Right…So day one went quite well. The studios are in a business park called the Warner Ranch, so I’m guessing it was built where Warner Bros. studios used to have their ranch. (All the studios had ranches – it was where they shot their Westerns, but one by one they have sold them off. Shame!)

Anyway, the Listening Library studios are in a modern building and all the individual studios are quite small. They have a room that is floor-to-ceiling tapes of books (I shall snag a pic tomorrow) and when you go to their lunch room there is always someone sitting and snacking who introduces themselves with the sort of wonderful mellifluous voice you associate with professional readers. (This does not describe my voice at all, BTW.)

The studios are quite small compared to the kind of studios where bands record. There is a comfy chair (yay!) in front of which there is a music stand for the manuscript and a very large microphone. My director is called Christine and she sits there and every so often tells me to slow down, or pause at particular points. She’s really wonderful and so encouraging and helpful.

So…after day one, we have completed five chapters. Tomorrow — onward and upward!

Whoa! When these audio book people get going they don’t waste any time! I’m going into the studio on Tuesday to start reading the book. They work from 10am to around 3 or 4 in the afternoon and reckon it will probably take four days. Apparently it usually takes three, but as I haven’t done it before it will probably take longer. (Good guess!)

I’ll take my camera and post pix next week…or maybe the week after.

A month or so ago I heard that audio rights have gone to Listening Library, which is terrific.  I was really pleased and started wondering who would read it, until a friend suggested that I read it myself.  I hadn’t thought of that, but now that the idea had been put into my head I decided to go for it (assuming they couldn’t get Emma Thompson ).

I practiced reading a section (the part where they find the green box and call the Hunt) and then recorded it in my hastily assembled “recording studio.” This consisted of installing some audio software on my laptop and kitting out the walk-in closet in my bedroom with a small table,  microphone, pop screen and mic stand. I wanted to give it my best shot, but it took a while – partly because I kept messing up and partly because Zulu kept peeking through the doors and wailing. Anyway, I managed to record a 13 minute section and sent it along to my agent, who sent it to Feiwel & Friends, who sent it to Listening Library.

Then the waiting started…

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I just received a copy of the artwork for the UK paperback edition and I’m really loving it. This cover is different because they felt that the orange and black hardback cover wouldn’t work in paperback. How great does the Wild Hunt look?

I have met some readers!  Last Wednesday I visited the children’s book club at the Studio City Library near where I live. I had spoken with Barbara, the fabulous librarian, a number of times and she had asked if I’d like her to ask some questions to get the ball rolling or if I wanted to just leave it to the kids.  I was afraid of one of those difficult silences where everyone stares at everyone else and no one knows quite what to say, but I needn’t have worried.  The girls were absolutely brimming with questions and comments about the book and we had a great conversation about the book, ghost stories, oracles and everything.

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An interview that I did with Sarah from Park Ridge Public Library in Park Ridge, IL, has just gone up. You can find it at the library’s “Books We Love” site here.  As usual, I yack on quite a bit.  Sometimes there’s just no shutting me up!

It was fun to do, though, and even better because I discovered someone else who likes old cookbooks.

Well, the hols are officially over and so I’ve applied nose to grindstone and posted a new blog on the Tor.com site.  It’s called “Read Like A Child.” Please have a look and let me know what you think!

Here’s hoping that 2010 will be a wonderful year for everyone. This is Zulu the kitten demonstrating the best method of relaxing as we launch into a new decade (well, not a new decade mathematically, but you get what I mean).