My picture book The Race for the Chinese Zodiac came out yesterday. I’m down on the south coast working on my next series of novels so I visited the local bookshop to see if they had it in stock. To my disappointment, but not my surprise, they didn’t. Then later, as I passed the secondhand bookstore I saw A Ghost in My Suitcase sitting on the front table being sold for half price. It’s the first time I’ve seen one of my books being secondhanded. I was almost tempted to buy it myself as if it was a child of mine that had suddenly been orphaned and needed a new home.

How silly. Once a book is out there, you as a writer need to let it go. You no longer have control over its life. Some readers will love it, some will dislike it, some will treasure it and keep it until they grow old, as I have done with many of my favourite childhood books. And there’ll be others who will sell it to a secondhand bookshop to begin life all over again.

We writers are highly sensitive people and one of the greatest pleasures is to be told by a reader that their book was loved.

So I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the readers who have enjoyed my books and especially those who have either told me in person, or written an email to me.

Writers cannot live on words alone.