New Children’s Out Now!

THE SNORING PRINCESS

New children’s fiction 3-7 years

Lilyana-Lettuce Chocolatesprinkle Giggle is a real faerie princess. But one day something strange happens to change her mind.

Enter the charming world of Morgan Geddes-Ward’s illustrations where she depicts a faerie who finds herself in a life threatening chocolate conundrum. Only magic and a little help from her friends can save the day.

A funny, triumphant story about a princess who discovers that she doesn’t need to fit her sparkling faerie-shaped self into everyone’s else’s traditional square holes.

Alicen Geddes and Morgan Geddes-Ward are a mother and daughter creative partnership. The Snoring Princess is their first book together.

 

ON SALE EARLY OCTOBER £4.99

Winter Solstice and the Full Moon Eclipse

The night before the 21st of December I dutifully texted several of my like-minded friends to tell them about the eclipse and what time it would be on the morning of the 21st. On Solstice morning I got up at 6.30am as usual to get my son ready for school and clean forgot that there was an eclipse. It wasn’t until Daisy’s dad rang me excitedly at 7am saying; ‘are you watching the eclipse then?’ that of course I realised my blunder! I swiftly ran out the front door and looked up into the sky to see the breathtaking sight in the clear starry sky of the full moon being eclipsed and was almost three quarters obscured by then. It was an amazing sight of beauty, wonderment and magic and I could not take my eyes off it, even though I was supposed to be getting ready for the day ahead. Everything stopped for the eclipse. There was thick snow on the ground which glimmered as if someone had thrown glitter upon it, the moon was being magically shaded and the stars shone. I realized how lucky I was to see this sight when I texted a friend in England who said that he couldn’t see it as it was so cloudy where he was. Here in Orkney, Scotland the sky was clear and cold. Perfect.

Thus began our Winter Solstice; a bewitching beginning to the shortest day and the longest night. Daisy, Alcina and I had planned a Solstice ritual; our outfits, the spells and Yule log were set to go. We were looking forward to celebrating the pinnacle of the magical year. As always it was a really busy day in the run up to Christmas. There had been the school disco in the afternoon and generally everything had been in a flurry of activity for all of us. Daisy and Alcina were exhausted and so was I by the time evening drew in. We decided to forgo the full blown ritual until Thursday when school would have ended for the term. Our Plan B was to watch The Snow Queen DVD and then have a very short, ten minute honouring of the Solstice and the moon afterwards. We could not let this special night pass without observing it in some way.

Daisy, Alcina, her brother Tomkin, our poodle Bax and I snuggled up on the sofa with cups of tea and Yule log to watch The Snow Queen. With the snow outside, huge gentle flakes still falling and the full moon nothing else was needed to make us feel more magical and festive.

When the film finished it was well past 11pm and I knew I had to get Daisy home before long. None of us felt like a ritual of any description by that time, but we knew that we couldn’t end the night without doing it. I had an impulse to take the girls outside; I just knew that we should be out in the snow. It was bitterly cold and the girls needed some coaxing. ‘I promise you it will be worth it,’ I had said. ‘Even just five minutes outside in the snow on Winter Solstice will be amazing.’ Daisy had never done a ritual outside before and looked sceptically at me. I grabbed the bottle of mead, lit a candle in a glass lantern and we all donned warm clothing and wellies.

Now…I may have mentioned this before; it has been noted that when I am with Daisy and Alcina I regress to being a teenage girl being an approximate age of fourteen. Tonight was definitely no exception. It was as if I had received an adrenaline rush. We all ran outside giggling and running through the deep snow, kicking up the powdery white stuff in an exuberant mood. It was almost midnight, but we didn’t need a torch as the snow and the full moon reflected upon everything and we could all see perfectly well. Words cannot convey the magical-ness of that night. The light of the moon and the glittering of the snow lit up our faces. In our garden, as you may remember we have a large wooden ring of mushrooms. I jumped into the middle of the ring and the girls did the same. We all held hands and tuned into the Snow Queen and Jack Frost, our chosen deities for that special night. I asked them both to imagine the Snow Queen faerie walking the perimeter of the ring gliding around in her long white, flowing dress which skimmed the surface of the snow as she went. It was as if we had all been transported and we were in a little bubble surrounded by the Snow Queen faerie. We each said a few words in honour of the Solstice and the full moon. When working a ritual outside the energy is different, almost raw in quality and as I explained to the girls, we were going for quality, not quantity tonight and we felt we had touched it. Connected. It wasn’t hard, in fact it was effortless. It is proof of the good work that we have already done in the Ring that we are now working very much in harmony with one another and in tune as a collective mind to the faerie realms. No elaborate ritual was required or any magical tools whatsoever, as connecting to the night itself was all that we needed.

