Happy Publication Day everyone!

 

Our fourth Publication Day of 2026 brings a whole new collection of exciting stories, from a wonderful collective of talented authors!

 

To introduce them, we are continuing a fun feature for the year – Ask Our Authors – where we send all our newly published writers the same simple question to see how different each answer is…

 

 

For our April authors, we asked them: What was the most challenging part of writing this book?

 

 

 

Here are their answers…

 

 

As primarily an adult fiction writer my biggest challenge was to write a book directed to children in a language appropriate for their age. What I decide in the end was to tell the story just the way I had to my daughter when she was little. This story has lived with me for 18 years and it changed very little since the beginning.   

 

Kate Gawi, author of Wingaling – The Wingless Little Angel.

 

 

 

Basically when I wrote this book it felt as if the movie was running through my mind and I was just writing down the lines of the story. I imagined the characters talking out loud and I was merely the typist just writing what they were saying. I loved writing this story and I would not have it any other way.            

 

Anupa Tailor, author of Grandma Washer Lady.

 

 

 

I think the most challenging part of writing this book was keeping it accessible to the younger reader whilst making a non-traumatic emotional impact !   

 

Tara Spencer, author of Take Me Home.

 

 

 

The most important part was making sure the story had a positive message for children—showing them that trying something new, like swimming, can be a little scary at first but also fun and rewarding. 

 

Karen Lane, author of Reggie Goes Swimming.

 

 

 

I knew I wanted to have a theme throughout, but I believe the challenging part was how to convey that message. The lesson of the book is honesty, and I wanted that lesson to flow through the book nicely and be more of a subtle undertone in the book as I felt this was more aimed a children. So while the children can read about a short story of pets and friendship, the lesson will hopefully stay with them without them knowing. I also wanted to ensure the characters were portrayed correctly, as I knew my pets had so much personality and that everyone deserved to see that.  

 

Ellie Montgomery, author of Monty and Luna.

 

 

 

I find writing my children's books, not only for this one in particular, often changes between my illustrations that I imagine to specific words that bounce at me for a particular subject. The most challenging part at times is finding the right rhyming words. When busy with a book idea, I spend a considerable amount of time with various sentence options and sometimes with no rhyme at all just to see where it lands. Sometimes, I illustrate first and then write accordingly as this helps me see visually the words which I want to express or use to describe the scene. Inspiration comes at any moment, for me its often on the train while commuting or while sitting at a coffee shop or park and when it comes, notes on the phone is my go to place to jot it down.             

 

Candice Vermaak, author of Adventures of Blue – Destinations.

 

 

 

In writing our book, we were desperate to do two things: firstly, to share a fantastic experience as father and son to hopefully create a funny, engaging adventure story, which people would love to read. But we also wanted to share a message of positivity around autism. Jack, who is the hero of the book, as well as it's co-author and illustrator, is autistic, but in our family, we all see Jack's autism as his superpower and something that helps to shape the kind, caring, wonderful and inspiring person that he is. So we wanted to keep that message as an integral part of everything that takes place. Spoiler alert: it is the reason why the Prime Minister gives him such an important job and it is a message we keep referring back to throughout the story. But the challenging part was constantly remembering not to lose that focus and drift off into adventures and occurrences which would alter the perception of our message if Jack suddenly acted in a way that would be out of character for him. So we always had to concentrate and think in every situation: how would Jack deal with this? Our tip would be that people have to be invested in your characters and for people to care about them, that consistency is really important to make them believable and easy to relate to, which helps us, hopefully, to start to achieve our goal to spread positivity and increase awareness around autism.           

 

Simon and Jack Griffin, author of My Superpower.

 

 

 

"The biggest challenge was connecting my characters into one story. I had created the characters many years ago, but I didn't have a plot for them yet. It was difficult to bring them all together into a single narrative without it feeling awkward or forced.

Another challenge was the language. I wrote the original version in Chinese and used AI to translate it into English. Since I am still learning how to use English in a British context, it was a struggle to make sure the story still felt right. I hope readers will be patient if some of the phrasing feels a little unusual."  

 

Musta Tong, author of Ernest and Musta.

 

 

 

My children's book is a combination of fact and fiction, and I think the hardest part was working out how to get my characters, Jane and Zach, from one part of the human body to another. As a medical writer by trade, accuracy is key, so I had to stop myself from over-analysing things. I had to remind myself, “Liz, this is a story…this part doesn’t have to be scientifically correct; this bit can be fiction.” Once I allowed myself that freedom, it definitely became easier.        

 

Liz Walder, author of The Professor Heart Adventures: Series 1 - Heading inside the human body.

 

 

 

"One of the most difficult parts of writing this book was finding a way to express the depth of my feelings without allowing the story to become only about me. My intention was never simply to recount my own experience, but to create something that could belong to others as well—something that might speak to anyone who has walked through the quiet devastation of loss and trauma.

