A Frodsham-born IT manager has used a year of coronavirus restrictions to realise her lifelong dream of becoming a published author.

Lisa Almond wrote her children's book, Mum is Just a Name, in less than half an hour after an inspired idea popped into her head one day last year.

"At the beginning of lockdown, I found myself working from home," Lisa says. "I work in education IT so normally I work very heavily with primary schools, but at this point they were all closed.

"It was the first time that I hadn't had to commute for two hours every day and I started to think that having this extra time might give me the ideal opportunity to fulfil my ambition of writing a book.

"I was always mad about English at school and when I was a teenager I briefly entertained the idea of becoming an author. But it was also clear to me that very few people make any sort of a living from writing, and so I sort of abandoned the idea.

"I was content with having a career in IT and keeping my hand in the creative world by writing poems as presents for family and friends. But in the back of the mind I always thought: "I could write a book."

"I had the vague idea that children could really use something that showed how family dynamics differ. When you join school aged four or five, you're only really familiar with what you have experienced in your own family bubble, and suddenly you meet children whose situation is completely different.

"I tried out one verse in my head and that was it. As soon as I had it written down the rest just flowed. It literally took me 20 minutes from start to finish.

"The book is all in verse, which works for me because I've always been good at creating rhymes! As more and more people have read it I've also realised that rhyming works for young children as well because they can recognise the patterns."

Mum is Just a Name centres on Ronnie, a little boy who is starting school and finding it difficult to leave his mum.

However, as Ronnie gets to know the other children, he realises that not all families are the same as his own, and that it's not just his mum who is there to care for him. In the eyes of some of his new friends, 'mum' takes the form of a grandma, a dad or a foster parent, and that is just fine.

With each new discovery, Ronnie learns that love and comfort can come from any number of people, and not just his mum.

"I knew I had something as soon as I started writing," Lisa says. "There was something about it that I knew families would relate to and it was the first time I'd written something that I genuinely believed could be published."

"I've got twin daughters and when they were little we would always do a lot of reading. We loved stories like The Gruffalo, but I always found that while there are a lot of beautiful books out there about make-believe and fantasy, there are perhaps not so many about reality.

"It was very important to me that this book – and any books I publish in the future – would be a story about real life."

Having been snapped up by Olympia Publishers, Mum is Just a Name was released on March 23, and just five weeks later it has already sold out four times on Amazon.

"It's very exciting to see how well it is doing," Lisa says. "It's really come out of the blue and I could never have dreamed that people would like it this much. I'm just thrilled at the success it has had!"

Even without this positive reception, the publication of Mum is Just a Name is a dream come true for Lisa, who has enjoyed every aspect of translating her ideas into text and illustrations.

"My publisher helped me to find an illustrator who sent me lots of examples of pictures that I was allowed to choose from," Lisa explains.

"I was also asked to describe the characters, so I was able to say what they should look like. The names of the children in the book are the names of my nieces and nephews, so I tried to style the characters on them.

"It was great to see all of this brought to life in pictures."

While Mum is Just a Name was being prepared for publication, Lisa wrote several other stories about Ronnie, his family and his friends, which she now hopes to share with her readers in thr future.

"I'd love to produce a box-set that could be given to children as a Christmas or birthday present," she says.

While Mum is Just a Name might appear to be sold out on Amazon, it is restocked every week or so, meaning that, although delivery might be slightly slower, you can still order it now. The book is also available on Waterstones, Book Deposity and Books 4 You.

Although the book is aimed principally at five to seven-year-olds, its rhyming nature also makes it suitable for younger children, who can find patterns of meaning in the verses even if they are not yet reading fluently.