Music and magic

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Fairy glen

Christine Westerback

Gar tuht river, ger te rheged.

Having been listening to the most extraordinary and magical album Imaginaerum by the Finnish band Nightwish, courtesy of my son Jed, I was wondering what this phrase meant and where it came from. Jed kindly investigated and found some debate online; the closest he could get (and by far the loveliest) was that if it is Old Cumbric it means go to the river, you’ll come to a fairyland.

How beautiful.

There are places along any river where we passersby are called for some reason to stop and look. For no apparent reason honey flows through our veins, or hearts flutter, or perhaps goose bumps rise. There is nothing overt, nothing obvious, yet we are caught unexpectedly by a glimmer, a promise of something beyond what we see, the feeling that actually all is not just as it appears and that the real truth is hiding just out of sight.

I’ve said before that to me, magic is not complicated or theatrical. It’s the occurrence of the unexpected, the acceptance that just because we can’t rationalise and explain things it doesn’t mean that they’re not real. If we stay open to it, with a little luck magic will reach out and touch us.

Camp NaNo

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Camp NaNo badgeIn April I was gently coerced (is that possible?) by the newest group of characters that had wandered into my head into starting another novel. They had very kindly presented themselves just in time for Camp NaNo, which is another writing month run by the organisers of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).

Having successfully completed a novel last November, I decided to aim for the same target as then, i.e. 50,000 words, although in April (and July) you can set your own target and work on any writing project you like, non-fiction, plays, short stories etc.

I am feeling quite proud and a little smug at the moment because I DID IT, with the support, of course, of family and friends (thank you!) and an industrial sized amount of chocolate. Although the novel is not quite finished, it’s great to have the structure in place and the bulk of it written, even if it is only a first draft.

So Camp NaNo, I thank you, as do my characters Serena, Seth, Tallie, Ethan, Gaia and Great Aunt Rose. They are most grateful that I haven’t made them wait for eight years like Robyn, Bryn and Holly (my November characters) had to!

Bluebells

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Bluebells among trees

Photo by Derek Harper

It’s that time of year when a purple mist appears in the woods and the banks, low over the grass and eerie in the twilight. The bluebells are ringing to call a faerie convention. Listen hard for it’s not easy to hear them. Still, they might raise goose bumps as you pass and somewhere inside, you may feel an echo of the chimes. The colour glows, broken by little luminous white stars and pink shocks of campion. Sit and watch the bells dance in the breeze but if they grow around oak trees be wary of the Oak Men, the protectors and inhabitants of the oak, who are none to fond of humans and their propensity to cut down trees with no justifiable reasons.

Never take a rainbow for granted

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rainbow on streetA little piece of magic on a rainy day, that’s a rainbow. The upturned smile of colours arcing across the sky, joining darkness and light, steel grey cloud to sun; light refracting, splitting and settling overhead in a translucent promise of something better, unreachable, untouchable, but with the power to elicit a lifting of the heart. But think about rainbows. They aren’t just in the sky. They glimmer from the surface of bubbles, they surprise from oil slicked puddles in the street. They catch you unawares as they slip off the corners of mirrors, and appear in unexpected corners through tricks of light and glass. Explain them with science if you like. I prefer to think that they’re a gateway, a glimpse into the magical and supposedly impossible realms that are beyond our world and our understanding.

New Book Out Today!

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girl with blue hairThe wizards at Magic Oxygen pressed the button this morning and Catching Up With The Past has already appeared on the digital shelves of the Amazon Kindle store as I write. Needless to say, I am very excited! And although the process still seems like magic, there’s a lot of work that goes in  beforehand, so thank you Tracey and Simon West for all your hard work, and thank you also Sophie Graves, Anne Maloney, Lucy West and Abby Smith, for giving me such helpful feedback on the original.

 As I mentioned in my last post, bullying is a theme in the book, and sadly still affects many people of all ages. If you are being bullied, please do not feel that it’s your fault, or that you have to suffer in silence. Tell someone you trust – you don’t have to be alone.

I hope you enjoy the story!

