There is nothing so easy but that it becomes difficult when you do it with reluctance

Terence said this. Terence sounds like the name of somebody who wears corduroy and keeps dubious magazines in his potting shed. It DOESN'T sound like a playwright of the Roman Republic, of North African descent. Not to me, anyway.

Terence

(Looking at his eyes, maybe he DID spend too much time in his potting shed with dubious magazines after all)

SO...I have a project to do and I don't much want to do it. It's to write a story in the style of Horrid Henry using someone else's characters - a commission.

Horrid Henry gets rich quick? No, they mean Francesca Simon gets rich quick. 


My children being that much older - in fact SO very much older that I am in fact younger than they are - I had never read a Horrid Henry. I bought two. Love the illustrations and I can see why Early Readers like them, but if ever writing was formulaic then this is it.  (I suppose...why NOT be formulaic? Good luck to Francesca Simon and all who sail in her) 

But I don't know if I could do it.


The two books I bought had the same number of pages, the same number of chapters and, quite probably, the same number of words on each page. I think I would probably go insane. Even more than I am already. Worse, my soul would shrivel up and die, sustained only by the millions of pounds I was earning.


Having just Found My Voice, I'm blowed if I'm going to suppress it...so...I'm going to write the story in the style of Caroline Coxon...


You can rest easy in your bed now, Francesca.