Grief is a strange and powerful force. It moves through us in waves, lifting us one moment and pulling us under the next. It can carry our emotions to places we never expected to go, often without warning. Putting these feelings into words meant returning to moments I had once pushed aside, emotions I had carefully folded away just to keep moving forward. Writing required me to open those spaces again, to sit with them, and to understand them in a new light.

The process was not easy. There were times when the words felt heavy, when each sentence asked me to face something I had long tried to silence. Yet within that vulnerability, something meaningful began to take shape.

This book was written with the hope that no one who reads it will feel alone in their pain. Loss may separate us in our individual experiences, but it also connects us through our shared humanity. My wish is that the pages offer not only understanding, but also a quiet reminder that even in the darkest moments, love does not disappear. It remains within us—steady, enduring, and capable of guiding us toward healing."           

 

 

Michael Walker, author of The Star That Never Fades.

 

 

 

The aim of this book is to acknowledge children's emotions, not minimise them, so that children reading this book feel their emotions reflected honestly in the characters.  Therefore, the most challenging part of writing this book was making sure that it used age appropriate language to convey the right message whilst also ensuring that the take home point from the book will stay with children and parents alike.    

 

Edelle Green, author of It’s OK to be Sad.

 

 

 

"The most challenging parts of writing this book were striking a balance between imagination and reality. While the story is entirely fictional, I deliberately wove in elements inspired by real ancient artefacts and languages.

The difficulty came in making those elements feel seamless. I wanted readers to question where the line was: what was drawn from history, and what was created purely from imagination. To achieve that, I had to do a surprising amount of research, while also knowing when to step away from facts and let the story breathe."      

 

Tony M.Adams, author of Maisie Myers: Two Worlds.

 

 

 

The challenge was balancing the length of the rhyming couplets, ensuring that they helped to move the story along whilst engaging a young audience and capturing their imagination. I really wanted to introduce the audience to new descriptive words to foster their developing vocabulary, choosing the right words to build a picture of the characters provided further challenge.  I used a book from my drama student days 'Actions' The Actors Thesaurus which helped me to choose the most appropriate words to describe each scenario.

 

Justine Cope, author of The Beast of Burlington Bog.

 

 

 

"Honestly, the hardest part of writing this book wasn’t anything dramatic. It wasn’t a character refusing to cooperate or a plot twist that arrived at the wrong moment. For me, the real challenge was much quieter: keeping the world of the novel logically consistent and believable from start to finish. I’m the kind of writer who needs the world to make sense before anything else can. If a detail doesn’t line up, e.g., a custom, a bit of dialogue, a consequence that doesn’t ripple the way it should I can feel the whole structure wobble. So I spent a lot of time stopping mid?paragraph to check whether something truly belonged. Would this character really say that. If this event happened here, what pressure would it create later. Does this belief or behaviour actually grow out of the world I’ve built. It’s not glamorous work, but it’s the kind that makes a story feel lived?in rather than arranged.

     A few things helped me along the way:

                 - Let the world push back. Whenever I wasn’t sure what should happen next, I asked what would happen if the world were real. That simple question saved me from a lot of convenient shortcuts.

                - Keep a running list of “truths.” Not a strict rulebook, just a place where I collected the principles and constraints that shaped the story. Whenever something felt off, the answer was usually hiding there. This added up to my story bible.

               - Give problems time. Some issues don’t yield to force. I learned to step away, let the subconscious chew on it, and come back when the solution had surfaced or cut the scene if one didn't.

               - A piece of advice that changed everything: Make the world coherent, not easy. Once I embraced that, the book became harder to write, but much better to read. If there’s anything I’d pass on to new writers, it’s that the invisible work matters. Readers may never notice the hours spent making a world feel real, but they’ll feel the difference. And sometimes the most important breakthroughs happen in the quiet, stubborn effort to make the story’s logic hold together. This is especially important in sci-fi and fantasy.

 

A. Allan Chibi, author of The Saga of the Stolen One: The End of the Beginning – Book Two

 

 

 

The most challenging part of writing this book was that in many of the poems they come from my heart and soul. This involves expressing parts of myself that normally I would find difficult to actually put into words verbally. Poetry helps me to express deep felt emotions. I now know this is due to neurodiverse issues that I am sure will resonate with some who read my poetry. I have been writing things down since I was a small child because I didnt know how to communicate my feelings or emotions. It felt like hitting a brick wall. This can have challenging outcomes for relationships and our perspectives on life.  

 

Jo Frances Matthews, author of Perpectives in Poetry: Looking at a Life Well Lived.

 

 

 

The most challenging part writing this book was the research. Most of the stories in the book are based on actual events, and I have written my fictional characters into these true stories. The same goes for the places and institutions described. Many of the stories are taken from Italian newspapers at a time when my Italian was not very good. This was also a challenge as things tend to get "lost in translation".          

 

Tanja Dinessen, author of The Traffickers.

 

 

 

"The hardest part was writing the truth.

Not about love — but about pain, choices, and people who can either save you or break you.

This story isn’t about perfect love, but about choosing between what shines and what is real."         

