I was first inspired to write the children's stories after my own daughter Jacqueline became bored with stories about elephants in houses and other such tales. While I acknowledge that the fantasy world is one that children like to inhabit, I found that my daughter and her friends also loved to hear about the 'real animals and their habitats'.

I became despondent at explaining that a pig does not really live in a house or that a cat does not really wear clothes. So I started making up stories about the animals, gathering facts in books, then later on the Internet. While pretending to read from a storybook it came apparent that my daughter and the neighbourhood children loved how I wove the facts into adventures that I invented for the animals.

I began to write them down and tested them on the children. Children are very honest critics and would become bored and start looking around, fidgeting or just politely sit and wait the story out. Those that did not pass the 'kiddies test' where discarded.

Hobby columnist for Castlebar.News