How to write for your inner child

I wrote the book I needed ✍️

I didn’t see how he did it, but one moment he was in front of me at the door – then he touched it; pushed it – and the next he wasn’t. I heard his flared jeans shuffling against the carpet in the living room. He’d gone through the door without opening it. 

 Like something from out of this world.  

‘The Second-Hand Boy’ by Jennifer Lane

Happy publication week to… The Second-Hand Boy!

My fourth book is a heartfelt one 🤍

I feel like I have two ‘selves’ at the moment, both of which are reacting very differently to the release of The Second-Hand Boy:

There’s the 33-year-old writer in me who is overjoyed that this book is finally out there in the world.

Then there’s the 21-year-old writer in me (the age I was when I first began writing The Second-Hand Boy) who is, quite frankly, astonished and a bit tearful!

A few weeks ago, I wrote a Substack post about how I first came to write The Second-Hand Boy. It started out as the dissertation project for my MA in Writing for Children (2011-12). Around this time, I remember reading books such as A Monster Calls and The 10pm Question and openly sobbing on public transport (yes, I’m that person) because they resonated with me so much. I am passionate about mental health and it’s a theme I return to in all my work so I was ecstatic to see it handled so skilfully and beautifully for a younger audience in these books. There was hardly anything out there on the subject of mental health for ages 8-12 and I wanted to write a book that would empower young people and help them navigate tough times.

But the story started long before that.

Let’s travel back to the year Y2K. The year of jelly sandals and Tammy Girl t-shirts (ahh, a simpler time).