Writing Madly in All Directions

I have just written and published as an ebook my children's stories entitled "The Artistic Yetis Cafe" which is available on Amazon.  It was my third book and the one which caused me the most problems.  When I wrote "Days of Thrift", my first work, I wanted to help people (which is a very big category to satisfy).  I had worked for a very large multi national company as a Customer Service Advisor for twelve and a half years and every day I had spoken to customers who did not know how to deal with the real world; so many did not know how to live within their means, they didn't know how to save money, or how bank accounts worked or what interest rates were. I learnt how to express economic concepts in simple terms a child would understand.  Every day I tried to educate people who couldn't protect themselves from the hard times I could see were coming.  I enjoyed writing "Days of Thrift" because I felt I was making a difference. 
Out of that book which included some autobiographical stories I realised that I had lived a full, unusual life which in some ways could rival a Danielle Steel or Catherine Cookson novel.  Looking at events on the page I saw I had been born into poverty and family conflict but I had become a playwright and then script writer for film and television, had started as a second hand book dealer's "runner" and finally after years of hard work on the markets and at book fairs I ended up having my own bookshop in Bristol. So, I wrote my autobiography which I called "Pulling Myself Towards Myself". I found that title because it was like pulling a long rope of sticky toffee through a dark room where I couldn't find the light switch and kept falling over the furniture.  As I wrote first "Days of Thrift" and then my autobiography some strange characters started to demand their own stories be told.  For a long time I didn't know where the four Yetis who run a cafe in Bristol came from and then I remembered that when I lived in Bristol I had told my nephew a story about three naughty pigs who lived in a secret attic and roamed through hidden passages in our house and how they stole items from us, the humans who lived in the house to build a hot air balloon which they used to fly to the city of Granada in Spain. They returned the stolen items to the very confused humans in a large box with a thank you note, a fan, a shawl and a pair of castenets. 
I told him this story because although he was only four at the time he was convinced his life would never be exciting and he would never go travelling or have adventures like his mother, father and aunt had done.  I wanted to convince him that even small piggies could have dreams they could make come true.
I had written first drafts for four of the twelve stories I had outlined when my nextdoor neighbour's son visited to see my cats.  He was about ten years old, as we talked and I told him about my Yetis and their amazing cafe and all their adventures he told me in such a sad, desperate voice he didn't think he would go anywhere.  I was shocked, this was worse than my nephew because he sounded so resigned and accepting and he was so young.  I started telling him funny stories about riding a mule down the Grand Canyon and I went onto the Grand Canyon webcam so that he could see it, then Granada and the Alhambra Palace came up and we took the virtual tour while I told him about the swallows swooping in the evening sky and the gypsy dancers; then the Hermitage Museum for the Faberge eggs.  I told him that he would travel and see all these things and so much more, he went back home with a list of sites to look at on the internet where he could see various cities, their architecture and works of art, I don't think anyone had ever treated him like this before.  The family moved house before last Christmas and I don't know where he is but I hope when he grows up he will travel the world. 
As I sat thinking about him after he had gone home I began to see how I was going to have to draw all sorts of ideas and deeply held beliefs into my Yetis stories and I completely rewrote the outlines and reworked my first drafts over the next two weeks. Suddenly, my stories were taking over the page, the Yetis and their friends had hopes and dreams and took action sometimes in ways I hadn't expected. 
When I published the book I thought that the Yetis had finished with me and I began planning my next book "Travels with My Robot" but yesterday I woke up in the morning with a story where Zog, the oldest Yetis and Head Chef of the Cafe has a cookery book he is writing stolen, I am sure the story will include solar powered rickshaws, eccentric friends and dark scandals.
What I have learnt is that all my work is interlinked and I seem to write madly in all directions but as long as I am true to myself and try to create value in my work then all the directions are the right path.