ARE WE THERE YET?! ARE WE THERE YET?! https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🤣" title="Lachend auf dem Boden rollen" aria-label="Emoji: Lachend auf dem Boden rollen"> Only 3 more sleeps to go before #ELSETIME is published!!! Like Glory Bobbin in the story, I am feeling a *little* impatient, so here are a few fun facts about Elsetime while we wait! https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😊" title="Lächelndes Gesicht mit lächelnden Augen" aria-label="Emoji: Lächelndes Gesicht mit lächelnden Augen"> 1/7

#ELSETIME was inspired by a real event: The Great Flood of London 1928. Writing draft 1, imagine my shock (& https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="☹" title="Stirnrunzelndes Gesicht" aria-label="Emoji: Stirnrunzelndes Gesicht">) when I found this clipping - for one of the characters, I had already chosen the same name as one of the 14 lost souls: Mrs Quick. This was a story I HAD to tell! 2/7

#ELSETIME’s Needle has a condition where he can hear sounds in colour (it’s a form of synaesthesia). Each word itself has a colour, like ‘thimble’ is a fingernail-pink word, but say it like you hate it and his mind will fill with red! What colour is ‘Elsetime’, I wonder?! https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😀" title="Grinsendes Gesicht" aria-label="Emoji: Grinsendes Gesicht"> 3/7

#ELSETIME’s crow is called Magpie. She was inspired by gift-bearing birds visiting our garden feeders! In exchange for nuts and seeds, two hooded crows would leave behind shards of metal or glass and, on the rare occasion, something special – even a tiny Spiderman head! https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😃" title="Lächelndes Gesicht mit geöffnetem Mund" aria-label="Emoji: Lächelndes Gesicht mit geöffnetem Mund"> 4/7

#ELSETIME features one of my favourite things: a hagstone (super-rare stone with a hole!). Rich in folklore, they have been used for centuries to ward off bad luck & provide protection. Apparently, if you look through one, you will see another world.https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💫" title="Symbol für Benommenheit" aria-label="Emoji: Symbol für Benommenheit">Have you ever found one? 5/7

#ELSETIME’s story unfolds in a town called ‘Inthington’ – taken from an old saying of my mom’s whenever she bought something new: ‘Oh, sure isn’t that the ‘in thing’!’ Writing #ELSETIME was fun! https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😀" title="Grinsendes Gesicht" aria-label="Emoji: Grinsendes Gesicht"> Nearly all character and street names are based on a theme! Can you guess it? 6/7

#ELSETIME was inspired by my treasure hunting twins – like Needle in Elsetime, they would hold each piece in their hands, imagining its wild story of times past! Here is a painting I made of their favourite finds. They tell me each piece is worth millions – lucky things! https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😘" title="Kusshand zuwerfendes Gesicht" aria-label="Emoji: Kusshand zuwerfendes Gesicht"> 7/7