the lost book launch

The website for our current project, The Lost Book, has gone live!

The project is brilliant fun – it’s a collaborative adventure in storytelling. It’s taking place online and anyone can join in. At its heart is an animated web series. Episode one will launch on 30 January 2009 and we want lots of people to get involved: watching, reading and telling stories.



You can take part straight away if you go over to www.thelostbook.net. The dog doesn’t have a name and we’re asking for suggestions. Leave your thoughts on the blog post.

the lost book branding

Here’s a sneak preview of the branding for The Lost Book.


Doesn’t the logo look amazing?! Alan, Jackie, Jo, Mark and Simon at Front Page are the design geniuses responsible.

The logo is nothing like I’d originally imagined – it’s so much better! I enjoy its simplicity, the graphic style, the way it picks up on a lot of the themes of the web series without being literal, and the palette of colours.

The Lost Book website launches next week, so you’ll see the branding in action then. There’s also a gorgeous bookplate that Front Page has put together for us, but you’ll have to wait until The Lost World Read 2009 launches on 30 January 2009 to see that… unless you’re a BookCrosser, in which case you might get another sneak preview during January.

Front Page is a sponsor of The Lost Book.

etch a christmas card

My favourite Christmas card so far: a pocket Etch A Sketch from Front Page Design! I didn’t have an Etch A Sketch when I was a kid, so I’ve got many lost years of happy sketching to make up for…



Working with Front Page is fun in so many ways!

voice talent

Things are moving fast on The Lost Book. We had our first recording session a week ago; our characters have started to come to life!

We were lucky enough that the two actors we really wanted agreed to join the project (I’m not telling you who they are – you’ll find out when the project website launches at the end of December). They both did a brilliant job, and were great fun to work with.

We’re working on an animatic of the first episode of The Lost Book now, using the actors’ voice track. Once that’s done, we’ll be moving into animation proper.

Oh, and here's another Mobifest press link: The Sunday Times.

words words words

Actually, I’m not sick of words at all.

I love words, and our brilliant copywriter, Stuart Delves of Henzteeth, is making me think in fresh and interesting ways about how I use them.

Henzteeth are sponsoring our current project, The Lost Book, and are writing copy for the project website (which will be launching in late December). Even more exciting: Stuart is running writing workshops with Adam and me to help us to find the voice of The Lost World and to write using that voice.

I get words all day through; it’s great!

mobifest news round-up

Here’s the local press coverage about our "Best Animation" win at Mobifest Toronto 08:

• Edinburgh Evening News


• The Drum (free registration needed to see full article)


• Scottish Screen news


• Scottish Animation Group


• Added 15 December 2008: The Sunday Times

And, Scottish Screen’s eroughcuts email newsletter:



Finally, here’s a great piece in the Toronto Star that gives the background to Mobifest:

• Festival features movies made for cellphones

guardian first book award

I was in London last night for the announcement of the Guardian First Book Award. I was involved in the judging earlier in the year as part of a readers’ panel, so it was great to go to the ceremony. The Edinburgh contingent had a great time.



The winner was Alex Ross, with the brilliant The Rest is Noise.