 

Iryna Tsurek, author of The Game

 

 

 

I think the most challenging part of writing my book was simply taking the vision out of my head and putting it on paper. In my brain it makes perfect sense, writing it down and trying to convey an idea was a bit more difficult. I was also surprised sometimes that when writing a chapter it would go in a completely different direction then what I was thinking. I had to learn to go with it and see where it lead rather than trying to force it to go where I had originally wanted. There were other challenges but I truly just had fun writing the book and anything I encountered I learned to work around. I've tried to learn and avoid mistakes for my second book which was just accepted and will be the part two in the trilogy.          

 

Rafe, author of Lady Katherine: A Tale of Lust and Vengence.

 

 

 

"Honestly, the hardest part wasn’t the story it was finding the time to write. Between work, kids, and home life, there’s always something going on, and I used to think I needed long, quiet stretches of time to make real progress. That just wasn’t realistic, so for a while I felt stuck waiting for the “perfect” time that never came.

What helped was letting go of that and just using whatever time I had. Sometimes that meant only writing for 10 minutes or jotting ideas down in my phone. And honestly, not all of that time was even spent writing, sometimes it was just thinking through scenes or doing research, and I’d only get a couple lines down. Other times, I’d be completely on a roll and get a ton done. I had to learn that both kinds of days count.

Balancing everything is still a challenge, and there are definitely days where writing doesn’t happen at all. But I’ve learned to give myself some grace and focus on small progress. My biggest advice would be: don’t wait for time make little pockets of it, and trust that it will add up."

 

Kathryn Breen, author of Ethereal Midnight.

 

 

 

The most challenging part was confronting my childhood and reliving it.  The writing process was very triggering but cathartic at the same time.  So many memories were buried deep down and they all came to the surface.  

 

Annie Cardone, author of Menopause Mental Health: The Silent Killer of Hopes and Dreams.

 

 

 

"TIMMO: The most challenging part was staying focused on the book while managing a demanding role in hospitality. Balancing both required discipline and consistency. What I learned is that breaking the process down into smaller, manageable steps makes even a big project achievable. One step at a time!

 

GEMMA: The biggest challenge was writing a book in a language that is not my mother language, and transforming raw dictations into cohesive, engaging stories, structuring ideas, creating flow, and ensuring everything made sense as a narrative. Through this process, I developed a clear methodology: first listening and taking notes, then fact-checking, integrating broader themes, outlining the chapter structure, and finally writing. It taught me the importance of organization and process when turning experiences into a compelling story."       

 

Timmo Elliott & Gemma Masferrer, authors of Sailing Through The Excess.

 

 

 

"The most challenging part of writing this book was finding the balance between honesty and simplicity. The story touches on sensitive and emotional themes, and I knew how important it was to handle those gently, especially for young readers.

I had to be very mindful not to make it too wordy or overwhelming. Children feel deeply, but they process things differently, so it was about choosing words that were simple enough for a child to understand, while still holding meaning for an adult reading alongside them.

At the same time, I didn’t want to lose the magic. It was important to me that the story still felt warm, safe and imaginative, not heavy or clinical. That balance between real emotion and gentle storytelling was something I had to keep coming back to throughout the writing process.

One thing that really helped me was trusting the story and not over explaining everything. Sometimes the most powerful moments are the quietest ones. I learned that you don’t need lots of words to create impact, you just need the right ones.

In terms of tips, I found inspiration in the smallest moments. Sometimes it was just a single word or a sentence someone said to me that would spark an idea and grow into something more.

I also found it really helpful to write things down as they came. Whether it was a thought, a feeling, or a piece of dialogue, capturing it in the moment meant I didn’t lose it and could come back to it later. It helped me keep track of the heart of the story as it developed.

And when my head felt too full, I stepped away. An early morning dog walk became part of my process. That quiet time, before the world wakes up, helped clear the noise and allowed me to return to writing in the right headspace.

I think that’s the biggest thing I’ve learned. You can’t force the words. You have to create the space for them.

 

Jacalyn Brymer, author of Leni and the Luna Adventures.

 

 

 

"Writing this collection proved that the greatest challenge wasn’t assembling the pages, but the vulnerability required to share the raw, authentic poetry within them. While writing, I never imagined publication; I was simply uncovering my true thoughts. During editing, fear prompted me to step back, but I had to push out of my comfort zone to produce this book.

My hope is to show readers they are not alone, offering a new perspective on the depth of life’s highs and lows. To be a true writer, I had to embrace honesty and abandon perfectionism, which was hindering rather than helping me. Ultimately, I am striving to be the raw, authentic writer I needed when I was younger. A quote I like to live by is “ no one else sees the world the way you do so no one else can tell the stories that you have to tell” - Charles de Lint

 

Emilia Geneva Carquez, author of The Ocean Saves Her.

