This April, I was finally able to call myself an Author when my first children’s picture book ‘Barnaby Bubble was published - although the title of Author didn’t really sink in for a while. It came with a wonderful sense of achievement that children were starting to read or hear a story that had been hidden away in my mind for many years.

Since my book was published I’ve had some lovely comments and feedback from adults who all say that Barnaby Bubble has become a firm bedtime story favourite with their child/grandchild which is wonderful to hear.

The publishing of Barnaby Bubble has also helped me to face some of my own anxieties. Although I read bedtime stories every night to our own children and I often read to the children at the primary school where I work, reading a story I’ve written to other children has been a different challenge for me to overcome. Young children are beautifully honest so when I was asked to read Barnaby Bubble to the Nursery children at work it gave me more than a moment of panic. Would they like it? What would they say? Did I want to hear their comments! Thankfully they all loved it (apart from one who wanted a story about a fire engine – can’t please them all) and seeing them excitedly saying which was their favourite bit was enough for me to finally relax and smile. So when I was asked to read Barnaby at a children’s creative play centre, Jungle Town, near Stratford-upon-Avon before Christmas I immediately said yes, I would love to!

I am now beginning to believe in my writing abilities and allowing my confidence to grow just a bit. It was this extra confidence that finally let me publicly share ‘Autism in the family’, a poem which I had written over many months on good days, bad days and on some of my lowest days. The response from sharing my experiences in this very personal poem has been amazing. I hope it continues to raise Autism Awareness for families just like ours who silently struggle on in isolation but who desperately want the world to understand, to accept and to support children with Autism as they go into adulthood.

So a big thank you to my husband who persuaded me to contact publishers, thank you to Austin Macauley Publishers for saying yes to publishing my first children’s book, thank you to Barnaby Bubble for building confidence in my writing abilities and a huge thank you to you for your continued support throughout the year.

I’m now excitedly aiming to get my next children’s story published soon and I’m already thinking of ideas of a sequel for Barnaby Bubble’s adventures but for now I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy 2019.

Thank you x