“Where have they all gone?” my youngest daughter asked me recently . “Who do you mean sweetheart?” I replied, absent-mindly thinking that she would mean her little dolls-house dolls, or something similar. “The ladybirds mummy!” she replied, whilst pointing towards the garden. “I haven’t seen one in ages!” Well quite! How right she is! We are now of course in the midst of November and ladybirds, along with squirrels, hedgehogs and other such gorgeous creatures are huddled and snuggled down somewhere warm, hibernating for the winter (lucky them is all I can say! I’d quite like to join them!)

I had never come across a picture of ladybirds hibernating before until this week, when I discovered the image below that is on the UK Safari website. I dip in and out of this wonderful website, along with other woodland related blogs, to gain writing inspiration for my Whimsy Wood children’s series for 5-8 year olds. I really do need to sit down and make a proper start on book 15 in my 35-book series, but my inspiration and imagination had run dry this week….. Once I’d looked through this website site a few days ago and discovered this incredible image, a new character in the form of ‘Letty Ladybird’ sprung to mind, along with the need for a spider character! I believe he may be named ‘Sidney Eight-Boots’, but I’m not completely decided on this just yet.

Ladybirds huddled in seed pods

Well, I’d better get on and actual write about ‘Letty Ladybird’ and ‘Sidney Eight-Boots’, or Whimsy Wood’s 15th book will never be created! If you’re stuck for something outdoorsy to do with the children over the next few days, then how about making a bug-hotel from piles of logs, twigs, stones and leaves. It costs nothing and is lots of fun! You even get to name your bug-hotel and the children can check on their ‘hotel guests’ regularly 😉 I’m sure insects looking for somewhere to hibernate, such as ‘Letty Ladybird’, would be delighted to come across a brand new bug-hotel to snooze the winter away in 🙂

For regular updates on my Whimsy Wood children’s series please follow us on twitter 🙂 We’ve got 3 Christmas fairs coming up in the next month, which will be lots of fun I’m sure 🙂

 https://twitter.com/WhimsyWood

Wishing you all a whimsical week, Sarah 🙂

Hello there! I hope you’ve had lots of fun celebrating bonfire night this week and seen some fan-fizzle-tastic fireworks, as ‘Ping Pixie’ would describe them! Incase you don’t know, ‘Ping Pixie’ is the boy pixie in my ‘Whimsy Wood’ children’s series of 35 books. He appears in book 4, ‘Posie Pixie And The Fireworks Party’, which was published by Abela Publishing in May this year. ‘Ping’ loves making fireworks and in the words of his cousin ‘Posie’, “….sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t and sometimes they set his hair on fire!” Please see below the link to book 4, ‘Posie Pixie And The Fireworks Party’.

http://abelapublishing.com/posie-pixie-and-the-fireworks-party–book-4-in-the-whimsy-wood-series_p27279864.htm

Front cover of ‘Posie Pixie And The Fireworks Party’, book 4 in my ‘Whimsy Wood’ series

After the fireworks party that ‘Posie Pixie’ held for her cousin ‘Ping’ and his enormous new ‘Pixie Wheel’ firework that he’d created, the woodland folk spent the next few days tidying up outside ‘Posie Pixie’s’ copper kettle house where they’d held the party. The firefly party lights had blown off the trees and got taffled up around a clump of giant funnel mushrooms. It took poor old ‘Mrs Spottisdowne the sparrow’ most of the morning after the party to unravel those lights! ‘Bromley Badger’ had his usual sore head after a party and had to lie down in his dark, quiet set all day, so he was absolutely no help whatsoever! ‘Florence Fox’ and ‘Raspberry Rabbit’ had gathered up all the left over party treats, shared them out and delivered them to the woodland folk the following day, so nothing was wasted.

If you haven’t already, I hope you get to nibble on a few toffee apples, munch on some hot-dogs and toast some marshmallows this weekend! In the meantime I’d better carry on tweaking book 6, ‘Posie Pixie And The Snowstorm’, but I shall wish you all a wonderfully whimsical weekend and leave you with this fabulous firework poem that I stumbled across this week 🙂

“Bang there goes another one,

Screaming as it goes.

It’s getting high, up in the sky,

And fizzle-there she blows!

WHOOSH! Up high above the house,

Behind a trail of sparks.

