38 by Karen

Click... click... click...

Weird.
Last night and today, my left knee has started clicking as I walk up stairs. it doesn't hurt, but it is quite loud, as if someone is right behind me tapping a drumstick on a block of wood every time I take a step. That can't be good, can it?
It's creeping me out... Blah!
Anyone got a mum or dad who's a physiotherapist and can tell me if a clicky sound in my knee means it's about to fall off any time soon?
Hope not – I'm quite fond of that knee. (Don't mean to make the right knee jealous!)
Karen (click!) McCombie :c)

posted @ 29 January 2010 14:14 by Karen

Och aye the noo!!

In case you didn't know, the phrase above is probably the best known Scottish phrase ever. The funny thing is, no-one from Scotland would ever dream of saying it!
Anyway, I'm mentioning it purely because today (25th January) is Burns' Night, which is named after a famous Scottish poet from 1800-and-something, and is a bit of a celebration of being Scottish. And here's another funny thing; when I was growing up in Scotland, I didn't know anyone who celebrated it. It was just for posh people, as far as I was concerned!
But yesterday, we ended up hosting a Burns' Supper for a) a bunch of our friends here in London, and b) a laugh!
We did haggis (veggie haggis for me and the other veggies) and stovies and skirlie (any guesses what those are?).
Milly wore a kilt, a tartan sash and a Loch Ness Monster hat with a long tail draping down her back. Yay!
Anyway, I'll finish with an other Scottish saying that nobody actually comes out with: "Lang mae yer lum reek!", which is a phrase meant to wish you good luck and a long, happy life. (Feel free to guess the literal translation!)
Lots of McLove,
Karen McCombie :c)

posted @ 25 January 2010 14:50 by Karen

Two-in-one!!

If you take a peek at the book covers above, you'll see that I've got a shiny new 'Indie Kidd' out – a one-off special called 'Indie Kidd's (Most Excellent) Guide To Fun For Free'. Yes, another of my very short titles... not!
Also, the pretty, flowery cover that says 'Awesomely Ally's World' is actually a 2-for-1 special featuring the very first two books in the 'Ally's World' series. So if you've got those already, don't buy this, and is you haven't read the 'Ally's World' series, this could be a very good place to start! It'll be out in March, exclusively in WHSmith...
OK, got to go do some work now. Er, after I've had a piece of toast. And made myself a cup of tea. And patted the cats. And stared out of the window. And...
Karen McCombie :c)

posted @ 21 January 2010 02:07 by Karen

Drum roll, please!!

'Cause here comes the winner of the recent 'What Rocks Your World' competition. Well done Maddy Gilmore, who wrote: "Words – they are MAGICAL and keep me spinning. These are my favourite, spectacular words: succulent, bubbling, raspberry, violet, fizzing and velvet..". Signed books and glitter make-up will on their way to you soon!
As for me, I think my favourite words today would be "Thaw, please!!". As you know, I have love, love, loved the snow, but it's so super icy and slippery round our way that you can't go anywhere or do anything (well, except sledge, I guess).
Anyway, better go and do some work fast, in case Milly's school closes earlier due to the weather again. That's after I put out some bird seed for the wood pigeons I've just seen fluttering about hopefully in the back garden...
Stay warm!
Karen McCombie :c)

posted @ 13 January 2010 03:07 by Karen

Lucky me...

...to live right beside the amazing Alexandra Palace when it's this snowy! The Palace sits on top of a hill, with this great parkland all around, which is ace for sledging!!
OK, OK, so I'm a wimp and don't sledge myself (I get the wibbles with anything involving high speed), but it's a blast heading out there with Milly and all our neighbours and various little kid buddies.
And I had an expected few hellos when I was standing in the snow this afternoon – George and Ben (two very cool Year 10 boys I know) introduced me to their friends, who all happened to have read my books! It was v. v. lovely to meet Daisy, Evie, Josie, Eleanor, Alexandra and Sukey, and I hope I wasn't too much of a disappointment, girls – I probably looked and sounded like an ad for cold remedies (yes, my nose was dripping... so glam!).
Anyway, hope everyone's been having a great few days in this mad weather. But remember to be kind to wee birds (stick some bread out for them) and older people teetering along on icy pavements (give them plenty of space, or ask if they want a hand). It's nice to be, er, nice!
Right, I've just realised that it's getting late and I must go get some snoozles in...
Karen McCombie :c) Zzzzzzzzzz...

posted @ 07 January 2010 15:07 by Karen

Ker-BLAM!!!!!

It was an explosive start to the New Year round these parts – at midnight, our neighbour (who has a certificate in Blowing Up Massive Fireworks or something) set off some whoppers in the middle of our road, which was wildly exciting and probably a little bit dangerous. Still, wow!!
Apart from wow-y fireworks, we had a very good time, partying with our neighbours and all standing out in the street singing "Auld Lang Syne" and disturbing local residents who wanted to go to bed and forget about New Year, I bet. Sorry to those people!!
Actually, because "Auld Lang Syne" is a Scottish song, all our English friends thought me and Tom should know the words (both of us being Scottish), but we actually knew less than they did...
By the way, I'm looking out at a beautiful blue sky at the moment, but see some ominous dark clouds coming... the snow's on its way back, isn't it? Wonder if there'll be snow closure days at school this week?! Better dig that sledge out of the shed again, just in case!
Oh, and before I go, I have to say a massive HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU!!!!!!!
Lots of loveness,
Karen McCombie :c)

posted @ 03 January 2010 05:54 by Karen

"It's behind yoooo!!!"

Sorry if the above heading means nothing to you - you have to a) live in the UK, and b) have gone to a pantomime to get it, I suppose!
Anyway, we took our little girl to see 'Aladdin' on Christmas Eve at the Millfield Arts Theatre in North London, which was her first ever panto – and mine! It was v. v. v. good fun (in a sort of excellently rubbish way), plus at the interval, instead of stuff like popcorn, they sold the best chips I've ever eaten. Fab!!
Christmas was very chilled at ours – just hung out at home here in London and watched Milly endlessly playing with her DSi and Sylvanian wotsits. Then yesterday it was off to South London to visit my old friend Yulinda (we've known each other since we were 13 and at secondary school in Aberdeen) to hang out with all her family, who'd trekked through the snow from icy Scotland!
Am now on S.L.D. (sleepover listening duty) as Milly has her small buddy Freya here for the night, but both being little and prone to wibble-wobbles, I'll be keeping an ear out for "Mum...!" or "Karen...!" in the middle of the night.
I may be slightly on the frazzled, sleep-deprived side tomorrow morning...
Hope you're having a happy holiday, whatever you're up to!
Karen McCombie :c)

posted @ 27 December 2009 15:16 by Karen

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