The picture on the right is what I look like on a good day when the sun is shining. I am wearing my favourite shirt and my ear rings are origami cranes (that's cranes as in a type of bird, not cranes as used to make tall buildings).
Story writing wa
s my favourite lesson when I was at school. I teach two days a week and story writing is still my favourite lesson.
I once taught a class with lots of children who - and you might find this hard to believe - lo
ved football more than writing. So I wrote Literacy in Action: Football which has writing lessons all about the beautiful game.
After that I wrote a book with games to play in the classroom during literacy lessons. It is called Classroom Literacy Games. My class tried the games out and told me how to make them harder and also easier. So each game has four different versions.
My next book will be published in 2013 and is called Helping Children Think About Bereavement. It is a thinking sort of story book.
I am writer-in-residence at a school in Hemel Hempstead which I love because I do story things with fantastic children for lots
of days.
In between times I'm writing a book about an off-the-wall dog and the family he lives with. The drafting stage is over and now I'm editing it. I like editing because the story gets better and better. Sometimes I edit a sentence twenty times before I am happy with it.
I am also writing Story Market packs. They will be published on this website soon and cost £2.50. Each pack has chapter one with space for illustrations, help so you can write chapter two, a board game, format to create your own game, a way to make a book so you can publish what you write, and a suggestion list of other things to write.
A few other things about me; I have led children's writing weeks at Scargill Retreat Centre on the North York Moors, driven steam trains in Poland and eaten malt bread and Maltesers (not at the same time). I love Maltesers. I like crunching them between my teeth as my hand reaches out for the next one.
I was once a finalist in an LA based script writing competition (that was very exciting) and my first children's book was published in 1996 (that was exciting as well). It was called Message in a Bottle.
I've had over thirty titles published with lots of different publishers - stories, plays and more recently, books for teachers. Some of my stories have been broadcast on BBC Radio, I've been a judge of a poetry competition and taken part in the St Albans Child Literacy Campaign.
Sometimes I work with teachers and we think of ways to help children write better stories and how to make books. Did you know that teachers can be very, very funny? What is your teacher like?
I do things with Open the Book, Child Bereavement Charity and Trussell Trust (charities working in Bulgaria and the UK) and I love reading, gardening, watching films, eating meals with friends and dreaming up quirky ideas whilst lying by a swimming pool with palm trees swaying gently in the breeze.
In the last few years I have worked in schools in America, Croatia and Poland. I love going to new places and meeting new people.
The supermarket is one of my favourite places because there are always lots of people who might give me an idea for a story. I live in Amersham, Bucks with my husband. If we are shopping and I see someone who is very interesting, he asks me not to stare for too long. In fact, he asks me not to state at all. It is too embarrassing.
We have two brilliant sons and two brilliant daughters-in-law who are never embarrassing.
My birthday is on August 1st, I was born in Stoke-on-Trent, live in a semi-detached house, drive a silver polo, one of my favourite words is 'random' and one of my favourite children's books is Michael Foreman's War Game.
As well as Maltesers and malt bread (with Lurpak butter spread thickly on top - one of my sisters likes malt bread with sardine paste), I also love eating Twirls, Dairy Milk Chocolate Bars (the large sized ones), Mint Aeros, After Eights, raw carrots and Fuji apples.
I hope you like eating raw carrots and apples as well because they are good for you.
Anyway, enjoy the rest of your day and thank you for visiting my website.
Heather
Here are some of the schools I have visited in the last few years.
Aboyne Lodge, St Albans
ACS Cobham International School, Surrey
Ash Hill Primary, High Wycombe
Binscombe, Junior, Godalming
Bishop-Winnington-Ingram, Ruislip
Blair Peach Primary, Southall
Booker Hill Primary, High Wycombe
Bourne Primary, Ruislip
Busbridge Junior, Godalming
Carrington Junior, Flackwell Heath, Bucks
Castlefield Combined, High Wycombe
Cedar Park, Hazlemere, Bucks
Chalfont St Giles Infant, Bucks
Chalfont St Peter Infant, Bucks
Chartridge Combined, Bucks
Chesham Bois CE Combined, Bucks
Chestnut Lane Infants, Amersham, Bucks
Clapham Manor Primary, London
Coleshill Infant, Bucks
Colham Manor Primary, Uxbridge
Colbbrook CofE, Slough
Coteford Infants, Pinner, Middlesex
Coteford Junior, Middlesex
Crabtree Infant, Harpenden
Disraeli Combined, High Wycombe
Elangeni Junior, Amersham, Bucks
Farnham Royal CE Primary, Slough
Field End Junior, Ruislip
Folkestone Academy (Primary), Kent
Galley Hill Primary, Hemel Hempstead
Gerrards Cross CE, Bucks
Great Missenden CE Combined, Bucks
Grey Friars, Lichfield
Gilbert Scott Junior, Croydon
Goccio Elementary, Sarasota, Florida, America
Haddenham Infants, Bucks
Harefield infants, Middlesex
Harmondsworth Primary, Middlesex
Hazel Leys Primary, Northamptonshire
Hermitage Primary, Middlesex
High Wycome CofE, Bucks
Highfield Primary, Uxbridge
Highwood Primary, Herts
Highworth Combined, High Wycombe, Bucks
Hobletts Manor Junior School, Herts
Holmer Green Junior, Bucks
Holmer Green Upper, Bucks
Holwell Primary, Welwyn Garden City
Holy Trinity CE, Hazlemere, Bucks
Holy Trinity CE, Waltham Cross, Herts
Holy Trinity Primary, Hillingdon
Holywell Primary, Herts
Ivybridge Primary, Isleworth
Kingsfield Primary, Chatteris, Cambs
Kings Wood Primary, High Wycombe
Knutsford School, Watford
Lady Bankes Infant, Ruislip
Langafel CE Primary, Kent
Leagrave Primary, Luton
Leamore Primary, Walsall
Ley Hill School, Chesham, Bucks
Linton Mead Primary, Thamesmead
Little Kingshill Combined, Bucks
Little Missenden CE Infant, Bucks
Little Spring Primary, Chesham, Bucks
Longmead Primary, West Drayton
Manor Farm Communiy Junior, Hazlemere, Bucks
March Infant, High Wycombe
Mayfield Primary, Hanwell
Marlborough House, Kent
Minet Infants, Hayes
Navigation Primary, Altrincham, Greater Manchester
Oak Farm Infants, Hillingdon
Oak Green Primary, Aylesbury
Oaklands Junior, Crowthorne
Orwell Park School, Ipswich
Osijek Secondary, Osijek, Croatia
Parkgate Primary, Watford
Pengeulan Primary, Mountain Ash, Wales
Perthcelyn Community, Mountain Ash, Wales
Pinkwell Primary, Hillingdon
Priory CE Primary, Trentham, Stone-on-Trent
Pupil Referral Unit, Aylesbury
Queen Eleanor CE Primary, Guildford
Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre, Bucks
Robertswood Primary, Chalfont St Peter, Bucks
Roebuck Primary, Stevenage
Silsoe Lower School, Beds
Silverstone Infant, Northamptonshire
St Andrews CE, Uxbridge
St Charles Borromeo, Weybridge
St Clement's & Bethany Federation, Bournemouth
St Helen's College, Hillingdon
St Joseph's Catholic Combined, Chalfont St Peter, Bucks
