Dear Diary: Big tiny news, dead bees and chaos as usual

As always, it has been a million years since my last Dear Diary blog post.  I have no excuses except that life has happened.

Big Tiny News

The biggest event this year came a little early…our beautiful daughter and son-in-law were due to give birth to our first grand child at the end of June.   Baby decided to arrive five weeks early. Our daughter went to the hospital for a routine growth scan and ended up being kept in and a C section was performed two days later producing a wonderful baby girl, weighing in at 3lbs 8oz – teeny tiny!   Because baby was early and so small she was kept in NICU for the next three weeks.  I can honestly say the two days our daughter was in hospital were the most terrifying days (and nights) I have ever experienced.  We were so very relieved when baby was born, to know they were both safe.  The following three weeks were spent up and down to the hospital so the new parents could spend the day with baby and the evenings/nights with us.  Finally, baby Winnie was allowed to come home.  The new parents and baby have been staying with us, and we are incredibly privileged to be so involved in the first part of her life in the big wide world.  And to be able to look after our own baby girl and her hubby as well.  Baby Winnie is doing really well and weighed in at 5lbs yesterday, this girl loves her food!  She is bright as a button and definitely has a bit of pixie in her soul!  We could not be more proud of our daughter and son-in-law and how well they have dealt with what was a huge traumatic experience.  Also, a nod to our daxie, Eric.  For the first couple of days every time Winnie moved, squeaked or cried Eric would bark.  Now he just gives her the odd sniff in passing, unless she is distressed, then he comes running to tell me because he is worried about her ♥

 Cancellation

Because of all the above, it meant I had to unfortunately withdraw from a couple of events in June – PTG and Greenoaks, my sincere apologies for doing so but my priorities were with my family.  My thanks to the organisers for being so understanding.

Personal Thank You

I would like to send out a personal thank you to Winnie’s two fairy godmothers – Heather and Ness, who have not only been there to support me, but unbeknown to me, have also been checking in with my daughter throughout it all too.  These two ladies are incredibly special, and I am very blessed to have them in our lives.

 Publicist

In January I took on a new role as Publicist for Moon Books Publishing and it is a dream job that I am absolutely loving.  To be able to promote my fellow authors and the amazing books we have is an honour and a pleasure.  The retail market is tough at the moment, whether via high street stores or online stores, sales are struggling (in all areas not just books), so to be able to do whatever I can even in some small way to help fellow authors is wonderful.  I know everyone is struggling with finances at the moment, but if you can support authors in any way, it would be really appreciated.  Even a shout out on social media when a book is released, sharing a post from the author or publisher or leaving a review all helps.

Writing

I am still writing my own books, but very slowly!   I am currently working on Witchcraft: Daily Practice which has turned into a whole other thing as I am writing it.  In tandem I am also working on Pagan Portals Minerva.  Minerva made herself known to me when I was writing Pagan Portals Sulis, because there is a connection.  I was interested so I went off down the Minerva rabbit hole.  However, for this book I have a Research Assistant, what else do you do with a 19 year old son that has finished his A level exams and has nothing to do until University starts in September?  Well as his A levels were all in Ancient History, Ancient Civilisations and Modern History you put him to work as a Research Assistant!  So, he is spending his time at the moment delving into ancient Rome and the roots, history and myths that surround Minerva.  Be warned, he has a way of sarcasm about him!

Personal Practice

My own personal practice is slow going at the moment, with so much going on.  However, the gods sent me a message last week in the form of a pile of dead bees on our forecourt.  This was a distressing experience and one that really could have been more subtle (but as Heather says, when have the gods ever been subtle?).  The message was to steer me towards a new goddess, in the form of Nantosuelta.  I had written about her briefly in the book Gods & Goddesses of England but hadn’t given her any thought since.  She has now insisted I take notice; it is going to be an interesting journey.

Events and Changes

In other news, we do have a few events coming up with Kitchen Witch:

Friday 27th June, 9am BST – join myself, Ness and Heather for a live stream chat about our divination methods.

Saturday 5th July, 6-8pm BST – join us for a live stream summer solstice online workshop and ritual (FREE).

Saturday 27th September, 6-8pm BST – join us for a live stream autumn ritual and workshop (FREE).

Sunday 15th November, 6pm GMT – join us for a live stream online book launch and spell workshop to celebrate the release of Prosperity Magic (full details TBC).

We are changing the way we do things going forward.  You won’t see us at so many events and festivals next year; we are taking a year out (mostly) from events.  We will however be running more online events as Kitchen Witch, it is all secret squirrel at the moment as we plot, plan and scheme behind the scenes but keep an eye out for more details coming soon!

Watch out for new hoards making their way to the online shop too, we have plenty of dead body parts...

And finally

My world is total chaos at the moment (when is it not?) but it is all good and I feel very blessed in lots of ways.