My work in progress is based around sleep and bedtime stories

My work in progress is based around sleep and bedtime stories, and all this talk about sleep and being tired is definitely making me sleepy, which is the desired effect after all. A bedtime story needs to tell a story but also lead towards a drowsy state of mind. So not only am I yawning doing my rewrites, but now I’m blogging about all things sleepy and drowsy related, the yawns are definitely brewing…

I’ll keep it brief here, because in reality I seem to be writing into an abyss, so if you’re reading this, welcome! Please have a wander around my website, bring your friends and pop along to my website bookshop where my books are gathered in the hope of finding new homes.

For the books that need to be read - I will fight technology!

I've been having some website issues lately to the point where I'm coming back to my trusty blog to regroup. So where can I go form here? I have books relying on me to find homes for them and send them out into the world to be read...

The journey has been a long and varied one:

My books have been in book shops...

                                                                       and in library displays...

I bought bright orange envelopes - to send the books out into to the world in style.

I knitted sheep as quirky promotion...

...it worked, so I knitted more sheep.

I knitted some cats - the ginger one, not the tabby!

But most of all I've sat or stood behind my books at book signings and sold direct to readers.

...and played around with book displays.
                                               From books going on holiday...

...to a horse display, (yes I knitted the horse and knotted the hay net)

to promote my latest book.

So you see - I am determined - and I will launch my books out into the world!

#LostinaBook #rummage4words 

A book cover is like a door to a hidden world

A book cover is like a door to a hidden world – open that door and peep inside, but be careful – a book has the power to draw you inside and never let you go…

If you open that book and find it to be empty, then you must be the one who is meant to fill that book – fill it with something amazing…

Books need to be read to come alive, for their characters to be heard and allow you into their world...

Books need to be read to come alive, for their characters to be heard and allow you into their world... 

 

Belle for one, does not want to be left standing at the gate.

Order her book and let her tell you her story... 

There are many gates in life, they're not all starting gates, some are just country gates leading to a bit of horsing around...

Under starters orders... 

 

There are many gates in life, they're not all starting gates, some are just country gates leading to a bit of horsing around...

Belle ex Racehorse ...just horsing around 

Why is it I wonder that I find horses stood at a give way so amusing...

 

Why is it I wonder that I find horses stood at a give way so amusing... it makes perfect sense for them to stop at the give way when they're hacking on the road, but I can't help it - it tickled me the first time I saw it, and it still does, so of course it had to make it into the book. 

#amreading #LostinaBook #horses #tb 

It's Friday, the sun is shining...time to kick out, go wild, or curl up with a new book and go on an adventure...

It's Friday, the sun is shining... 

 

                            ...time to kick out, go wild, or curl up with a new book and go on an adventure...

#amreading #horse #horses #TB #LostinaBook

The magic of reading aloud...

What could be better on a dark and dingy Monday in February, than to get lost in a book...? Well, one thing maybe - to get lost in a book with a someone...

There's something very special about sharing a book with a child, entering a magical world together and making it yours.

Everyone interprets a book in their own way, and it becomes part of them - think of your favourite book from childhood - reading that book again will take you back to that moment in your life in the same way as a piece of music of a smell, and you'll feel like you're in that moment again. So isn't it a magical thing to share that moment, and become part of that memory.   

Judging a book by its cover... we all do it

I was in a bookshop last week, yes a real bricks and mortar bookshop.

I got a book token for Christmas - which took me back to childhood, as I always used to get book tokens for birthdays and Christmas.

I went in with an idea of one book I wanted, and decided to choose another on impulse, and that was when it occured to me that as I was browsing, I was judging books by their covers... and what else are buyers supposed to do when looking for inspiration for something different to read?

It's not practical to expect people in a bookshop to read every blurb in the shop, and we don't all want to simply go to our favourite author every time, or even the same genre - sometimes it's good to try something completely different.

Well the natural thing to do is to look around and see if a cover catches your eye, read the title, read lots of titles, and when one intrigues you enough, pick it up and read the blurb, maybe even read a page or two, and by then you'll have a pretty good idea of whether you want to live in that book for a while... 

 ......................................................

But I'm Not Sleepy - still my bestseller - This book is constantly judged by its cover and title - it seems to strike a chord with many people...

Christmas quiet / busy book

I made a Christmas pudding yesterday - but not the sort you can eat...

This is the front cover of my first Christmas quiet / busy book. The pudding is a flap - can anyone guess what might be under the flap? I'll post more pictures later, because this book isn't quite finished. I ran out of time and inspiration for the last page yesterday,  and I also need to go shopping for a few bits and bobs in festive colours...

Author rambling on about getting lost in a book...

So what's the secret to getting lost in a book...?

It's all about finding a book that interests you. Go into a bookshop, either a traditional bookshop, or an online bookshop, have a rummage around, find a book and get stuck in. Don't let anyone tell you what you should be reading, or even what is a good book and what isn't, everyone has different tastes in all things, and that includes books.

Don't even let people tell you not to judge a book by its cover - if you see a cover you like, then pick the book up and read the blurb, if the cover design has been made to represent the contents, and why would anyone design a book cover that didn't, then its a good indication that you'll like the contents. But if that book isn't for you, then try another one... not every book you read will be the sort of book that you can truly lose yourself in, and I mean to the extent where you no longer hear what's going on in the room around you, where people can call you and get no response, but it's worth reading a lot of books in order to find that book... 

So now you know the secret to getting lost in a book, then why not pass it on...  

Tell your friends, tell your family, and most of all pass it on to your children - babies love books, and the sooner they can be read to and get hold of books the better, and don't worry if babies wear out their early books - better worn out than never read at all... A mended book is a loved book! 

 

Twitter

I've just tweeted my 1,000 th tweet, it felt quite exciting!

