It’s exactly 10 years today since the launch of my first novel First Aid for Fairies and Other Fabled Beasts.

It’s very odd to realise that I’ve been now a published author for 10 years; that writing has been my job for 10 years; that I’ve been turning up at book festivals and schools to talk about writing, as if I knew what I was doing, for 10 years.

It’s even odder to realise that, nowadays, I am often talking to readers who weren’t BORN when my first book was published!

The launch of First Aid for Fairies 10 years ago was the start of my journey as a children’s writer. And what a journey! Not just for me, but for the book too. It has had three covers, over 10 years!

cover artists: Amanda Sinclair, Maria Perez Sanz, Manuel Sumberac

Which cover is your favourite?  For a long time (even after the new covers came out) mine was the second one – the green one with the silhouettes – but now I think I like the magic of the most recent cover best.

When First Aid for Fairies was first published, with the hairy paw and pink fairy on the cover, I had no idea that it would be popular enough for long enough to justify other covers, nor that there would ever be any other books beside it on the shelf.  I did hope to have other books published, but I knew nothing was guaranteed in publishing. However, the first book did well (won the Scottish Children’s Book Award, sold a respectable number of copies) and readers wanted to know what the characters did next, so I wrote another one – Wolf Notes – which raised a few questions that I wanted to answer in more books, so I wrote a third then a fourth. So that first novel become my first series: The Fabled Beast Chronicles.

The third book also prompted a question about the magic of curses, which led to the Spellchasers trilogy. The contacts I made while promoting the first novels led to contracts with other publishers. The research I did into folklore, myths and legends in order to write the novels led to retellings and collections. And the fact that I was now spending all day (and most nights) thinking about stories, some of which didn’t fit the same age group as First Aid, meant I started to experiment with picture books and YA. So over the past 10 years I have published 29 other books…

And it was First Aid for Fairies that started it all, exactly 10 years ago.

That book launch was the start of me becoming a freelance writer, the start of all the school events, book festivals, award ceremonies, tours, workshops, blog posts and an endless cycle of deadlines.

First Aid for Fairies and Other Fabled Beasts was the start of a pile of novels with ridiculously long titles.

But most of all, it was the start of me having the wonderful freedom to lose myself in adventures every single day, and call it work. If I hadn’t written about Helen and Yann, I might never have written about Molly and Beth or Pearl and Thomas or Ciaran and Lucy (or indeed the characters I’m writing about now, who may or may not be called Ailsa and Ninian…)

I have learnt a great deal over the last 10 years, about writing and about being a writer (those are two different things), but I also feel that I don’t yet know nearly enough. So I will keep learning, and keep writing. It’s been 10 years, and I’m still making it up as I go along…

I love every single one of my books; I have challenged myself and stretched myself in different ways for each book I’ve written. But only one book can be my first book. Only one book can be the one that started it all.

So today I want to remember the glorious moment that I had the idea for First Aid for Fairies and Other Fabled Beasts (ooh, what about a vet who only treats magical creatures… or, no, make it a vet’s daughter, and what magical creatures would she treat, and what injuries would they have, and what adventures might they have been on to get those injuries… ) and the joy of discovering as I wrote that this was an idea with enough strength to support a novel (then a series) and the amazing moment that a publisher agreed to publish it (after it had lost a competition), and the nervous excitement of standing up in front of all my friends and family to launch it. Exactly 10 years ago!

And today I want to thank Helen the violinist, Yann the centaur, Rona the selkie, Lavender the flower fairy, Sapphire the dragon, Catesby the phoenix and the Master of the Maze, for setting me on this fantastic path.

Also, I want to thank the wonderful Floris Books, who published my first book 10 years ago, and will be publishing my 31^st book in 10 days’ time. (And perhaps more in the future…?) And thanks to my agent Lindsey Fraser, who had faith in Helen’s story before anyone else read it, and who has given me wise advice to keep the stories flowing ever since. Also, thanks to all the booksellers, librarians, teachers, book festival organisers, Scottish Book Trust magicians and everyone else who has put First Aid for Fairies in front of kids for the last 10 years. And of course – thanks to all the readers whose enthusiasm about the Fabled Beasts’ adventures gives me the energy to keep writing. (With all those thanks, this post is starting to sound like a speech at a launch party!)

How will I celebrate today? I could bake a cake, and put 10 candles on it. I could sit on the couch and reread Helen’s first encounter with a centaur. Or I could get on with the job I’ve had for 10 years, and just write the next chapter of the next novel…  Guess which of those I’m most likely to do?

It’s March, and I have a new book out this month!

I’m really excited about The Treasure of the Loch Ness Monster. It’s a picture book inspired by traditional Loch Ness folklore, with wonderful illustrations by the amazing Natasa Ilincic.

I admit that this is not a book I ever thought I would write (though I could say that about most of my books!) I’ve lived near Loch Ness, but I’ve never seen a monster there, and I’m not sure I’ve ever believed in a monster either.

But I do believe in the power of stories. And I’m a big fan of questions too… Does Nessie exist? If she did exist what would she look like, what would she care about, what would she want, what would she prepared to do to get it? If you met Nessie how would you react and what would happen next? (These are the sorts of questions I ask about all my characters, whether they are huge and green or not.)

I’ve had the opportunity to explore all those questions and more in this picture book. I also did lots of folklore research, which I love.

This book is a companion to The Tale of Tam Linn and The Secret of the Kelpie, as part of Floris Books Traditional Scottish Tales range, but it presented very different problems.

The Tale of Tam Linn is based on one Borders folktale. There are many versions of the tale of Janet and Tam Linn, but the heart of the story is always the same. So my challenge was to find the best way to retell that story for a picture book.

There are lots of different kelpie folktales from all over Scotland, so for The Secret of The Kelpie my challenge was to create a new story that reflected lots of different bits of kelpie lore.

But as soon as I started to discuss a Nessie book with my wonderful editor, Eleanor, I banged up against one great big monster-sized problem. There isn’t a Nessie myth or legend or folktale. There is an old story, from more than a thousand years ago, about a saint driving away a water monster in the loch, but that monster had just eaten a local man, so I don’t think that’s the Nessie we know and love.

There are lots of glimpses and partial sightings of Nessie, lots of rumours and mysteries about her. But there is no authentic, full-length, story-shaped traditional tale.

So, I started reading more widely (getting to read lots as part of your job is one of the best things about being a writer) and I found a little snippet of folklore about treasure under the castle overlooking Loch Ness. I started to wonder about that treasure and the magic guarding it, and what Nessie’s connection might be to the treasure. Then I started to imagine some children who were prepared to take risks to get that treasure.

And that’s when I had a story. A mysterious monster, a dangerous treasure? Both of those were great. But it wasn’t until I met Ishbel and Kenneth that I had a story I wanted to tell.

I also met Natasa. (She’s real: I met her in a café; Ishbel and Kenneth aren’t real: I met them in my head.) Natasa is a wonderful, magical, wise artist. She has created a classically beautiful Nessie, but also given Kenneth and Ishbel all the character and cheekiness and courage that I could have hoped for. (And she has created the most amazing treasure chamber ever!)

And you don’t have to wait very long to meet Natasa’s Nessie, go on an adventure with Ishbel and Kenneth, and find out all about The Treasure of the Loch Ness Monster!

The book is published on the 22nd of March, and you’ll be able to find it or order it in all good bookshops and libraries.

And I’d love to know what you think of it!