Are you currently away on a family summer road trip? It can be an excruciating experience in the moment – all crammed into a small car, filled with luggage and your loud and annoying family. But reflecting on those summer trips is often full of love and good memories.

Alisha Walls has captured some of that love in her children’s book WHERE SHALL WE GO?, a beautiful story of a young family sharing their days out in Northern Ireland.

We asked Alisha about her love for Northern Ireland, how the COVID-19 pandemic drove her to put pen to paper, and how her studies in mindfulness worked her way into her story.

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Where Shall We Go? is your first publication and is inspired by your lived experiences. How have your kids impacted your writing? Were they the ones who encouraged you to get your book released?

Have my kids impacted my writing? Yes 100%. My first piece of writing I felt I wanted to share was in 2022. I had written a piece about the loss I experienced in the second trimester of pregnancy. During that time, I felt completely vulnerable, and I found comfort in writing. That was the first piece I ever wanted to share, and so I emailed the Tommy Charity to share my experience with others.

Regarding my book, my days out with my family was my inspiration. My main source of light is my youngest son, Cole; Cole has autism, and we have spent quite some time in speech and language therapy. He loves rhyming stories, one of his favourites (apart from Where Shall We Go?) is The Gruffalo. This inspired me to publish our story, as he finds rhyming stories so much more relatable, and they are easier for him to follow.

My kids definitely had an impact on my style of book and are why I chose to write with a rhyming story theme.

You told the Strabane Chronicle that travelling around Northern Ireland with your family, finding the best places for a family day out, inspired the locations depicted in your book. What was it like to revisit these locales and immortalise them in writing? Are you excited to have shared these with others?

Northern Ireland really is a hidden gem, the area we live in is such a beauty spot for forests, walking trails and lakeland beauty. The book itself only covers a small fraction of beauty spots, there are just so many. Where we live specifically is about 3 miles from the border, so our neighbouring County Donegal is right on our doorstep. It has some of the most beautiful beaches and our favourite beach Rossnowlagh.

I’m sure there are so many families that can resonate with these family spots, and we are so excited to revisit them now to share the experience with everyone.

2020 and the COVID-19 lockdown provided the time for you to write this and allowed an avenue for you to daydream about travelling when the situation was impossible. Do you hope that this book encourages families to explore the world around them?

COVID affected so many people in so many ways; the restrictions were one of the most unforgettable experiences for a lot of people and for a lot of different reasons. For me, after just having a baby, and expecting my fourth, my end vision was being to take my children to the beach, go to the park, go on a picnic. To see family, standing at a windowpane holding your newborn baby up for aunts and grandparents but not being able to touch them. Being completely crippled with post-natal depression and not being able to reach out to your best friend for a Cuppa or go for a walk.

Simple things that we all longed for, family friends and our little adventures. I hope everyone can take something from that and be inspired by it. I definitely found comfort in writing, I started a journal post-partum to help with my mindset and when I returned to work, I continued to journal my experiences nursing through a Pandemic. It’s so therapeutic in ways, perhaps that will inspire someone who wants to write but maybe thought they couldn’t.

You’ve previously shared with us that studying a course in mindfulness and reducing anxiety in children made you want to write. Why do you think this topic is currently overlooked and how do you hope that changes?

Anxiety in children is starting to become a more focused area of learning in schools, in sports and most importantly at home. Again, after COVID, mental health in general is becoming a more recognised topic. The anxiety that came from the pandemic was unavoidable, simple things that had a big impact.

Not being allowed to take your child into a grocery shop; not being allowed to walk them into their classroom. Hand washing, keeping them away from other children. It is so important that children are allowed to process anxiety.

It’s our job as parents to teach them how, mindfulness tools including breath work, rainbow breathing, children’s journals, outdoor play, getting them involved in nature. Simple things like positive affirmations are invaluable; your ultimately teaching them life skills that will enable them to manage anxiety at any age. Such an important topic!

Finally, your first book has been released, families are hopefully exploring the cultural beauty of Northern Ireland. Where are you heading next?

Who knows....

I have drafted two more pieces of writing. My first piece I’m still reviewing and changing. I would and hopefully will continue the theme of Where Shall We Go? and explore more of our beautiful island.

So... watch this space!

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Where Shall We Go? is available now in paperback.