May at last ... and signs of new life

It’s May at last! There are bluebells in the grass; the apple trees are blooming; there are new leaves and flowers everywhere. This year, the oak came out before the ash, so “there will be a summer splash” - hopefully signalling more sunshine and a good grain harvest. ("If the ash comes out before the oak, there will be a summer soak", according to the old rhyme.) So, in spite of so many horrors in the outer world, my corner of Cumbria feels optimistic at present.

Another sign of new life is my signing up to The Book Dragon in Stockton-on-Tees in April.

Official logo of the Book Dragon

I met The Book Dragon founder, Kirsty McKay, at the London Book Fair in March. After years of toiling on the outer fringes of the mainstream world of publishing in UK, I was thrilled and amazed to discover that there is someone - in fact, a group of passionate and knowledgable someones - supporting and selling exclusively indie and self-published books. If that’s something you are also excited by, have a look at what they offer (at extremely reasonable rates!) on their website, www.thebookdragon.co.uk.

As I have said elsewhere in this blog, my motivation for writing and publishing my Connection Trilogy is not to become rich or famous. I was a teacher and a text book publisher, and my students taught me something - that they learn best from exciting stories. So, now that I’ve retired, I've started writing stories about living this confusing life we've been gifted, discovering tolerance, facing danger, learning from mistakes, solving mysteries, falling in love, doing careful research. Writing is teaching me, too!

Meanwhile, to be supported at every stage of producing and marketing my books by others with similar motives feels like coming home.

As a result of this cooperation, I’ve started an on-line ‘campaign’ to tell the world again about the book now called The Boy in Two Minds, just because Themistokles son of Kallistos' story takes him to Ancient Olympia during the Games, and because it's Suzanne Short's ambition to take part in the modern Olympics. I believe that reading about them both will add extra dimensions to the thrills of the Olympic Games in Paris for fans of athletics. This book's hashtag on Twitter/X and beyond is #AncientOlympicBoy. I'll write more about this campaign in my next posting here.

Lastly, today is not only my personal celebration of the blooming of spring in UK, but it is also Easter weekend in Greece, a confirmation of new life beginning. I wish all my readers a very happy holiday and the best possible summer in the circumstances ...

All photographs © Julia M Newsome unless otherwise credited.