By Steffanie Costigan

March 27, 2024

What goes into writing? An idea, a thought, a dream, or even history. It’s the things we are surrounded with that we can easily overlook or even take for granted. For example, an old safe… When I originally moved into my house with my young family an old safe was left behind. We didn’t think much of it. Matter of fact we just placed boxes on top of it not paying much attention to it.

It was not until very recently when we decided to renovate the room the old safe was in, for our boys to move into in preparation for the arrival of the new baby. We wanted the safe out, it was very heavy, and we thought of it more as a nuisance that was in the way of our renovations. So, I decided to list it on the market buy and sell, for a measly $50. 

It didn’t take long for my messages to get flooded with interested buyers. When a couple of people asked me if I knew the history behind the old safe, I became intrigued and curious. Talking it over with my husband we both lit up like little kids feeling like we were on a treasure hunt. Maybe there was more to this safe than meets the eye. 

Racing downstairs we looked over the safe carefully inspecting it to try and find a hint behind its origins. That is when I noticed engraved on the safe’s lock the year 1855 with the name J & J Taylor, Toronto Safe Works. Sharing our discovery on social media a good friend of mine sent me an article about J & J Taylor, Toronto Safe Works. It turned out, that these two brothers moved to Canada from Scotland and created a safe company that later became a great success. 

They built these beautiful safes from 1855 until the early 1900s. But the safes are an early piece of Canadian history; and to think we were ready just to get rid of this historic safe. This safe reminded me in away about my own work of Land of the Dragon. 

People kept telling me throughout the years, ‘Why not just move on to a different story?’ I had been working on Land of the Dragon since I was around 12 years old, and I never gave up on it. Matter of fact I grew with it and kept rewriting it as I matured until I felt I could publish it with no regret on the development of the story. 

It’s easy to overlook things, but it’s worth the value to take the time to look into things before losing a hidden treasure. Writing is much the same, and so is reading there are books out there that are hidden treasures worth the time to investigate before turning a blind eye.

Who knows the story or inspiration behind the book? Who knows the sacrifices that went into bringing the book to publication? I hope when people read Land of the Dragon there able to take the time to recognize the symbolism woven throughout the story.

But most of all I hope the sacrifices I made enriches the readers to an knew understanding and inspiration. Sometimes it’s the things that are grown with much love and care that become something special, something worth looking into.