For me stories grow out of places and I’m always delighted when that love of place comes through to readers. One of the nicest comments I receive is when someone tells me one of my books has made them want to visit Glastonbury, Orkney or Whitby. From Under the Duvet Book Blog reviewed Beltane this … Continue reading Magic and Myth of Glastonbury Tor
Beltane – Celebrating Spring
Somehow despite writing a book set at Beltane, I’ve not written a blog post about it yet. So I’ve decided to put that right this year. I’ve always wanted to be in Glastonbury at Beltane as they have the most spectacular celebrations with people dressed up as Green Men and goddesses to welcome the spring. … Continue reading Beltane – Celebrating Spring
Five things I learnt from Spellbound
On Saturday I went to the Spellbound exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. The tag line for the exhibition is ‘Magic, ritual and witchcraft’ and it certainly covers all of those areas but it also looks more deeply at what it means to ‘think magically’. I originally wrote this post as a kind of … Continue reading Five things I learnt from Spellbound
Secrets of the Green Man
If you’ve read my novel, Beltane then you’ll know the Green Man is a key character in the book. If you’ve not read it then I’m afraid I can’t really say much more than that without a spoiler alert but if you’ve seen the book cover you can probably guess that a Green Man features … Continue reading Secrets of the Green Man
Winter Solstice – the Return of Light
The winter solstice is the shortest day and longest night in the northern hemisphere. This year it falls on Thursday 21st December. It’s also known as Yule or Midwinter. The word ‘solstice’ means ‘sun stands still’ although that doesn’t actually happen. The winter solstice marks the dying of the old year with the way being … Continue reading Winter Solstice – the Return of Light
Samhain – the Celtic New Year
Autumn is the time of year when the earth’s energies are waning, when the harvest is gathered in and winter is round the corner. For the Celts each new day started in darkness at sunset and similarly their new year begins in the period of greatest darkness before the winter solstice. For them, Samhain was … Continue reading Samhain – the Celtic New Year
Stopping to take stock
For the past few years I’ve had what people call a ‘portfolio career’. As well as writing, I’m a consultant, an external examiner and a creative writing tutor. That takes a lot of swapping of hats and this week has been particularly hectic. Monday morning saw me at an important meeting in York, Monday afternoon … Continue reading Stopping to take stock
Going Back to Find Something New
I’ve been coming to Glastonbury (the town not the festival, as I’ve explained a lot in the past few weeks) every year or so since I started writing Beltane six years ago. It’s become a kind of spiritual second home and I love it for its quirkiness, its willingness to embrace the alternative and the … Continue reading Going Back to Find Something New
A Small Celebration
Two weeks before Christmas I had a bit of a party to celebrate the launch of Beltane. It was held in my local village hall which, with the help of my friends, was transformed into a Yuletide haven. So step inside and join the celebration... There was music from some of my extremely talented friends. … Continue reading A Small Celebration
My turn on the Lovely Blog Hop
I’ve been asked by my fabulous friend, Jessica Redland, to take part in the Lovely Blog Hop where writers talk about some of the things which have shaped their lives and their writing. Jessica lives not far from me in Scarborough and we often meet up for cake and to talk about writing. Her first … Continue reading My turn on the Lovely Blog Hop
Alys West 