 

 

 

The most challenging part for me was having a cohesive theme. I wanted each poem to speak and have something in common but I ended up finding solitude in just having poems from different subjects but all ultimately related to the same goal of overcoming things like sadness, addiction, and mistakes. Love is part of all of that, so some of my poems are simply about the art of loving. I also like to tell stories so some of my writing has different characters and opinions. Sometimes I struggled with finding the right word so a thesaurus definitely came in handy too!     

 

M.E. Watson, author of The Rage Room – A Book of Poetry.

 

 

 

"The most challenging part was deciding which book to present first. When you’ve created a whole world - characters, relationships, adventures across six books - choosing the right entry point feels like introducing a dear friend to someone new. You want to make the very best first impression! I knew that Giuseppa Peppa & Figitina Puff n’ Peck's Italian Adventure had the heart, the humor, and the warmth to welcome readers into Giuseppa Peppa’s world in the most magical way, so that’s where the journey begins.

I also thought a great deal about whether these stories would speak to both children and adults. The very best children’s books do that - they delight the little ones while quietly winking at the grown-ups reading alongside them. I wanted parents, grandparents, and teachers to feel just as charmed as the children in their laps.

And honestly, Putting yourself out there as a first-time published author is its own kind of adventure - not unlike Giuseppa Peppa’s own! There’s vulnerability in sharing something you’ve poured your heart into. But if these books make one child laugh, dream, or fall in love with the beauty of Italian culture and storytelling, every moment of that courage was absolutely worth it."     

 

June McKinney, author of Guiseppa Peppa & Figitina Puff n’ Peck’s Italian Adventure.

 

 

 

Creating a captivating plot with interesting and relatable characters. Trying to visualize the plot and action prior to writing each page. Tom Clancy told me if you want to write, write, get it down, then get it from your head into the readers head.  I wrote following this advice.         

 

Dr. Stewart Nozette, author of The Day of Infamy – Space Pearl Harbour

 

 

 

When I first started the first few pages were very easy. The people I asked to read it like it and thought it was a good story. I wanted the reader to like my characters right away, and hate their enemies. I tried to be more subtle about who the enemies were,  and keep the reader guessing. I wanted to to tell the story in conversation however I would write pages and pages to get the point across. I also did not want to use abbreviations especially the upper class ladies (don't, won't). I wanted to give a flavour of how the Victorian's spoke  not too much because a  younger audience might  be turned off. The Pegasus proof reader wanted abbreviations. So more editing, re-reading, rewriting and proof reading. I didn't realise I should have used justified text and when the manuscript was adjusted. Some of it went out of sequence. These are problems I will be looking out for the next time.

 

Laird DeLacy, author of Lady Mary: Scotland’s Secret Princess.

 

 

 

"The most challenging part of writing this book was learning to move through my own insecurities while I was creating it. For a long time, I didn’t see myself as someone who was capable of writing, or even staying motivated enough to finish something like this. The idea had always been there from a young age to explore culture clashes and identity, but I hadn’t fully realised that, for it to become a book, I would also have to include myself within it.

The book began as journal, which quickly turned to my Ahh moment. And there is something deeply vulnerable about sharing your inner world in that way. It can leave you feeling exposed, almost as though parts of you are being seen before you’re entirely ready. Yet, within that vulnerability, I also found a sense of strength that kept me going.

I often found myself imagining what it would have meant to read this book when I was younger, what it might have given me, and how it might have helped me feel seen or understood. At the same time, I had to lean into a more reflective, professional mindset, allowing myself to step back and hold my story with care rather than judgement. That balance was not always easy.

When I first started writing, I think a part of me simply wanted to be seen. But through the process, something shifted. I began to truly see myself, and in a much softer, more compassionate light. That was both beautiful and, at times, difficult to fully accept, because it required me to let go of old narratives I had held about who I was.

There was a constant awareness that I was, in some ways, opening up wounds in the hope that they might help someone else feel less alone. That thought stayed with me throughout. And now, having come through the process, I feel a deeper sense of strength and self-understanding than I have in many years." 

 

Zandile Nyamande, author of My African Daughter with a British Passport.

 

 

 

One of the biggest challenges was finding the right balance between keeping the language very simple while still telling a story that felt warm, engaging and meaningful for young readers. It can be difficult to express something important using only a few simple words, so I kept asking myself whether a child listening to the story would understand what was happening and how the characters were feeling from the art work.    

 

Laura Howard, author of Jack has Two Mummies.

 

 

 

Writing was not as challenging as translating the book from Polish into English. The original Polish texts included a lot of puns, allusions, slang words, swear words, and meaningful nicknames. There were also fragments of songs and poems. Those words and rhymes could not be omitted in translation, since they played an important part in the construction of the story and in the dialogues between the protagonists. To render such qualities in another language was a very challenging task, but working on it was also funny. I investigated how medieval French and Scandinavian ballads had been translated into English back in time, and tried to come up with similar texts that should fit the story. Translating slang and swear words was yet more difficult. For example, the Polish "bad words" that (roughly) correspond to the English f-words start in a "p", but the Polish p-words are not as "bad" as the English "fs". One of the main characters addresses his best friend as "pieprzony przyb??da", which, translated word-for-word by an electronic device, is "f-ing tramp". Such a translation was too vulgar, and the alliteration disappeared; hence, in collaboration with my co-translator, I decided to use the phrase "silly stray". There were many considerations of this kind during the translation process. My advice to authors who have written their books in another language than English is: always work together with a native speaker of the target language, even if he/she does not know the source language.

