I am a Media Tie-in Writer

It sounds like something you'd hear at a discreet meeting in a village hall somewhere.

"Hi, my name's Jon."

"Hi, Jon."

"And I'm a media tie-in writer."

Polite round of applause.

So, the secret's out. I'm sure many of you were already aware that I had a media tie-in habit - what with all my Warhammer and Warhammer 40K books, not to mention the comic strips I've written for TMNT, and then there's my Doctor Who stuff - but I've finally come clean and admitted it.

And to help me with my addiction I've joined a support group, the IAMTW, otherwise known as the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers.

You can find out more about the IAMTW here. And you can blame Nathan Long's intervention for my joining.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

I had an unexpected, but pleasant, surprise today. Last year I received one of the strangest commissions I've ever had, and that was to write Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic strips and short stories - for Russia!

I did the job, got paid, and promptly forgot about it. And then today I received a couple of emails containing English PDFs of the work I'd did, which was nice. It's especially satisfying to see the finished artwork, my descriptions of which were as vital as the words I put in the characters' mouths in my stories. So here are a couple just to show you what I've been up to.

And, of course, I can now call myself an official Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles writer.

Quite excited

I'm quite excited at the moment because within the space of twenty-four hours I've been commissioned to write another Star Wars book as well as something not unconnected with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. So you can add another popular childhood (or possibly teenager-dom) franchise to the list that I will have written for now. Colour me pleased.