HOW IT ALL BEGAN

A lot of bedtime stories for children start with the words ‘a long, long time ago’. Well, that’s how writing about dragons began for me in 2008. I still remember those lovely summer evenings, sitting on the patio of our garden in south-west France, watching the sun glide behind the oak trees beyond the lake.
In front of me, the warm pool tempting me to take one more dip. Even closer, the smiling faces of our four grandchildren, pleading for another story before bedtime. Another story like the last one, anything to keep them up that bit longer. Grandpas can’t resist pleas like that, can they?
And so, the stories began, with me constantly searching for new themes, different characters, to satisfy their ever-increasing demands. It was one of those moments when Duggan the Dragon was created.
We always had little lizards running across the stones, their long tails behind them, scurrying close to our feet. Those feet, if they were much bigger, could almost belong to a crocodile. No, not quite, the long, pointed noses suggested something far more exciting for stories. If those lizards were larger, and could breathe out fire, they might even be dragons. Why stop there? Add a couple of wings, the ability to speak, and a touch of magic, then anything is possible.
That is how the Duggan stories began. Night after night, bedtime stories about dragons leading children into mischief, sometimes into exciting adventures, and always safely home again.
Livvie, my eldest grandchild, was eight then. She’s almost twenty-five now. Work always seemed to get in the way of putting these adventures on paper, but at last its done. Bedtime adventures of dragons, magic and a touch or two of imagination.

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