Why I Started Writing Children's Books

This is a podcast where I was interviewed by Matt Bird, author and CEO of PublishU.

I find it interesting to be interviewed about writing as it makes me reflect on why I started writing children's books and what I hope to achieve from my writing, particularly as time is very precious to me as I work full-time and have a young family!

I think that the bottom line is that I have always loved reading books to myself and to our children.  Fortunately, our children have inherited this love of reading as well.

There are lots of excellent children's books on the market but I recall picking up books and reading them to my daughter and thinking to myself, ‘I could do better than this’!

If children enjoy reading my books, or having my books read to them, then I think I will have achieved my goal.

I am used to writing lots of medical manuscripts, abstracts and book chapters but writing children's stories is a new experience for me.  When medical students or junior doctors speak to me about writing papers, abstracts or case reports, I always say to them that they should ensure that there is a beginning, middle and end in order for their manuscript to be educational and interesting.  Writing fiction is no different, there needs to be strong beginning, middle and end.

If I am honest, I do not find writing children's stories particularly difficult once a good idea has formulated in my mind.  These ideas often seem to wake me up in the middle of the night!  For me, the hardest part of writing children's stories is ensuring that there is a strong ending.  In all the stories that have written I have always found this the trickiest part.

I hope that you enjoy listening to this podcast and please feel free to post any comments or send me any feedback.