Though it took me longer than planned to write and release, I very much enjoyed creating this magical tale. The cover and half of the interior illustrations were created by the very talented Lucja Fratczak-Kay, and the other half were created by Laura Elizabeth Hunt, who is a fantastic artist, and linocut printer!
The local legends in the story are based on real ones where I live, and there is a few hints to the stories that are coming next in the series.
So far it has been read by children as young as 8 and as old as 80! It is an adventure suitable for all ages and I do hope you give it a go.
What a year it has been so far! I feel like things are going full circle back to 2016, and in 2016 I had a lovely community on Patreon, of my readers and supporters, and that I developed after going to the States and meeting so many wonderful Earth Angels.
Now, as part of the MA that I am currently undertaking, I have decided to rebuild the Patreon community, for my readers, for Earth Angels, for those on a Twin Flame journey and for Unicorn Seekers!
The community is at the very beginnings, and will grow and evolve over the next few months, but the hope is for the support from it to help me create more books, including audiobooks, and also create a small pot that will be available to help anyone in the community who is struggling.
I am on track to publish six books this year, and my plan is to publish another six next year, so I will be back in full flow! The books published so far this year are – in haiku, to haikuand The Magical Witch’s Fire. Coming in the next four months are – the ten year anniversary edition of Where’s My F**king Unicorn?, the sequel to The Girl Who Loved Too Much, and haiku free.
Next year, the plan is to publish the fourth haiku collection, the next four children’s books in the Magical Doorway Series (thus completing the series) and finally, the final book (12) in the Earth Angel Series!
Admittedly, big plans, but I feel they are achievable! And I would love your support in making them happen, so please do join the community, even at the free tier, you will be supporting me and cheering me on, and I really appreciate it.
I have begun blogging on my author website, as I am beginning a whole new chapter of life and this blog feels more like my history than my future!
This blog will remain online, so you can still find your fav recipe or post, but won’t be getting any new material, head over to michellegordon.co.uk for my new adventures!
Thank you for following this blog and subscribing and reading, I love and appreciate you!
Less than 4 days after I moved the last of my stuff into my storage unit, it was broken into and ransacked.
They were looking for jewellery, so it was just my personal stuff that was trashed, and they took some niknaks and my charms and findings from my jewellery making kit. None of it will net them much, most of the charms were not even silver plated. Nothing in the storage was of any great resale value, just sentimental.
The shock of it all was a lot at first, and having to move everything again, only a week after sighing in relief that I wouldn’t have to move it all for a while, was merely an inconvenience, and actually, with help, I got it all sorted very quickly.
The icky feeling that a group of men rifled through and trashed my personal stuff though, lingers. They emptied out boxes of old love notes from exes, and threw my sewing machines on the floor, and created enough mess that I was sweeping up my belongings with a dustpan and brush.
There was much to be grateful for though. There was much they left untouched, and they could have destroyed more than they did, but their singular focus on jewellery meant that they ripped through quickly then moved onto the next unfortunate victim.
The crazy thing is, they would have got more money working a couple of hours min wage, than they got from my unit. But in a way, I’m glad they targeted storage and not houses. Having someone break into your home is much worse, especially if you are asleep upstairs, but I can’t help wonder if it’s really worth it. Did they get enough silver to melt down to pay for their beers? Was it all just for a laugh? Something to do in the evening? Do they work regular jobs and do this as a side hustle? Have they considered the consequences should they get caught?
Anyway, though at the time it was traumatic, causing a few sleepless nights, it only took a few days to sort out, and though I feel a bit anxious when I go to my unit now, I have mostly recovered from the experience. I just hope it is one that I never have to go through again!
The jumbled mess that days earlier was neatly sorted into boxes
If you want to gain insight into the mind and life of a thief, do check out Burglar to Buddha by Simon Paul Sutton. A funny and fascinating read!
