How to Make a Wish - The story behind the story

It's finally here!

Months and months of planning, writing, re-writing, sketching, storyboarding, painting, editing, checking and double checking .... and I finally got to hold a copy of 'How to Make a Wish' in my hands.

It's a feeling difficult to describe.

As I ran my fingers over the glossy cover and silky pages I marveled at the quality and vibrancy of the illustrations, and felt huge relief over the fact that I hadn't missed any glaring mistakes (of course I had checked it a hundred times before sending it off to print, only anxiety is irrational like that).

Anxiety laid to rest, I then began to feel excited proud, and slightly emotional.

Look at what I created! 



The reason it feels so emotional is because this little story is something very personal to me, and it's been a long time coming. The first idea I had for it came to me quite a while ago, around 8 years ago in fact.

At the time, I had just been informed that I was infertile, with a less than 1 percent chance of conceiving naturally.

Of course, the news was devastating. You simply presume that when the time comes, you will just allow yourself to conceive and it will happen, as naturally and as easily as nature intended.

But to be told that no, actually it's not going to be easy, and actually, it's not guaranteed at all... well, it really does hit you hard.

The months dragged on and each one ended in bitter disappointment, the depression and resentment at my own body deepening with each failure. It's hard to describe what infertility is like, but it becomes a distressing and repetitive cycle, first of hope, then obsession, followed by desperation, and finally heartache, over and over again.

It was in the midst of this anguish that the idea for the story came to me, as I closed my eyes waiting for that ever elusive blue line to appear, hoping, wishing,

'please let it happen'....


...The idea that a real-life child could literally be a wish come true.

...And wouldn't that be a lovely ending to a children's story?

And so the little seed had been planted. A simple idea, and what finally grew out of it, and all the hours of work that I put into it, was this picture book.

And the best part of it all?

My little boy, George, has been taking the story into his bed with him every night, and I can hear him reading the words to himself before he goes to sleep.

My wish come true (with the help of a cocktail of fertility drugs) reading a story that very first came to me... whilst I was wishing for him to come true.