Most of my personal projects start off as a joke, See Tom Cruise Run was no different. The only difference might be the encouragement my friends gave me when I pitched them the idea, much like a comedian might try out bits on unsuspecting people.

I went off and wrote, illustrated, then published the book with no prior knowledge of what I was getting myself into. I wanted the book to look 'legit' with a barcode and everything. In order to get a real barcode I had to register myself as a publisher and buy ten (they weren't sold individually). This turned out to be a good thing in the end because without a barcode, shops won't stock your book.

My friends were oddly surprised when I presented them with printed copies of this elaborate joke and asked me why I did it, I said 'you told me to!'

There's a lesson in that somewhere.

Another odd and slightly unexpected result was that although the book was squarely aimed at adults, children really, really enjoyed it. More than adults actually. Turns out you don't even need to be a Tom Cruise fan or know who he is to enjoy it, but it certainly helps.