This week I have been moving the contents of my print studio into a storage unit. In doing so, I realised that I have not had all my belongings in one place since 2008.
That was when I moved to New York. I got rid of much, putting only the stuff I couldn’t sell or bear to part with in my mums loft. Since then I have moved dozens (yes, dozens) of times, with my belongings spread through homes, storage units, studios and lofts.
For a while, I managed to keep my stuff to a minimum. Once, I even moved to Cornwall in just my tiny Micra! But once I started knitting again (thank you, Outlander!) And then handsewing, and then printing, well, the stuff kind of exploded.
I would say it is near impossible to be a multi-hyphenated creative and be a minimalist.
I’ve had many dreams in my life, many of which I have realised (see previous post) but I think my biggest dream now is to live in a place where I belong, with all my belongings.
Maybe then I could sort them properly, get rid of what I don’t need, appreciate the things I love, and use the materials I have (I know, ridiculous idea).
It’s only in the last few years that I’ve realised the link between ADHD and hoarding, and I genuinely don’t want to end up in a hovel filled to the brim with junk*, but I also don’t want to live in this fragmented nomadic way either.
Crossing everything and hoping that the next time I move, I will be able to reunite all my stuff, and live a more wholesome existence.
The rather stunning view on the way to my storage unit
*I honestly don’t want to end up like the old lady in The Magical Dragon Mirror, but if I ended up with a portal to the dragon world in my hallway, that would be pretty cool!
… but they don’t seem to last. I’m beginning to wonder if they are meant to?
I have been most fortunate to have had several of my dreams come true, from seeing my name on a book spine, having my books sold in bookshops, living in America, having a twin flame relationship, and having a studio in one of my favourite places.
But they have all been relatively short-lived, and thus relatively unsuccessful beyond the initial realisation.
My books are in print, but my sales are low and I don’t receive much income from them. I only lived in America for 10 months, and now I see very little hope of even visiting there again, let alone living there. My twin flame relationship… well, went up in flames. And now after a year of having my studio, I am in the process of packing and moving, again.
Which got me thinking, were any of these things supposed to last? Or is this pinball way of life just my path? Bouncing from one dream to the next, experiencing glimpses of the life I thought I wanted, but never fully settling into it?
Or is it that realising the dream is the easy part, but maintaining it, growing it, nurturing it, that’s where the work really begins. And that’s where I have typically fallen short.
Perhaps this next chapter of my life will be about the maintenance and growth of my neglected dreams, where I will look at where I went wrong, and perhaps finally experience the success that comes when you really give it everything you’ve got.
I plan to start with my books. After doing an event at a bookshop recently, where I met a few of my youngest readers, it lit a spark of excitement to return to writing the Magical Doorway Series, and get the rest of the books written before my audience is old enough to read the Earth Angel Series!
What is your neglected dream? Perhaps it’s time to dig it out and dust it off.
For the last year I have been blessed to have a letterpress studio at The Fold in Bransford. I have been printing magical cards, prints, posters, bookmarks etc, and running workshops. But my funding is coming to an end and it’s not making enough to sustain itself and me, so I shall be closing on the 7th July.
I am making as much stock as possible so I can keep selling online (magicletterpress.co.uk) and at markets, but from July onwards I will be back on my laptop focussing on publishing again. I have a few clients waiting for me to do their books, and I hope to resume the 4th Magical Doorway book, as well as book 12 of the Earth Angel Series!
I will still be at the Fold for the epic Magic Print Fair on the 28th June, so if you are a printer and want to sell, click here, or if you fancy coming for a day out to buy all sorts of printed art or print supplies, all the info is also here!
One of my favourite movies when I was younger was 13 going on 30. My favourite bit was when this Billy Joel song is playing, and she realises that by wishing to be older, by speeding things up, she has missed out on so much, lost so much. And luckily, she has the chance to go back and do it over.
