“Intentionally silly” book from Ditchling author Amanda Davey

Amanda said: “It is aimed at adult children who have never grown up and is for promoting laughter and warmth in places it may not always reach.

“It is suitable for children, although some wording is on the grown-up side without being packed with long words.

“A couple of years ago I gave my brother a book on Ordnance Survey quizzes and in the back it has a huge long list of contributors to the book.

“Most authors don’t have access to such a team and after a bit of laughter about it, my husband and I commented on how many little friendly faces we have around us who cheer us on and the idea started to hatch from there.

“I raised it as a suggestion in a group of business friends and what was interesting was how the initial reaction was to splutter but then one in particular started to ask how it was going – and I have dedicated to book to him and to two cuddly friends who have travelled with another friend.

“With their encouragement all these friends have shared in the book’s journey.

“The book has 22 cuddly – and not so cuddly but cheerful – faces that are part of our day-to-day existence. Each one has a role they play and a staff photo and mini biography, as company websites go in for. It is all based on truth, with a bit of imagination spinning the angle on it slightly.

“The starting point for the book was as a Christmas bit of frivolity so all the team photos have been taken with Christmas in mind, although no tinsel so it can work the rest of the year as well.

“Currently it is a stand-alone publication, although the design is as a sibling to one I have done on garden wildlife and there are hints of garden wildlife themes in the book.

“I have written one other book by myself, Freckles and Friends: True Stories of Garden Wildlife. Prior to that I have been co-author on a book called the Lichens of Jersey and have also edited and written chapters in my grandfather’s autobiography called It’s Warmer Down Below: The Autobiography of Sir Harold Harding, 1900-1986 which is all about tunnel engineering and geotechnical investigation techniques that his career involved.

“I have notebooks dating back into childhood, observational notebooks or attempts to grab thoughts. I would regularly discuss writing with my grandmother. We were both book junkies and had lonely childhoods in common as my parents were always busy.

“It has been a dream to write properly but I was always too shy to start. In 2008 I had a public role in a fight to save a business archive that catapulted me into blogging and social media – writing about stuff that I was so passionate about that the inhibitions weren’t there.

“Then in 2013 we were rammed by a bus while we were at traffic lights and in the six months where I couldn’t work properly due to the whiplash I was able to sit in a comfy chair with a board on my knees and gradually managed to type up the manuscript for my grandfather’s book, which had been a long-standing promise to my father to get done.

“Writing is definitely something you have to work at to get your confidence and the learning curve about publishing and marketing that has been involved since 2015 has been both illuminating and bewildering but also addictive ever since.

“We – my husband too – have been members of the West Sussex Writers since 2018 and having the chance to read our profferings through open mic events has been another way of testing how we progress as writers. You have to keep pushing your comfort zone boundaries to actually get what you crave to do on paper and then printed on paper.”