Hamish McHaggis and the Clan Gathering, the latest book in the series,  was launched at Edinburgh castle, much to the delight of visitors –  and Hamish thought it was great fun, too!

It was very exciting to be in Edinburgh Castle to mark the launch of  the 9th book in the  Hamish McHaggis series.

McHaggises from all over the world decend on Coorie Doon for their own clan gathering in this new adventure.

2009 is Scotland’s Year of Homecoming, and  the Clan Gathering in July is one of the major events of the year.   Hamish and his Whirry Bang will be at the Clan Gathering in edinburgh and Sally and I will be there to read the story and show how to draw the characters.  See the events page for more details.

Hamish McHaggis and his Whirry Bang visited the Falkirk Wheel at Easter

Delighting fans old and new, Hamish and his Whirry Bang  were there all day.  In  a special boat families joined me to hear the latest  Hamish McHaggis story and Sally showed them how to draw Hamish. When they returned from their ride on the wheel Hamish was waiting to meet the children.

In the last three weeks I have been talking to children in a nursery school, all ages of primary schools, some teenagers, some young offenders.and also adult writing groups.

I have travelled around the country in all kinds of weather and managed to get some writing done, too, at least making a start on my new teenage novel, although not as much of a start as I would have liked.  It keeps me on my toes moving from picture books to novel and back again.

In between all this rushing around there have been some slightly bizarre happenings.  At the moment we are in the midst of converting a vehicle into hamish McHaggis’s home made car, the Whirry Bang, and a talented lady called Anna is busy constructing a life size Hamish suit.  These will soon be appearing around the country at special events after the latest Hamish McHaggis book comes out in April.