 

Joanna Pettersson, author of Shattered Shield.

 

 

"It took me five years from the time I started to actually finishing this book! My best advice is life happens! Don’t get disgruntled if you find months (or years) have gone bye and your book idea sits or remains unchanged.

 

Jaime Novack, author of Godiva’s Collar.

 

 

 

The hardest part was trying to create characters who were relatable but not cliched. It was tough to find the right balance. I wanted characters who seemed "normal" on the surface, but carried something just a little different deep inside them.      

 

Andrew Grangaard, author of Ten Winters.

 

 

 

"There were two challenging parts for me.  The first was making sure the content stayed consistent throughout the book.  Since I wrote the story over several years, I had to keep going back though the earlier chapters to make sure the later events matched prior statements. 

The second thing was the editing.  I had several people helping me and the editors at Pegasus were wonderful.  But, for every sentence I wrote, I seemed to take twenty passes through it to make sure I was getting my point across or not causing a conflict with other passages. 

My advice to others would be to take your time and keep going carefully through every word.  However, at some point, you have to make the call to put your pencil down.      "          

 

Howard L. Siskind, author of SARE.

 

 

 

The challenging part is writing to the standard that I expect in the 21st century. Children books have evolve, at least a century before and writing children books that will appeal to them while we face a challenging time wen other distractions like video games and social media tend to take away the importance of reading among children        

 

Pippa Wilkins, author of Mr Binkle Bumbledoo’s Butterfingers and other stories.

 

 

 

"The idea for Amelia Starling has been forming for years, but the real challenge was doing it justice as the first book in what I hope will be a long-running series for young, intrepid explorers. I knew this book had to make an impact. It needed to spark curiosity, ignite imagination, and leave readers wanting to go on the journey with Amelia.

Creating Amelia herself was a big part of that challenge. I wanted her to feel real - someone young readers could relate to, but also aspire to be. She carries curiosity, courage, and a deep love of discovery, shaped by her past and her family, which was important for grounding her adventures in something meaningful.

Alongside her, developing Chase was equally important. Their friendship brings balance to the story. He adds humor, loyalty, and a sense of partnership that shows adventure or life's daily challenges don’t have to be faced alone. Their dynamic reflects trust, growth, and the kind of companionship that makes any journey worthwhile.

In the end, the challenge wasn’t just telling a story. It was building a world, a tone, and characters that readers would want to return to again and again."           

 

Kirsten Pistorius, author of Amelia Starling: The Whispering Waterfall.

 

 

 

The main character, Ewan Bowman, seemed to control me at times and sometimes I felt quite creeped out by him. This was probably one of the hardest parts of writing this book. It was as though I came to know the inner workings of his mind to an extent that I didn’t feel that the words were always coming from me. I know that seems bizarre. I suppose I learnt how in creating a fictional character, they can become a reality in the world even if they never truly existed. Think of characters from other books like Sherlock Holmes or Harry Potter. They’ve become like real characters in the world whilst originally only in their creator’s imaginations.   

 

Catherine Blake, author of Inevitable.

 

 

 

My book is a short children’s book about some flamingos who lose their beautiful colour through eating the wrong food. Like the famous children’s book about the Very Hungry Caterpillar I wanted my book to have a little bit of science in the mix.  My main problem at the outset was finding the right person to illustrate the book. I was concentrating on the artist’s style and didn’t want anything too goofy.  As it turned out I joined a local art society and had the great good fortune to meet Jane Larkin. Not only did I love her style but Jane had a wealth of knowledge about printing that I didn’t know I needed. She was particular about how the size of her picture would translate, regarding colour vibrancy, onto the page.  And this bit was key- we worked together really well: I changed a few words to fit her drawings and we discussed easily how simple or complicated the drawings should be. All of this completed in the local coffee shop over several flat whites and in my case, a few pastel de natas. As a result, I really look forward to meeting up with Jane and the book has been a joy to complete.   

 

Marian Jackson, author of The Queen’s Flamingos Go Wild!

 

 

 

"First of all, getting the rhymes right! Not just the rhymes, but the rhythm, the melody of each line. A children's picture book has to read aloud beautifully, and that's a very specific constraint. It took more drafting than I expected, but I came out of it a much better writer of rhyming text. It taught me that form is harder than it looks, and that the words that sound the most effortless are usually the ones that took the longest.

Second of all, making sure that the way I describe the moment when Nor realises where his real home is, resonates with children. It had to be simple, endearing, but also a serious moment. I like to think I managed to capture the right tone, but I'm looking forward to hearing what the readers think!"