I thought about tweeting something profound, or even tweeting about it being my 1,000 th tweet, but in the end I just tweeted what I was thinking... and what I was thinking was that I quite like research, because it feels like a bit of an excuse to read a lot of stuff about things that I'm interested in anyway, but it is a means to an end.

And what end might that be?  Well I'm not quite ready to tell that to the world just yet, so you'll just have to keep popping back to see what I'm up to, but I will say that I have some exciting plans for the future rolling around in my head... ans as usual my head does get quite full of ideas, so there won't be room to contain this one for long.

Random ramblings of an author with a bookshop...

I have an online bookshop... it's tucked away down a back alley where no one can find it.

So what is the mission...?

Well to open up that back alley of course, or at the very least, to put spot lights around the entrance and make everyone who passes want to know what's down there...

I have an idea, it's been growing in my mind as I went about my day - so while I may not have looked busy today: playing with my cats, going for a swim and mooching around a stable yard, and holding half a bucket of water for a horse to drink - cos it didn't all fit in her main bucket, and she just couldn't see it go to waste... but under that calm exterior, cogs were turning, and I have a new idea you're going to love...   

...it's crazy, and it's coming soon... 

Random ramblings of an author with a bookshop...

I have an online bookshop... it's tucked away down a back alley where no one can find it.

So what is the mission...?

Well to open up that back alley of course, or at the very least, to put spot lights around the entrance and make everyone who passes want to know what's down there...

Tomorrow Tour De France goes past the end of my road, so maybe I should nip out and redirect all the signs and send the race through my bookshop... no...? not such a good idea...? well maybe not - back to the drawing board as they say. 

So now I need a drawing board to go back to... 

The secret to a bestseller is to write a great book and then don't keep it a secret

The secret to a bestseller is to write a great book and then make sure you don't keep it a secret...

So today I'm shouting about my #1 bestseller But I'm Not Sleepy

It's my bestseller at almost every book signing - why?
It seems that everyone has a Lucy...

They say don't judge a book by its cover - well news flash - the cover is the first bit people see, so that's what makes them pick it up or walk on by...

The title strikes a cord - who hasn't heard those words...? And who hasn't jumped up and down on the bed instead of going to sleep in...? Most parents moan that their kids do it - a few admit that they used to too...

 Then they open the book and see the bright colour pictures,  not knowing that they started out from my kitchen table...

 First came the book, then came the sheep...
These little characters made their debut at Christmas fairs and were an instant hit, appealing to all ages.

 Soon there was a little flock of them - don't ask me to count them zzzzzzzz

So why should you buy my book?
Because it's one of those bedtime stories that you can share again and again and build those special memories with your child that last a lifetime...

A Book is a Daydream shared

A book is a daydream shared... so why is daydreaming synonymous with wasting time...? From being children we are told to stop daydreaming - but why? It's like telling a child not to play - daydreaming allows your mind to play around with ideas and let your imagination run off into areas you might not expect...

 Daydreaming is not a waste of time, it's where the best ideas ramble about, the shy ideas, the ones that run at the sight of a pen or a keyboard...

Who's to say what is a waste of time...?
Some of my best ideas come to me when I look to the rest of the world as if I'm doing nothing - daydreaming.

In a busy world we sometimes need to find a moment of quiet to call our own. To let our imaginations run riot without the threat to a pen to trap and restrict those ideas.

Then when the imagination is in full flow, take those ramblings by surprise and start to write - write for yourself with no thought of what others might think if they read it and you might just surprise yourself what you come up with... editing can come later.

Books are a daydream shared...

Is Etsy the new answer to the craft fair?

Is Etsy the new answer to the craft fair...? Certainly it seems to be where all the craft people are gathering right now, and there are some beautiful and unique items in there

As my own website shop seems to be on a back alley that no one can find, I have been re-stocking my Etsy shop - there's books, there's sheep... what more could you want? And all nestled in the comfortable environment of this online craft fair... so pop along and see what you think.

Meanwhile I'll be putting my thinking cap on (oh no another excuse to wear a hat...), and planning how to renovate my shop, or dragging it into a more prominent position...

Every cloud has a silver lining

Every cloud has a silver lining, so what is the bright side of a rainy Saturday afternoon in May...?

It's the perfect excuse to curl up indoors with a book... and, after I'd shut the cats out of the kitchen - to prevent another missing chicken incident, broken up several fights started by an argumentative cat, miffed at being shut out of the kitchen, possibly because she had her sights on the chicken, but more likely that she just wanted to stay on her favourite chair: I'd tried several combinations of shutting doors to keep certain parties apart... finally everyone settled down and all was peaceful... my silver lining :)

Cats in book cases - it's a cat thing...

Captain, showing an early interest in books - he seems to have been in the middle of everything I've done ever since...

If he's not climbing all over me, he's usually asleep close by... here he is supervising the artwork for Basil and the Flappy Thing. I think he was getting ideas from Basil too - getting ideas for more cat flap capers...

Floundering in the dark, searching for that spark

I've been hard at work this morning trying to work through some ideas online, but like many other things it seems like I'm floundering in the dark, until finally I'll come across that spark that illuminates everything, and all becomes clear.

So... as I can't seem to find that spark today I'll talk about books... learning to read is a hurdle that we all have to get over to get to the treasures that can be found in a book. I can still remember when reading finally clicked for me, and reading became easy. For me, as I'm sure for many others, it was an Enid Blyton book that was my first book that I couldn't put down, I just couldn't get enough of the Faraway Tree.

And so everyone needs a book that grabs their imagination, and makes them want more... I believe that anyone who says they don't enjoy reading has simply not found the right book yet. That's not to say that every book I read grabs me, but when one does, I can be totally lost in a book, and people around me may have to shout to get my attention. :)