I am off to the American Library Association Conference in Las Vegas to celebrate my book Maggot Moon winning a Printz honour. Marcus Sedgwick brilliantly won the gold medal. I have never been to Las Vegas and never thought I would, but I think this should be a really fun trip. I’m taking my daughter with me and meeting my son there. We plan to spend five days in a crazy motel in Palm Springs.

The award ceremony invitation specifies a dress code of ‘Dressy casual to business formal’. What does that mean? A dear friend of mine said it’s ‘schmasual’. I’ve found a little black dress that might go up and down the scale, with a bit of jewellery. I’m really chuffed that Candlewick Press is kindly giving a lunch for myself and Susann Cokal. It should be a rather glamorous affair.

I just have to stay away from the slot machines. When my brother and I were very small we stayed at Pontin’s Holiday camp. My brother was given two shillings and sixpence which he put into a slot machine and was very thrilled when he won a load of pennies. He didn’t realise that he had blown most of his pocket money in the first half hour of our holiday.