But we are speeding through life at the moment, with no opportunity for do-overs. We now consume more content and information in a day than people used to consume in a year, and we are burning out.
Well, I know I am.
There has been a slow fashion movement, moving away from fast fashion apparel created by slave labour in cheap fabrics, to more slowly made clothing, made by smaller brands that will last.
There has also been a slow food movement, moving away from empty calories that come in cardboard boxes to food homemade and more slowly consumed.
And slowly, I feel we are approaching a slow socials movement. Moving away from the junk food that is social media and moving back to email lists, blog posts, even phone calls, letters and, dare I say it, real world interaction!
I know that’s where I want to go. I want to stop scrolling and start thinking. I want to stop consuming and start creating. I want to appreciate the people and things I have in my life instead of constantly coveting what others have.
I need to do this in order to be able to focus enough to write. And funnily enough, the theme of a book I have in mind is about exactly this – slowing down and unplugging, in order to find ourselves again.
I think I’ll make a plan to unplug from March onwards, and see how things go.
Our poetry imprint at Not From This Planet has five titles from four authors, and there are more titles planned for 2025.
We have two books by Catriona Messenger,life dealer and hope dealer. (She as since published love dealer, under her own imprint) They are beautiful poems of love, hope, grief and sadness, and are illustrated by Catriona too. Catriona is a beautiful soul who used poetry to get through a tragic event which changed her life forever.
We have two books from Elizabeth Lockwood, and another on the way in January. Waves of Stardustis a breathtakingly sad yet beautiful book filled with illustrations and poems about Elizabeth’s pregnancy, birth and loss of her beautiful baby boy, Osian. After the loss, Elizabeth continued to write poetry to cope with the grief while she continued to care for and raise her three other children, and that became Rain and Leaves. In January 2025, her latest collection will be available, called Ghosts of the Water.
The fifth poetry title is Duelling Poets, by myself and a poet and retired journalist, Victor Keegan. For 30 days we both wrote a poem each day with the same title, and in the book, they aren’t credited, so you can vote for your favourite, then at the end of the book, see which poet is your winner!
I wrote a lot of poetry as a teenager, mostly to process emotions I didn’t know how to cope with, and to explore concepts and ideas of other worlds or dimensions. Sometimes the words would just arrive and I would jot them down, not really sure of their meaning. Poetry has got me through some tough times, and I know for Elizabeth and Catriona, it has done the same. On our NFTP Instagram, we post monthly poetry prompts, and because we love a haiku, we also do a haiku competition with them. So if you fancy having a go at penning a poem, do check out the prompts and join in!
Here’s one of my haikus that I wrote for one of the October prompts. Keep an eye on my stories for more throughout December.
The latest book from Amber Beetle Books, the children’s imprint of Not From This Planet, is called War Bear, and has been written and illustrated by Matthew Wiggans. It tells the story of war refugees through the eyes of a teddy bear left behind. The illustrations are stunning, and the story is inspiring, and we at Not From This Planet are very proud to have published it, and to have partnered with the charity War Child. For every copy of the book sold, £1 will go to War Child. You can get your copy in paperback, hardback or on Kindle here!
Earlier this year, we also published another children’s picture book, written and illustrated by Christina Chard, called Verity Soap and the Silver Candle Snuffer. Christina has been writing and creating the illustrations for this gorgeous book for years, and I think it would make an excellent Christmas gift with the wintery theme and all the wonderful animals in the story. You can get your copy in paperback and hardback here.
The Magical Doorway Series is my own children’s novels, and there are three so far, with more on the way! (Soon, hopefully!) The Magical Faerie Door, The Magical Mermaid Portal and The Magical Dragon Mirror are stories of brave young children who venture into other worlds and dimensions to help magical beings. They are suitable for any age, but have a reading age of 8 to 12. You can get them on Kindle and in paperback and hardback here.
I look forward to expanding our children’s imprint in the next few years, so do keep an eye out for new releases in the future!
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