"The Peg People" began in around 2018 after a conversation with my Mum, who reminded me of the way I used to draw little "peg people" in the blank spaces of colouring books. This window into my childhood allowed me to reconnect with the feelings of freedom to create, and combined with a little inspiration from my young nieces, a story started to form.

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The first draft was written straight away the following day. Following on from everything I had learned from "The Greatest Cake", I decided a much simpler story with less text and more imagery was needed to tell the story of a happy, imaginative little girl who was worried about her first day at school.

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Drawing on personal feelings of anxieties as well as watching children in my family and other children on various school visits, the story flowed organically, and the sensitive imagery worked well with the text.

The setting and locations are mainly based around my house and garden. My neighbour's cat features as an extension of Ada's personality, and Ada herself was a mixture of myself, my nieces and my friend's little girl.