Magic at bedtime

‘I am originally from Hungary and lived in Brighton for over ten years, writes subscriber Reka Hall.

‘When I finished university in Pecs and got my degree for becoming a maths and computer science teacher, I came to the UK for a summer, and here I am eleven years later married, being a mum and settled down. I started writing when my daughter was born six years ago. My dad passed away six months after she was born, and writing helped with my anxiety – it was always easier for me to express myself in the written world. I also felt talking to kids was somehow easier than talking to adults, so I chose to write stories for kids. My debut book When Millypop and her Mummy visited Ice Cream Land came out just at the end of August.

‘The book was inspired by my daughter. She was five when one evening she got scared – she had a bad dream. We talked and after asking some questions to take her mind off the dream and with some positive encouragement she created a magical wonderland; a place she could visit as she drifted off to sleep. She slept through the whole night and woke up the next day excited telling me all about her adventures in Ice Cream Land.

‘It took about a month to write my first draft then about four months to edit it to the shape when I was happy to share it with publishers. I also did some amateur sketches based on my daughter’s detailed descriptions which professional illustrators could use. There were even more elements that I had to leave off. Probably I will keep them for the next book. My hope is that in the future for my next books I will be able to find an agent so we could work together.

‘The aim of When Millypop and her Mummy visited Ice Cream Land is to encourage the positive use of imagination to tackle childhood issues through visualisation and metaphors. Mindfulness for kids, how to control thoughts and find their own safe place before they fall asleep.’

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