Falling in Love with the Adventures of Mole

I have spent almost every day so far, this year developing A Month of Writing Adventure for children. It has been a mammoth task, working with an artist, and compiling words and images into a book which is a combination of a teaching guide and creative notebook. It is beautifully illustrated by Charlotte Cleveland who has brought my ideas and story to life. I am sure A Month of Writing Adventure will excite even the most reluctant writer.

By combining story structure with creative skills, A Month of Writing Adventure is a roller-coaster ride with The Story Moles. Full of interesting tasks and challenges, with space in the book for children to explore their own stories though words and pictures.

It has been my constant companion for 2021 so far, and I have, this week, sent him off to the printer! 

I must confess, I was reluctant to let him go, which has never happened to me before. Usually, after all the time it takes to plan, write, re-write, edit, proof and prepare a book for publication, I am glad to see the back of it.

But A Month of Writing Adventure is different, although I console myself with the fact that waving him off to the printer is only the end of phase one and there is much more to come.  

I am now recording daily video prompts to support the children through the tasks in the book, and planning a website where I can chat to the children and they can ask questions and share their work with me.

It has taken me longer than I’d planned to get to this point, but that’s because there are so many ‘firsts’ for me in this project that it has been a learning process from the start. 

• It is the first time I have created a book for children
• The first time I have worked with an illustrator
• The first time I have used a physical, local printer and not uploaded straight to Amazon
• The first time I have consulted with others (teachers) on the content of the book
• And the first time I have been paid upfront to create a book, thanks to National Lottery funding from Arts Council England.

All of these things are a learning curve. And I could not be more excited by the outcomes so far and by the possibilities which our Little Mole has opened up.

It is a new direction for me; yet another genre to add to the collection, but it ties in well with the workshops I deliver in schools.

It has also sparked ideas for more Mole books with the illustrator, both fiction and non-fiction. And with feedback from teachers, I have identified a gap which my books could fill, opening a whole new writing chapter for me.

So yes, I am excited to be on this path and if writing for children brings me more joy than writing romances and women’s fiction, then what’s not to love?

The future is Mole….