An event singer whose work “basically disappeared overnight” picked up a pen and turned to writing due to the Covid-19 lockdown.
Michael Ford from Somersham lost his jobs, both as a singer and art tutor, due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis so decided focus on a former talent.
He spent every day of lockdown writing and illustrating his own children’s book and is now in a position where he can self-publish very shortly.
The book, called ‘Aaaaaaaaaaaaargh! My Sister’s a Lizard!’ is a story in rhyming verse from the perspective of a little girl on a mission to help her older sister.
Strange creatures in a magical land help her to collect the unusual ingredients she needs to reverse an accidental spell; It’s full of adventure, magic and a twist at the end.
Mr Ford said: “The characters are based on my two daughters; Sissy and September and I couldn’t be more pleased with the feedback so far.
“Parents have commented on how it has a classic feel both in a text and illustration as well as refreshingly new in storyline and amount of content to keep young minds engaged.
“Children have warmed to the various magical characters and have really enjoyed collecting the magic items along the way.
“A lot of laughing and giggling when reading - which I was over the moon with!”
Mr Ford started piecing the book together more than 10 years ago, but a newly-found busy family life got in the way and it was put on the back burner, until now.
He added: “It was the time I could see spread out in front of me due to the Covid lockdown that made me realise immediately that I could make some real progress.
“So, I honed the story and set to work on the illustrations which took six months of working every day to complete.
“My wife was working from home and so I was strict with myself to make sure I worked at least the same full time hours as she did.
“I developed the illustrations with expressive techniques using paint and mixed media on canvas to create the magical backdrops and then sketched and drew the characters on top of these.
“The book is being printed in Cambridge as we speak and will be finished in the next couple of weeks.
“As soon as I physically have the books then I can give a launch date - which will follow immediately.”
The book is available on pre-order at: www.mysistersalizard.co.uk
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