Catching Up With The Past

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girl with blue hairIt’s almost the end of February already! Hard to believe but still, time does fly. Though I haven’t been posting much on here I have been working (honestly!), editing my NaNoWriMo novel and finalising my next title which will be coming out as a Kindle book this weekend. Another long short story, it’s called Catching up with the Past and deals with the subject of bullying (that age old problem), but from a slightly different angle.

Although my writing takes a slightly otherworldly twist, this subject is a serious one and unfortunately does not seem to go away.

Bullying on any level is abhorrent and wrong, and although the physical side is more obvious, the verbal side, especially the casual comments and put downs that are supposed to be ‘just a bit of fun’ can be just as damaging, particularly when it comes from those who say that they’re your friends.

It happened when I was at school and it’s still happening now, unfortunately amplified by social media. I hate the thought that anyone feels like I did all those years ago, or like Jo-Jo did in the story. If you are, or have been bullied, you are not alone, but PLEASE TELL SOMEONE and do not suffer in silence.

 

New Book From a Fellow Author, 365 Silly Jokes for Kids

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365 Silly Jokes for Kids

Click the image to enlarge

I’m delighted to share this posting by Tracey West, a fellow author from my publishing company, Magic Oxygen.

It’s always wonderful to announce the birth of a new book, but this one is exceptionally close to my heart.

I have just had the most demanding but incredibly rewarding task of creating a new book, 365 Silly Jokes for Kids.

Much of the raw written material for it was amassed at the funeral of Martha Mickshik, a sweet little dot who sadly lost her brave battle for life at the tender age of 7 in 2006.

Martha had a brain tumour and many associated illnesses and as a result, spent countless weeks in hospital while she endured surgery and treatment of one kind or another.

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NaNoWriMo and beyond

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Well, it’s almost the end of November and I am happy to say that I managed to complete my novel in time – all 50,508 words of it. I have no doubt it’s going to need serious redrafting but at least it’s written and not just in my head. And hopefully I haven’t driven everyone too crazy.

printed text

So after the frenzy of writing, I am going to take my own advice and dust off a few of my favourite rereads this weekend. I can drink tea and eat chocolate just as easily when I’m reading as when I’m writing! These are the books I may indulge in.

Dreams Underfoot by Charles de Lint – a magical collection of short stories set in an imaginary North American city.

Green Angel by Alice Hoffman – the most beautifully written story of loss and recovery I think I’ve ever read.

Anne of Green Gables by L M Montgomery – the classic tale of an orphan taken in by a brother and sister, and how she changes their lives. The sequels are favouites too.

The Wood Wife by Terri Windling – an otherworldly tale set in Arizona.

I daresay that as I look on the bookshelves for these I’ll find others that tempt me in. What a lovely thought.

And from old favourites to a new book out for Christmas. You will see an advert for it on my website; it’s called 365 Silly Jokes For Kids and has been published to raise funds for Martha Care, a small but incredibly valuable charity that provides support and advice to parents of children admitted to hospital in crisis with injury or long term/teminal illness. Please buy this book and help them to continue supporting families going through their worst nightmare. Many thanks.

Izzy

Do you reread books?

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stack of old books

I was thinking about this the other day. Why reread a book? There are so many other books out there, fantastic books, amazing books, new ones by your favourite authors, other ones recommended by your friends that will take you somewhere new and exciting, perhaps one that grabs you from the bookshelf in the library or bookshop and insists that you read it because it just looks so interesting.

Yet many people have a favourite book or two ( or three or four) that they go back to more than once. I certainly do. My Mum in law Betty did too. She read voraciously but every year or two she would reread Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and Wax Fruit by Guy McCrone, just because she loved the stories and the way they were told.

For me, rereading my favourites is like a comfort blanket. I can disappear into a story and a world that I know really well and leave reality behind for a bit We tend to do that whenever we read, but having something familiar and beautiful, even if it’s not all sweetness and light, is so uplifting.

So today, make yourself a nice cup of tea, dust off an old favourite and allow youself some time to indulge

Izzy

Secrets

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Man saying hush!Does everyone have a secret? A big one, a little one, one that makes no real difference or one that could change someone’s life?

Maybe it’s not really yours, but one you’re keeping for someone else. Other people’s secrets can be the really tricky ones, the ones that lay heaviest on you.

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