Nothing makes a fabulous stocking stuffer like a highly-illustrated Adventuremice book... or a big ribbon around the whole series! @philipreeve1 & I recently launched book 7, and it's backed up with lots of fun, free activities at https://t.co/I96QSaGFCB 🐭🐭 @DFB_storyhouse

A quick reminder that these books make perfect Christmas presents for young readers who like adventures and/or mice...

Trying to improve my painting skills is often trying to strike this balance better: capturing the magic of real paint's blending and its attractive imperfection, but also knowing when to keep the palette tight, limit the colours.

Partly saying this to myself; it's tempting in children's books to always throw *all* the colours at pictures. It's much easier to limit my palette with digital colouring, but trickier when working with real paint, as I do now, when colours naturally blend and create new colours

This is quite a good tip for paintings, too; it's nice to have a basic overall palette, possibly even quite muted, but then introduce very occasional tiny surprise colours.

Treehouse cave mice feast, one of my watercolour paintings in 'Adventuremice: Mousehole to the Centre of the Earth' ✍️

My heart still kind of hurts for her from that day. The total lack of respect.

I helped the bookseller clean up, and scoop those awful little juice-sauce packs off the floor. I was utterly embarrassed, even thought the kids - from several different families - weren't mine. She didn't even act surprised at the destruction, just weary.

I once saw children destroy a bookshop during a colleague's book launch. Middle-class parents looked on fondly as their kids climbed the racks of cards and squashed their fruit drinks into the floor. The bookseller said she had to budget at least £200 for damages. I was LIVID.

O no

Here's Ian McQue's cover art for the next Mortal Engines book, Bridge of Storms. (Coming in February, but pre-orderable now from All Good Bookshops.)

https://t.co/vLD6BPOsob

Think I spotted Herizen F. Guardiola in #Pluribus! (Her Mylene Cruz was ace in The Get Down)

Went to see @mediaevalbaebes tonight at @ExeterCathedral: they were brilliant and the venue was perfect ❤️

This year everyone is getting a tail sock!

Hello, @ExeterCathedral!

A couple key ornaments

✨The tree is up! ✨

The Colour of Winter ❄️ Oil on canvas Gary Stretar.

It is SUCH a beautiful barn. Built by Ambrose, who helped us with our tree. (He and his dad built the canoe hanging from the rafters) ❤️

Made our annual visit to the Ashburton Christmas Tree farm ❤️🎄 @stuartpyle #Dartmoor