When Emma Carmichael, salon owner, and mother of three, had to close her salon Envy Hair in Oliver Place for lockdowns, she used the extra time on her hands to become the author of the children’s book, Meggy and Her Fluffy Friends.
Emma, who wrote the children’s verse storybook on her notes app on her mobile phone. She said: “I have always written poems and stories, it’s been a lifetime thing for me but it really developed during lockdown because I had to close my salon so I was off through the lockdown at home with my three girls and inspiration struck.
“I don’t even know where the name Meggy came from, it just all sort of happened and my youngest daughter was kind of my little sounding board and I thought that I needed to turn it into a book but I didn’t know where to start.”
Emma called on friend and local artist Amanda Hamilton, to come up with illustrations for the characters.
She added: “The book has the message that the small things in life are a big deal to a little girl. This book is about being scared of the dark and how teddies show Meggy that the dark isn’t scary after all. I’ve already written two more stories and, depending on the demand, I’ll look towards publishing a second book for Christmas.”
The book will be available direct from Emma via her EJC Books Facebook page in a couple of weeks and she hopes some shops locally will also stock it.