February has flown by, as it always does, in a flurry of pancakes, half term events and the South Downs Dark Skies Festival, plus a fabulous trip to a local primary school to deliver workshops on the subject of The Jabberwocky to some throughly wonderful Year 4s.
We took trips to the zoo, West Horsely Place aka Button House and Winchester Cathedral to see the Sun, an art installation by Luke Jerram, which I plan to write about later this month.
The sun even made an appearance and the birds are well and truly back with the skylarks larking, yellow hammers little-bit-of-breading, the tremulous call of the gold crest and the demanding tattoo of the spotted woodpecker. The banks and hedgerows have been snowdrops and hazel catkins abound but now it is the turn of the primrose and the daffodil. On my last walk I spotted a few celandines and I am eagerly awaiting the first blackthorn flowers of March as they have not yet made an appearance.
This month Tree Lore will arrive on the shelves and you should all receive your pre-orders. I am so excited for this book to be out in the world and I will be creating some short reels for Social Media in due course so look out for those. The audiobook will also follow towards the end of the month.
Work continues on the new manuscript which I will tell you about as soon as I’m allowed. I’ll be back storytelling at Weald & Downland Museum over Easter and of course World Book Day will be keeping me busy on 5th March. If you have a child (under18) who does not have a World Book Day voucher yet then you can download one here. You can exchange the voucher for one of the World Book Day publications or use it to get £1 off a book, worth £2.99 or more, dependent on your bookseller.
For March I invite you to find balance in the days of early spring. A middle ground between the urge to get on and do and sleep of winter not yet fully shaken free. Find a peace in the lengthening evenings and the need to hunker under the duvet for a few more minutes before the clocks are turned widdershuns and we loose our precious hour.
This Month’s Recommended Read:
Upcoming Events For March/April :
5th March - World Book Day - Hambledon Primary School
7th March - Tree Lore slated for publication
31st March, 2nd, 7th & 9th April - Storytelling for Waking Up The Wild at Weald & Downland Museum.
23rd April - The Little History of Storytelling slated for publication
Still covered in snow in New Hampshire although with yesterday's sun, much has melted off the roof!