So here come the thank-yous part two!
Huge thanks to Sara Ogilvie for her stunning illustrations. They are simply a joy.
I also want to give a massive thank-you to the wonderful people at Piccadilly Press and Bonnier Zaffre for showing so much love and excitement for the series.
To my lovely editors – Georgia Murray, who has brought so much to these books, and Talya Baker, for her eagle-eyed expertise. You have both made this whole process great fun.
To Emma Matthewson for bringing the idea to the Piccadilly team in the first place and to Jane Harris for making my dragons and me feel so at home.
Massive thanks to Nick Stearn, whose cover design and vision for these books, along with Sara’s wonderful artwork, has made all three of them so beautiful. And to Sue Michniewicz for her care and creativity with the internal design and layout – you have all made these books look amazing, thank you!
As Tomas might say, megatastic thanks to James Horobin, Nico Poilblanc, and the whole sales team, who have championed Tomas and the dragons from the very start; Ruth Logan, Ilaria Tarasconi and Angie Willocks for their hard work in getting these books out into the wider world; Nicola Chapman and Tina Mories for their efforts with the marketing and PR; Heather Featherstone for expert proofreading and Jamie Taylor for organising the paper and printing and arranging things with the lovely folks at Clays the printers, who welcomed me in to see The Boy Who Grew Dragons flying off the press.
A big shout-out to all my new bookish friends – an unexpected and brilliant part of writing has been meeting such amazing people. You’re an inspiring bunch!
Special thanks to Polly Faber, Lorraine Gregory, Maz Evans, Ross Montgomery and Kiran Millwood Hargrave for reading my debut before it was even properly in the world and for their lovely comments about it. Also to James Nicol, Vashti Hardy, Jen Killick and my writing twin, Tizzie Frankish. You have all been generous to a fault with advice and support. Thank you for making this whole mad malarkey so much fun.
There are some writers who genuinely inspire you to keep going – I’m grateful to Caroline Green, Abi Elphinstone and SF Said for their advice and honesty along the way.
An extra special thank-you to the book bloggers and reviewers who work so hard to share their love of books with a wider audience. Especially the mighty Jo Clarke – Jo, your excitement for books is infectious! Thanks for all your enthusiasm and support over the past couple of years – and the laughs; you really do keep me grinning!
Similarly to another Jo – my super-agent Jo Williamson.
Finally, to Ian, my rock through everything. And Ben and Jonas – my wonderful boys. Thank you for bringing magic to my everyday.