Yellow, orange, red and white,

Exploding in the dark!”   Anon

Half-term is just around the corner and I for one can’t wait! There’ll be a lull from the constant breakneck school-run dash, the setting of alarm clocks, the cleaning of school shoes and the endless checking of book bags to ensure homework, or important notes from school haven’t been missed!! Phew!

Instead, the world of ‘Whimsy Wood’ and I will be getting ourselves ready for the launch of book 5, ‘Posie Pixie And The Christmas Tree’, at the Trowbridge branch of WHSmith, on Saturday October the 25th, from 2pm onwards! If you’re away enjoying the half-term break, don’t worry, you can always pop over to the publisher’s website and order yourself a copy…..I do believe it’s the perfect size for a Christmas stocking!

http://abelapublishing.com/posie-pixie-and-the-christmas-tree–book-5-in-the-whimsy-wood-series_p28434996.htm

Not only that, but my children and I will be getting out and about, taking woodland walks and seeing if we can spot some of the ‘Whimsy Wood’ folk. We’ll be peering under logs, in case any of ‘Wibble Woodlouse’s’ relatives are there and making rock piles in quiet spots, to provide shelter for ‘Humbug Hedgehog’ and his prickly friends. I’m sure we’ll also find time to hunt out somewhere comfy to read a few stories, or indeed make some up of our own, rather like in this image below……

On that rather magical note, I’ll wish you a whimsical week and promise to pop back next Wednesday for another installment from the world of ‘Whimsy Wood’ 😉

My goodness me! How fiddly is it to format a children’s book with pictures in and everything?! I’ll tell you, since between myself and Abela Publishing, that’s what we’ve been doing for the past week! It’s very, very, very (with a heap more ‘verys’ thrown in for good measure!) fiddly! Having said that, it’s always worth it and hopefully by the end of this weekend, ‘Posie Pixie And The Christmas Tree’, (book 5 in my ‘Whimsy Wood’ children’s series) will be winging its wonderful self off to the printers! Incase you’d like a sneaky beaky preview of the front cover and some of the incredible illustrations inside, done by the amazingly talented Sarah Mauchline, then please cast your wee eyes below and click on the link 😉

The 1st 5 books in my ‘Whimsy Wood’ series!

http://youtu.be/dtLkcnh_1fA

You may be excited to learn, that this fabulously festive book will be available from October the 25th and can be pre-ordered now!! I will also be able to post the date, time and venue for the launch of ‘Posie Pixie And The Christmas Tree’, very soon! 🙂

Whilst I’ve been busy helping move text, illustrations and the new map at the back of book 5, up and down and side to side on the numerous pages, the ‘Whimsy Wood’ folk have also been incredibly busy! Autumn has well and truly arrived in ‘Whimsy Wood’, as the blackberries are in abundance on the hedgerows and the leaves are changing to golden yellows and burnt oranges. ‘Humbug Hedgehog’ has been rolling around the woodland floor, tidying up the fallen autumn leaves with his prickles, whilst ‘Mrs Spottisdowne the sparrow’ (‘Whimsy Wood’s’ Scottish seamstress), has been frantically sewing Halloween costumes for Mr and Mrs Dusty the dormice’s little ones.

In another part of ‘Whimsy Wood’, ‘Mrs Scarlet the squirrel’ has been scurrying about ‘The Woodland Store’, as she puts away boxes and boxes of cherry chews and hazelnut fudge. Looks like she’ll need to order in more pumpkins and apples this week, as the excitement of October with all its pumpkin-carving and apple-bobbing antics take hold of ‘Whimsy Wood’!

Well on that amazingly Autumnal note, I shall close the ivy-covered, heavy oak doors on the world of ‘Whimsy Wood’ for another week and wish you all a wonderfully  whimsical Wednesday 🙂

It’s that time of the week again, when I open the doors to the world of ‘Whimsy Wood’ and let you know what’s been going on! Well, as you may or may not know, I was up in the lovely county of Lincolnshire last Thursday, visiting 2 smashing primary schools! The first being Swineshead St. Mary’s and the second being Sutterton Fourfields. I think I can happily say that I had a fabulous time reading my 4th ‘Whimsy Wood’ book, ‘Posie Pixie And The Fireworks Party’, to the 90 key-stage 1 children! They asked me some great questions afterwards too. One of these questions was…. “What do you like best about being an author?” It really didn’t take me long to think about the answer to this, as I love being able to get lost in my imagination while I write. “I don’t know if my imagination is pink, or purple, or rainbow coloured,” I replied to the wee girl sat on the floor, looking curiously at me. “I don’t know if it’s fluffy, or sparkly, or smells of sweets, as it’s tucked away in my head! What I do know, is that I can use my imagination whenever and wherever I like. It can take me to amazing places, without me even leaving my chair and it doesn’t cost me a penny. That’s what I like most about being an author.” The wee girl thought about this and then said…. “Hmmm.” I hoped this meant that she was suitably satisfied with my answer!

