If you haven’t gotten the new book yet, here’s one of Humphrey’s Top Secret Scribbles that gives a hint about just one of the many secrets in the book:

There’s just one thing I want to know:

Which of my friends is about to go?

Eeek! Go? Who? Where? When?

Book 10 in the Humphrey series, Secrets According to Humphrey, is now out in the US and UK. Around the time it came out, I was writing revisions on Book 11, which will be out in 2015. I’m not sure I’m ready to share the title quite yet, but it was interesting for me to write because it deals with the writing process. And that gave me a lot to think about.

Writers are always working in strange time frames, writing Christmas books in the summer, writing summer books in the winter – we’re never quite in sync with real time. But then, we pretty much live in our imaginations so life is perpetual time travel. (I’m not complaining about that!) In the US, the Humphrey books first come out in hardcover. A year later, the book comes out in paperback, usually around the time the new hardcover comes out. In the UK, the books are only in paperback.

From the emails I get, I can tell that lots of fans are very impatient for the next book to come out. But one a year is fine for me … and there have been other books that take up time, such as the Tiny Tales series in the UK. These are shorter, slightly younger books with illustrations. Why aren’t these books available in the US? So many fans ask that question. They were actually contracted for by Penguin before they were written and published by my London publisher, Faber & Faber.

But things are happening in the US … so hold on to your hats and I’ll let you know what’s happening soon. Let’s just say I’m very HAPPY-HAPPY-HAPPY about the way things are going!

For ardent fans in the US, I have to recommend Humphrey’s new-ish activity book: HUMPHREY’S BOOK OF FUN-FUN-FUN. All kinds of games and jokes based on all the Humphrey books. (I love puzzles, so I’m a big fan of this book myself.) And there’s a very comprehensive pet care book, HUMPHREY’S WORLD OF PETS. For anyone who loves all kinds of animals, it’s a fun book packed with really great information on caring for everything from rodents, dogs and cats to way more exotic animals. But it’s also filled with fun facts and jokes as well.

And I have a tiny window of opportunity to write something other than Humphrey. I know Humphrey fans would prefer that I only write about their favorite hamster … but I need to do some other writing for my own mental health … and to keep Humphrey fresh. Because one of the secrets behind the Humphrey books is keeping the pace manageable.