Not every story begins with a publishing plan.
Sometimes it begins with a simple idea — and a group of curious kids asking questions.
The No Time Like The Present series started as something far more personal than most of my other books. These stories were originally written for my daughter and her friends, who loved adventure, mystery, and the kind of stories where ordinary people stumble into something extraordinary.
What began as a few ideas quickly grew into a time-bending adventure series about curiosity, friendship, and the consequences of changing the past.
The Beginning of the Story
Like many young readers, my daughter loved stories where characters discover something hidden — a secret, an object, or a mystery no one else has noticed.
That idea became the starting point.
In No Time Like The Present, a group of school friends discover a strange pocket watch that doesn’t behave like any ordinary object.
It isn’t just a watch.
It’s a key.
And once they begin to understand what it can do, they realise that every choice they make could change far more than they expected.
A Time-Travel Adventure
The series follows Addison McKay and her friends as they uncover the secrets of the mysterious watch.
But time travel is never simple.
Changing the past might seem like an opportunity at first — a way to fix mistakes or prevent things from going wrong.
Yet every change carries consequences.
And the more the characters experiment with the watch, the clearer it becomes that time itself doesn’t like being altered.
Book One: No Time Like The Present
The story begins when Addison and her friends discover the pocket watch hidden at school.
At first it seems like an impossible curiosity.
But when they realise the watch allows them to travel through time, the adventure truly begins.
What starts as excitement soon becomes a mystery that reaches far beyond the present.
Book Two: The Hourglass War
In the second book, the stakes grow much larger.
As the boundaries between past and present begin to weaken, Addison and her friends find themselves caught in a conflict that stretches across time itself.
The watch may have opened the door to the past — but something else may be trying to control it.
And the consequences could affect far more than their own lives.
Why I Wrote the Series
Writing for younger readers is a different experience from writing thrillers or speculative fiction for adults.
The goal isn’t just suspense — it’s wonder.
I wanted to write a story that captured the feeling of discovering something mysterious for the first time. The kind of adventure that makes you imagine what might be hidden in the world around you.
At the same time, the books explore a deeper idea:
If you had the power to change the past, should you?
It’s a question that becomes more complicated the further the characters travel.
A Story That Began at Home
The No Time Like The Present series began as something written simply to entertain a group of curious young readers.
But like many stories, it grew into something bigger.
And it remains one of the projects closest to my heart — because it started with the simple goal of writing something my daughter and her friends would enjoy reading.
Explore the Series
You can explore the full series here:
If you enjoy time-travel adventures, mysteries, and stories about friendship and discovery, it’s the perfect place to begin.
After all, sometimes the most extraordinary journeys begin with the smallest discovery.