 

Ema Fulga, author of Nor’s Journey Around the World.

 

 

 

Writing is the joy, but as a person with reading difficulty, that's where the challenge also is. It requires patience, but a paragraph or line, day after day, still gets the job done. As a children's author,  I try to imagine what concepts and fantasies will appeal to a child, but may not necessarily appeal to an adult.          

 

Kwasi Efah, author of  The Water Music.

 

 

 

From the initial idea to the final line, I must admit the story underwent a couple of changes. What I personally found challenging was ensuring that my titular character developed in a way that the reader would have empathy, find likeable and even possibly relate to. For a children's picture book, that I also wanted to have elements of fun in and convey a message, I found I had to rethink the way in which the story progressed. I can only hope I managed to achieve what I set out to do - What do you think?!       

 

Ally Wakelin, author of Porkius Rex.

 

 

 

It brought back a lot of memories my self, I feel you go into such a new world when writing or reading and it made me have a lot of flash backs on how my children felt when I lost my Nan, this is why I created nanny and Ivy to help other children understand grief

 

Chloe Smith, author of Ivy and Nanny.

 

 

 

Drawing all the strands, subplots and themes together to form a cohesive narrative conclusion. There were many diverse ideas in the story which had no apparent links at first, but which needed to be drawn together in order to both move the story forward to its final moments. It's funny how the narrative grew organically but also required deep meditation about where the story was leading.     

 

Richard Lloyd, author of Summerlake.

 

 

 

Keeping the poems short! Sometimes I had too much to say, but you can't say everything. Some thoughts and ideas have to be read between the lines. Trying to resist pontificating. I want to affect the way my readers think/feel about something, but I mustn't be too obvious. Sometimes I am!         

 

Glen Oglaza, author of Olive Groves.

 

 

 

Finding the perfect publisher to make this book reality was the most challenging part.

 

Pepa Bozhilova, author of The White Fairy Tale.

 

 

 

The story of Eight came to me a long time ago. I have a great love of nature and am a poet. I was  driving to the car wash one day and saw Eight swinging about on  her  long silky strand and so her story evolved in my mind.  I loved her immediately and creating her was a joy.  It was when a young student staying with me asked to hear some of my work - I read it out to her and watched her giggle. It was very rewarding.  She changed how I viewed my hobby. The challenge then was giving myself permission to publish,   making quiet the negative chatter in my head, which was in itself a journey  and  then finding the right publisher. I researched a great deal and invested a lot of time in marketing my work and reviewing responses before making a commitment.  I then had to review Eight again to make sure she was ready. Once on the publishing journey my relationship with my work changed and Eight became more engaging which in turn further changed the way I viewed my work and opened up a world of possibilities.     

 

NantySu, author of Eight.

 

 

 

"For me, writing, the stories is the most challenging part. I get so many ideas. I love writing for children. I usually let one idea stay in my mind at a time. For this THANK YOU story the idea came to me quickly. I could see that so many people were...down. So I bought $5 gift cards at our local Tim Horton's coffee, donut, and sandwich shop. They are well known in Canada. I started to give them away to the mail people, and to grocery store workers when they helped me., and to my garbage collection people. They all said...THANK You with a big happy smile. Then I thought about a story where a little child felt a bit down and lonely. As she went for a walk she found animals who were in need. She helped them. In my story they all said THANK YOU. Each tile she heard those 2 words she felt better. And happier. ...just like I did...I love stories with animals. It just takes time, and looking at the world to write a story."   

 

Andrea Wayne'von Konigslow, author of Thank You.

 

 

 

Self - doubt and time! Writing is about belief, so when you get around halfway through and start doubting your whole concept, you have to push through and remind yourself why you started in the first place. If you write for your own pleasure, then I find that the stories radiate more truth for the audience - and of course, it is always challenging to find the time!      

 

Beverley Mason, author of The Noble Eight Creatures.

 

 

 

"The first ideas were to bring the memories of two special characters, a strange duck and an unusual rabbit, to life in a simple story born within our father's imagination so many years ago.

As my sister and I put pen to paper, a message of friendship and acceptance developed as we travelled through the words. The challenge was to keep it simple whilst stirring a child's imagination to want to know what happens next.

Our hope was to create playful characters for children today, like the characters that we remember from so long ago. It was always a dream to share, and a wish fulfilled.

If you have a burning desire to follow a dream, begin your journey with a pen and paper."          

 

Mal Riesner, author of Wiff and Sniff… and Special Friends.

 

 

 

The most challenging part of writing Scarlett and Me was creating plot twists. I wanted parts of the plot to be unexpected and therefore engaging for the reader, but they also have to be believable in terms of the setting and the characters so the reader stays in the story. Some ideas I discarded and others I tweaked until I was happy with both the ending I'd had in mind for quite a while and also with the story leading up to it. It was a great lesson in editing my own work and realising even good ideas can be improved (and also that you shouldn't hold on to bad ones!).