Now, I shall be returning to the lovely land of Lincolnshire in a few weeks time, as I have been invited to be the guest speaker at the Boston High School annual dinner, on Saturday October the 18th! This dinner is for ex-pupils of the school and having attended there myself many moons ago, I shall really look forward to going back! Having said that, the thought of standing up in front of a room of grown-ups and talking for twenty minutes really terrifies me!! I love talking to children, taking assemblies and creative writing workshops in schools, but a whole bunch of adults….well…., that’s a different matter entirely!! If I was ‘Posie Pixie’ or ‘Fearne Fairy’, 2 of my ‘Whimsy Wood’ characters, then I would want to run away and hide from such a scary thing!

Fairy Toadstools (otherwise known as ‘Fly Agaric’) for ‘Whimsy Wood’ folk to hide under!

“What would you hide under?” I hear you cry. It would have to be the ‘Fly Agaric’ toadstool of course! This fabulous fungus is iconic where fairy tales are concerned and is currently growing happily in ‘Whimsy Wood’! No doubt it is popping up in woodlands everywhere as we speak, as it loves the warm, wet weather that we’ve been having! If you’re heading out for a woodland walk sometime this month, then keep your eyes peeled for these fairy toadstools, especially around birch trees, which they’re rather fond of! See if you can spot the odd pixie, or fairy that may be lurking underneath too while you’re at it!

I would love to carry on waffling, but I really must get on! I will leave you with a link to a great review for my 3rd ‘Whimsy Wood’ book, ‘Posie Pixie And The Torn Tunic’, below. This book is specifically for the month of October, so it’s bursting with blackberries and other such autumnal things!

http://vegbooks.org/index.php/2014/04/21/posie-pixie-and-the-torn-tunic/

Wishing you all a whimsical week! 😉

Ok, so guess what I’m doing a lot of this week?! The clue is in the title incase you’re wondering! Yes, you’ve got it! My ‘Whimsy Wood’ series and I are lucky enough to be visiting not just 1, but 2 primary schools tomorrow! Both of these schools are in the wonderfully agricultural county of Lincolnshire, where I grew up as a child – there are tulips, daffodils, sprouts and cabbages as far as the eye can see, I kid you not!!

The 1st school I’m visiting tomorrow is Swineshead St.Mary’s C of E primary school, whilst the 2nd is Sutterton Fourfields C of E primary school. During both these visits, I shall be doing book signings and reading book 4, ‘Posie Pixie And The Fireworks Party’ to their key-stage 1 children (please see the link to where it is on the Abela website to the right of this page). The children and teachers will no doubt have some pretty brilliant questions to ask me and they will also be meeting some of my ‘Whimsy Wood’ characters….

Here’s ‘Wibble Woodlouse’ and ‘Posie Pixie’ off on their adventures in ‘Whimsy Wood’

I really can’t wait to meet them all tomorrow and neither can ‘Posie’ and ‘Wibble’! There’s something truly magical about seeing a child’s face light up as you read them a story and their imagination carries them off to a world of wonder and make-believe, while the words you’re reading wash over them like a gentle waterfall. It really is a joy and quite a priviledge. Hopefully the children and teachers will enjoy my school visits as much as I will!

This week’s blog is rather short and sweet I’m afraid, as ‘Posie Pixie’ and ‘Wibble Woodlouse’ need some help with their packing for our school adventure you see! I shall leave you with the link to a toptastic review of my 4th ‘Whimsy Wood’ book, ‘Posie Pixie And The Fireworks Party’ http://nayusreadingcorner.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/posie-pixie-and-fireworks-party-by.html  as well as a fabulous literary quote from none other than Albert Einstein ….

‘If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales.’

Wishing you all a wonderfully whimsical week!

Sarah 🙂

Ps; if you’d like to contact me regarding a school, library or similar visit, then please email me on whimsy.pixie76@gmail.com  thank you.