I have just received first pages for my new Aussie Bite, The Lion Drummer. It’s always exciting getting these from the publisher because for the first time you see your manuscript looking like the real thing. Before a book is published there are three sets of pages – first pages, second pages and third pages. This is the time the author and the editors check for last minute corrections. Most of the corrections should appear on first pages so that by third pages it should be completely clear of red pen marks. Then it’s off to the typesetters for the last time and ready for that miraculous transformation into a living book.

The Lion Drummer is illustrated by Andrew Mclean, an illustrator I really admire.