 

Rebecca Mount, author of Scarlett and Me.

 

 

 

"The most challenging part of writing ""Max Attack"" was creating dialogue that truly connects with younger readers.  I wanted Max's voice - and the voices of his neighborhood friends - to feel playful, funny, and easy to understand, while still capturing the emotions behind his ""Max Attacks."" Striking that balance was challenging. It took a lot of revising, reading the

lines out loud to myself, my own children, and imagining how a child might hear and respond to each moment.

I also found it challenging to keep the humor fresh and engaging without overcomplicating the language. Young readers know when humor is being forced - so every line had to feel natural and fun. I spent time thinking about how children express themselves,  what makes them laugh, and how they experience big feelings in simple ways.

In the end, my goal was to create dialogue that not only sparks laughter, but also helps younger readers connect with Max's emotions and  recognize a bit of themselves in his story."            Dana Kershaw

In writing this little story…my desire to find the sweet in the ordinary has really blossomed. Taking a walk to the water, walking past the sheep farm, geese honking over head, all become a curious adventure where my moments may find a path to new little stories. Garden of Love has dazzled my curiosity for little moments!            

 

Jenny Wish, author of Max Attack.

 

 

 

I chose to write the book as a rhyming story, which made it more playful and engaging but it also meant that every line had to balance rhythm and meaning. I found this the most challenging part of writing this book as I felt every line had to work twice as hard. My advice to anyone hoping to write a children’s book would be to let your imagination lead and don’t be afraid to tap into your inner child but most importantly have fun with it. As Cola is a real dog with a social media following, it was also really important to me to capture her mischievous personality. I wanted her cheeky, fearless spirit to really shine through on the pages as it does through her social media channels, creating a story that would both humour and warm her followers, featuring the dog they already know and love.    

 

Danielle Zarb-Cousin, author of The Adventures Of Fizzy Cola & The Magical Fox Hole.

 

 

 

"The most challenging part of writing this book was the plot. As an episodic adventure, the plot had to keep going. The first part was easy: once the lads decided to go to Crete to escape the Spartans, it was fun to have Herc wrestle a bull and meet his cousin Theseus, and then to re-tell the Minotaur myth with a Herc spin. Of course, once Minos punishes Herc, they had to leave Crete. Africa seemed a logical destination. I had to research who lived in north Africa (Libya), and figure out what kind of adventures the lads could have there. Rebu was a name of part of Libya, and the people there did indeed wear ostrich feathers. I found out that Tanit had been a goddess for the Carthaginians, so I changed the spelling a little and had her require the sacrifice of male sperm at the full moon. I also discovered that a tribe of Amazons were said to have lived in north Africa; part of the Amazon myth is that they would invite men to impregnate them once a year. There’s a story about an Amazon queen (Hippolyta) falling in love with Herc. I changed that up a little and had Amazon warriors going crazy for Herc, so that the queen had to help Herc and his lads escape. Since north Africa in the Bronze Age was more grassland than desert, it made sense to have tribes wandering and hunting game. I wanted Diomedes and Leander to have become excellent archers, so having them bring antelope to the good tribe made sense. Also, I wanted the tribe to fall in love with Herc and his lads—and vice versa. The giant spiders episode was sheer fantasy; it was fun to write! But I couldn’t have Herc and his lads stay with the good tribe. The Amazon queen had told them about The Garden of the Hesperides, so the lads would want to go there. Along the way, I wove in some stories from the Hercules myth, including seven big snakes (Hydra) and Herc wrestling a giant (Antaeus). With Herc’s best friend being Atlas, there had to be a scene where Atlas holds up the sky while Herc steals the golden apples. I made the scene part of a dream because I wanted Herc’s lads to rescue him a couple of times. Also, I wanted Herc and his lads to leave Africa with some gold—I wanted them to settle down at a farm at the end of the story. Early on, I wanted Herc to sleep with three women, so that he could get three new sons. Herc’s labors happen because he killed his three sons (in some variants; in others, he kills his wife too; I wanted to keep the focus on his sons—plenty of guilt in that). A sterile farmer with a wife desperate for a child (Itaja and Kitane) provided Herc’s first chance of becoming a father again. The Amazon queen was an obvious second chance. The third chance came from the short muscular people on an island in the Great Sea. The stone towers I borrowed from ancient Sardinia. I wanted the people to be short because I wanted Herc’s third son to be persecuted for his height (to be seen if the second and third volumes in the Herc saga are ever published!). Once the ship was headed east, I had Herc and his lads earn more money from wrestling. After all, there wasn’t much entertainment in the Bronze Age; having wrestling contests at various ports seemed possible. When I found out that early Greeks settled the boot of Italy, I had some fun with the “wine people” being blond like Helios. And if there were Greeks already in southern Italy, it seemed possible that the Spartans might be looking for a place to found a colony—giving rise to another brawl between Spartans and Herc and his lads. (By the way, I find the worship of Spartans to be regrettable. Thermopylae was heroic, but the society was regimented and fascist—not an ideal!) I also had to work in Herc’s stopping at Cyllene, to set up his future opening of the first Olympics. It’s probably pure myth, but since I already had Herc and his lads heading back to Greece, it was fun to have Herc stop in Cyllene and have someone—Helios, who emerges as a poet—dream about a series of games.

