Pip’s Secret Door – Where it all began

Pip's Secret Door. Releasing 3rd September

The release date for Pip’s Secret Door is looming ever closer which is both exciting and frightening all wrapped up in tiny sprinkles of fairy magic mixed with beads of sweat!

I was recently discussing the book with a friend over coffee and they didn’t realise what was all involved in writing and releasing a book, so I thought it might be a nice little journey to share with you.

The foundation of this particular story dates back at least 10 years, when we fitted a little fairy door and a couple of windows to a fence post in our garden, for our daughter. She loved them and would spend time playing around them for hours at a time. She had decided that our fairy was a tooth fairy, and we talked about what her home may look like inside and what she did with all the teeth (I’m not quite sure we ever got to the bottom of that one, but using it as a mug for hot chocolate was the preferred answer!) Then, one day, our daughter suggested that she would like to write a note to the fairy, and leave it next to the door.

As a parent, these adorable, innocent conversations and activities were beautiful to watch and be a part of. It was so cute watching her interact with the door and let her imagination run wild. So, she drew a picture and if my memory serves me, I wrote the dictation of simple questions like ‘What is your name?’ and ‘How old are you?’

We left the note by the fairy door and it was time for bed.

Now. Here was the dilemma: should I leave her note untouched, to find the following morning and potentially watch the disappointment and deflation in her when there is no reply? Or, should I go along with the imagination of a toddler and let the fairy write back?

… so ‘our fairy’ wrote back.

I must say, it is difficult writing with your left hand, when you have spent 30+ years writing with your right!

The following morning, our daughter got out of bed and one of the first things she wanted to do was see whether the fairy had written to her. Thank goodness ‘she’ had. The paper was covered in snail slime and nibbled away, but still enough to read the words.

As the months passed and our son grew older, he began to join our daughter in the garden and believe in the fairy also. They spent time playing and working together, building a miniature garden with rope bridge and tree swing. With pretty petals from the flowers scattered around to make it colourful. As the children grew, they wrote more often asking different questions, and leaving drawings. Our fairy, Pip, always wrote back.

It is one of the fondest memories of children at a young age watching their imaginations grow, asking questions, noticing new things in the world around them, and trusting that what they see and feel is right.

That is how this book was born… but that was only the beginning of bringing it to life.

Pre-Order Signed Copies are now available via my website.

www.fionalowryauthor.com/pipssecretdoor