Then we passed around the bottle of mead as we each took a swig in turn, as usual amid torrents of giggles. Our mood was collectively reckless. We decided that as it had taken six years to finish the bottle of mead and Alcina had downed the last drop, we should smash the bottle in celebration. I tried first, as I clanged it against the dry stone wall which encompasses our garden. Feeble effort. Daisy grabbed the bottle and then threw it hard at the roof of the house. It smashed spectacularly into hundreds of pieces, just like the mirror had in The Snow Queen movie we had just watched.

That ended our Solstice celebration and for some reason we were all as high as kites running around the garden at midnight throwing snowballs at one another. I‘ll never forget that Winter Solstice; sometimes being totally spontaneous can make the best rituals. It certainly worked for us this time.

The Snow Queen has visited our island

As we don’t know one another and frankly, I’m rubbish at introductions I thought to start this blog off I would ask my two children; Morgan and Tam Lin to pretend they don’t know me and think of twelve completely random questions. Here they are;

What is the pet you’ve had with the funniest name?
I called my first guinea pig Ermintrude after the cow in the Magic Roundabout children’s programme.

If you were a witch in a Harry Potter book, what kind of wand would you have?
Weeping willow with a single hair core plucked from the mane of a silver dappled Icelandic horse. Seventeen inches.

What is your favourite letter in the alphabet?
X – because it means a kiss.

Which SpongeBob Squarepants character would you be and why?
Squidward – because he’s grumpy and so am I!

If you turned two inches tall, who would you like to get squished by?
The Queen of England – she would have clean shoes and I wouldn’t spoil her red carpet by dying.

What is your favourite food?
Chocolate – of course.

If you went to St. Trinian’s School for Girls which group would you be in:
Chavs
Emos
Posh Totties

According to my friends, I would definitely be a Posh Tottie

If you could be any animal what would you be?
A cat, they sleep a lot and get their own way.

If you were a faerie what would be your name?
Miss Giggleberry Peaseblossom

If you could be a Disney Princess who would it be?
Snow White – she had seven adoring friends, could talk to animals and got her handsome prince in the end.

If you could have anyone to dinner, who would it be?
I’m not telling you!

How many trees did you fall down from when you were little?
None, I was a very careful climber.

Here begins my diary of life on a small island; the same island that I have set my forthcoming children’s book on. I hope you will follow my children and I in all the things we get up to on the Orcadian island of Westray in Scotland; the place we are lucky enough to call home. There once lived here Vikings, faeries, witches, trolls, mermaids and selkie folk. Westray is so full of magic and wonderment that I can’t help write about it.

Let’s start with today – not especially magical, but not our usual kind of Saturday! I woke up really late as I had been writing until the early hours of the morning. When I pulled the curtains I realized that we were still snowed in for the second day running. I am sure you all have snow too as the whole of the UK is covered in white snowflakes falling, clearly shown when the weather reporter on the TV news shows us the map. We were beginning to run out of food, so I was thankful when my neighbour rang and kindly offered to pick Tam and I up at the end of our lane to take us to the shops. Our lane is a quarter of a mile long and the snow is so deep that our car would get stuck if we tried to drive it through the snow. Tam and I had to walk and in some places the snow was nearly over the top of our wellies!

The roads were full of snow and it was difficult for our friend to drive. When we reached the village there were lots of people out on foot, trudging their way through the snow. A friend waved cheerfully and laughed saying; ‘Lovely weather we’re having!’ Everyone seemed to be helping one another out as there were stuck cars and slippery pavements.

When we had done our shopping our friend dropped us off at the end of our lane. Tam and I put our shopping on our sledge and pulled it home. It was really hard work and I wouldn’t like to be a husky dog! It started off okay, but by the time we were nearly home Tam and I were really fed up and bitterly cold. When we got home I got in the door and burst into tears as my hands had never felt so cold in my whole life. Tam was feeling the same too. Morgan was home and put the kettle on for us – how lovely to have a cup of tea!

Yesterday we built a snowman and we were quite proud of him, he even got named; Caspar, as he was white and oddly shaped like a little wispy ghost. Morgan and Tam put a hat on him, raisins for eyes, buttons and a mouth, sticks for his arms and a pair of gloves. He looked great until today when Baxter our standard poodle took a liking to him. He pinched one of his gloves as they looked good enough to eat and then peed on him – definitely on purpose. Tomorrow we are going to make a new improved snowman and Baxter isn’t going to be allowed anywhere near him.

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