Sometimes, stories and characters take many drafts and years to come to fruition. They’re like a friend you’ve had for 10 years who finally shows you themself in their ‘natural’ state — dressed in medieval role playing outfits. Other times, though, characters turn up like they opened the door, walked in, sat down and told you their life’s story. Millie is one of those.
Roughly 15 or so years ago, I had a dream in which I was in labour and gave birth. I reached down and picked up a little girl who (in perfect dreamlike fashion), was about the size of doll, with long dark hair. She smiled at me and said, ‘Hi, my name’s Millie’, and I remember it clearly to this day.
Fast forward a couple of years and I was pregnant. Millie! It must be Millie! But my little Millie wasn’t destined to stay. It was early in the pregnancy and I knew something had changed before the bleeding started. I lived in a tiny rural town and as it was still early enough (and, presumably, services were limited) I was sent home by myself to deal with the lengthy, unsupported and agonising passing. Time moved on, I had a baby boy, I got a book deal, I relocated to the coast. When my son, Flynn, was four-years-old, I was already contracted and scheduled to write big, adult fiction books, for years into the future. But I’d had a long-held dream to write children’s books, and I especially wanted to be able to get one out into the world while my son was still small enough to sit in my lap while I read it to him.
I committed to writing a terrible first draft (because you must allow yourself to write a terrible draft if you want to get to the good draft) and I would do it in 20-30 minute stints first thing in the morning. (I adapted practices from The Artist’s Way which I’d completed with a group of creatives 25 years prior.) They weren’t ideal writing conditions, but I had to do it anyway.
The summary is that over the next eight years the story went through multiple upgrades, variations, re-writes and changes in the cracks of time between my big book commitments. Now, to my rather excessive delight, I can share that IT IS FINALLY coming out into the world bigger, better and brighter than I had initially imagined it, and I couldn’t love it more!
Additionally, I can’t tell you how much deep joy it has brought me to ‘see’ my little Millie running around on the page, hanging out with ponies and puppies and chickens and her best friend, Stella, and dancing and drawing and reading and loving cheese and paella with her loving family. I truly feel like she has indeed come through me and now lives very much in these stories, right where she’s meant to be. I hope you love her as much as I do. And I hope you love her best friend, Stella, just as much, because it was actually Stella’s character’s energy that got this series up and off the ground in the first place. And when you meet both Millie and Stella, you’ll understand why. 🙂
P.S. I’ve told my now 12-year-old that he still needs to sit in my lap while I read him this story… Stay tuned for those pics!