 

More wrestling at Pylos before the ship sails along the southern coast of the Peloponnese. Since they’ve rowed the whole way, they’re too tired to get into any trouble in Kalamainos. They row to Phaleron, buy horses and ride to Athens. Theseus wants them to settle in Athens, but Herc and his lads want to buy a farm with a vineyard and an olive grove. There exists such a farm, with two old farmers who have tended it but are too old to keep it going. Herc and his lads fall in love with the old guys, and they impart their knowledge to Herc and his lads. They expand the farm, add new rooms and have two years of peace. And then Thebes asks Herc to return home; he and Atlas go—and that starts Herc’s troubles.

 

Michael S. Allen, author of Young Herc.

 

 

 

"The most challenging part of writing this book was creating a structure that would truly involve children in the story. My aim was to design an experience where they could feel part of it. For this reason, developing interactive questions and activities was both challenging and incredibly enjoyable.

Throughout the writing process, I often asked the child within me questions I have never lost: “Would you like to be part of this story? Do you want to continue? Are you curious about what will happen next?” I even recorded myself reading the story aloud and listened back, asking, “How can I make this better?” and revising it again.

I didn’t just write about the characters; I stepped into their roles and brought them to life, almost like performing a one-person play.

This experience taught me that writing for children is not just about telling a story, but about creating a world they can truly live in. A world where they sometimes find solutions, sometimes feel compassion, and sometimes embark on an adventure. Through these emotions, they become fully present in that world.

Being part of creating such a world for children became one of the most meaningful aspects of the writing process for me."      

 

Melissa Kaya, author of The Healing Paws of Dr. Teddy.

 

 

 

Writing the fairy tale came quite naturally to me. The real challenge was reconnecting with that childlike sense of wonder, the feeling of waiting for something magical to happen, which isn’t so easy at my age. I hope I managed to capture it, and that the characters will come alive not just on the pages of the book, but in the imaginations of readers of all ages.          

 

Tatjana Shnitka, author of A Gift From Santa.

 

 

 

"Revision and editing are especially challenging elements of the novel-writing process. In effect, a novel draft will often be re-written multiple times before it is ready to be published. It was liberating when I started thinking of editing not as correcting something flawed, slashing at my work with a red pen, but instead as re-writing, pruning and watering the tree as it grows, to bring the text closer to my artistic ideal.

I personally find it helpful to print out each draft and edit by hand, then update the digital manuscript. I have learned to anticipate significant transformation each time I do this. When working with pens and paper, I think more clearly and notice more details. In printed drafts, I keep the font small so I can view the writing at a distance, much like how a painter would stand back at a distance, mid-process, to observe the art from another perspective.

Revision and editing are time-consuming, but vital. You never know what you might come up with, or how your work might evolve. To write is to constantly surprise yourself.  "   

 

Julie Asparro, author of The Vision.

 

 

 

"As a very private person I discovered that the most difficult part was actually letting people inside my personal bubble. As somebody who spent a large part of his life writing and reading scripts live on TV you might think that is strange but the two disciplines are very different. The most obvious difference is that I was never writing about myself on TV. Everything was a challenge. In TV you try to keep the links and scripts short and to the point but with a book people want meat on the bones. I started out writing a memoir which, perhaps, one day my grandchildren and great grandchildren might find interesting. That was how it remained for a long time. I was very insecure about the book until Pegasus offered to publish and ,even then, I had no idea how much hard work was left to be done. I have re-written and re-read the whole thing many times and every time the insecurity has returned.

Now here's an interesting thing. Despite the insecurity and the hard work I discovered that I missed it. I have now made a couple of attempts at a novel. Each attempt seems a bit easier and I think the writing is getting better. Watch this space.

 

Stewart White, author of See You at 6:30.

 

 

 

"One can perform the very same action with different intentions and they will get radically different results! For me, the most challenging part of writing this book simultaneously offered the greatest benefit. I knew all along that ""I"" was not writing this book. This unseen collective Love energy that we call ""God"" was writing through me. Despite the myriad of forces that would try to seduce me into busyness, reactivity, or survival drama, I needed to consciously choose to open dialogue with my own soul before writing. Every soul being a full replica of the whole, makes us all fully God, when we are in remembrance of our True Nature. I would do breathwork, meditation or even micro-doses of plant medicine until I was in an energetic flow state of remembrance so that Love could write through me. All three of these modalities shut down the egoic part of the brain while increasing cross regional communication throughout the brain for a full of expression across the quantum field of possibilities. And all three of these modalities flood the body with bliss chemicals. I remained humbly and blissfully honor-bound to write in co-creation with Love.

Essence Merging is a primer of what one can expect when letting go of the ego's contro