Last week, I brought you news that I’m working on a series of children’s books. You can read the post here. The first in the series is called The Secret Dragon.
I thought it would be good to have a different name for the children’s books, as I’ve already written collections of short stories and have some writing workbooks due out under my ‘real’ name. I experimented with a few different names, but none of them felt right. And then, in one of the most unlikely places – a hospital, during a pro-op, the name was gifted to me.
The nurse carrying out the pre-op was one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met. She was such a bubbly, kind person, but she kept giggling at my name.
“I love the name Esther,” she said, and giggled again. “I wish I’d called my daughter that, but I called her Mia instead.”
I don’t particularly like my name, so it was great to have someone who liked it.
“But I used to call her Esther Moonstomp,” the nurse said. “My little Esther Moonstomp.”
I thought, What a great name.
And so I feel it was meant to be. When the book’s published, I’ll go back to the hospital and give the nurse a copy. Somehow, I think she’ll like it (well, the author’s name anyway).
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Esther Chilton 
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