It’s been a bit quiet here since the excitement of Book at Bedtime, mainly because I’m concentrating on writing the next book, and there’s nothing more dull than hearing a writer angsting on about progress on their difficult second novel, so I’ll spare you that. But one thing I am doing is a spot of mentoring for the Koestler Trust.

Ordinarily, I wouldn’t say much about this because of confidentiality issues, but fortunately for me my mentee (and I’m assured that that is a real word) is Shaun Attwood of Jon’s Jail Journal, a blog he kept while in prison in Arizona, and he’s blogged the experience from his angle here. As I mentioned to Shaun, I sound like a bit of the dragon lady – I’m sure I wasn’t quite so blunt in my assessments face to face. But it’s always fascinating to catch a glimpse of oneself in someone else’s mirror, and if anyone is interested in joining the Koestler scheme – or mentoring in any capacity – it might be worth keeping an eye on our progress through the year. I’ll post up here with links as we go, but I urge you all to check out Shaun’s blog anyway, for his lively tales of life in America’s jails and beyond