The Joan Lennon Clippings Service

The trickle has become a bit more of a dribble this week. Fortunately I have many spies, otherwise I'd miss half of what's going on in Questors land. First off, which I found out about because a friend's brother-in-law posted it to her, was a feature in The Scotsman from 1 Jan. - "Scotswomen To Watch in 2007". (There are 15 of us.)

"14 Joan Lennon
Age: 53
What does she do? Children's writer
Why you should watch out for her: From her house in Fife, overlooking the Tay, Canadian-born writer Lennon dreams up a number of alternative universes that will be coming our way in 2007. First up this month is Questors, in which three teenagers from three different worlds are in a race to repair a tear in the space-time continuum. Later this year, she'll be unveiling the first of her Wickit Chronicles series."

Very nice, I thought, until, being human, I read the other entries and realised that although one woman's 37-inch legs and the amount they were insured for was written about, my own legs were not mentioned at all. Not either of them. Alerted, I've been checking every other article and review this week even more carefully than usual, and would you believe it, not one person has spoken of my lower appendages, not even in a critical way. I won't say I'm bitter, but it has taken the edge off a little ...

On Friday, I walked into my Tai Chi class and was greeted with cries of "We saw your article in the paper!" Thereby alerted, I rushed off (well, after the class - I'd have had to do it in slow motion otherwise) and bought a bunch of copies of The Courier. The article is called "Where There Be Dragons" and is not far off half a page, with a big picture of me and the Chinese horse. The charming young Jack McKeown has done me proud, even without finding leg-room. So to speak.

I'm still doing interviews, and teaching has started, and I'd like to say I've started writing again, but I can't because I haven't. It's the trauma with the leg thing. Really it is. Maybe next week ...

Cheers, Joan.

P.S. Full face copies of Questors have now been spotted in the Waterstones in Edinburgh and St Andrews and TWO Waterstones stores in London. Keep me posted, all sightings will be welcomed!