I wrote The Moon Child in the middle of the night in February 2021. I do lots of my creative thinking then as I'm so busy with the girls or working in the daytime. We had wondered if my 9-year old was coming on her period because she had some spotting. She was at the young age of the spectrum and hadn't shown any other signs as yet so we sought advice. I was already researching, training and in the process of creating Girls Rising Movement and I wanted to be able to inspire in her the awe and wonder of periods, puberty and the menstrual cycle instead of just the dry facts or the fear and dread that so many people talk of when they first started their periods.
I have worked as a storyteller for children for over 10-years, so I know a good structure of a story naturally. The story came to me and I couldn't stop thinking about it, so I got up about 3am, made a cup of tea and wrote the whole story through to the end.
I then sent it to a friend who is a professional author to read and she loved it and encouraged me to take it further. Cue me researching children's illustrators and kid literature groups to get more feedback and editing of the story ready and finding a publisher.
I spoke to a few self-publishing companies, but when Happy Designer (who I chose to illustrate my book) told me about Partnership Publishing and how they work with the moon cycles to market and publish their books, I had a good feeling! It has worked well!
I didn't realise consciously that writing and publishing a children's book was an ambition I had, but when the story dropped I knew I needed to flow with it. I have read Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert and I know creativity does not come from us but through us and that in that moment, this story had chosen me!
Turns out I've got the writing bug now! :-)
Publishing date isn't far away now so if you'd like to pre-order a copy (with tips and conversation starters inside), Here is the link to order.