Being the last man in the UK who doesn't own a mobile phone and can only work his computer by instinct has its disadvantages. I don't have a clue whether or not this is the right place to say so, but I've just uploaded the first part of a novel, working title 'Finding Grace', on the Novel II group, and would be delighted with any comments. Thank you.

Terry,

You are not alone. I hope I never shall own a mobile phone; as for IT I am not the smartest person although I am trying...
I have looked at 'Finding Grace'... most impressed.

Len

I do not own a mobile phone.

Nor I.

Being in a small, elite, group of highly intelligent and idiosyncratic indivduals who don't own mobile phones has its disadvantages. One of them is you can't get away with hyperbole.

Terry, that statement is hurting my brain.

I'll just get me phone ...

Ha...

<Added>

I think the google sidebar may be driving me slightly crazy. A second ago it was advertising a site about brain tumours - doubtless due to my mention of a hurt brain in the last post - now it's disappeared and I'm wondering if it was ever there at all.

The amusing thing about mobile phones is that when you don't have one, you don't need one, but as soon as you get one, you can't live without it.

A friend who's been single for some years is saying the same thihng about women.

Thihng? Hopefully women last slightly longer than most mobile phones.

But I thought people were always replacing theirs with new models.

So true!

I wanted to ask you something Terry. You've had children's books published - would you say that it's easier than finding a publisher for an adult novel?

If anything, it may well be harder, both in terms of getting published and in making any money from it. I'd say there are, very broadly, two kinds of fiction books published for children (i.e. excluding educational, non-fiction, etc): marketed series and quality stuff. The marketed stuff is planned by publishers and/or agents and/or packagers, then writers (or non-writers, as is sometimes the case) are found to fill in the brief. The quality stuff (and I believe UK quality children's writers are exceptionally good) tends to be produced by writers who are long-established (e.g. Peter Dickinson, Jan Mark, Alison Prince), with a decreasing number of more recent ones such as David Almond. The great thing about children's quality writers is that they have an almost gauranteed market (libraries, schools and fans) and can therefore write pretty much anything they want. The bad news is that it's now extremely difficult for new quality writers to break into the field.

We all know about the Harry Potter exceptions, but they are very rare, and maybe restricted to just HP. For example, it may seem as if Philip Pullman suddenly appeared with His Dark Materials, but in fact he was an already established quality writer.

Having said all that, and this is only my view, I do believe that the majority of children's fiction editors really do love good children's books. Therefore, if you can write something that is genuinely brilliant, it stands a chance.

Terry, thanks for the info - I'm not sure I'm drawn to write for children, I just wondered.

<Added>

And reading my question again it sounds somewhat rude - hope you didn't take it that way as it wasn't intended!