Wow it’s been a roller coaster year so far and many of us are struggling to keep up with goals, plans and general wants and wishes.

Personally I’ve had a challenge with health issues – not virus related – during recent months and to ease my mind, I’ve been switching into creative mode as much as possible.

I learned to crochet a few weeks ago. Goodness knows why its taken me an age to get around to it. I’m enjoying every minute and I’ve even opened a new etsy shop with some of my handmade gift ideas. I don’t think this will be a ‘business’ but it’s a nice sideline – if it works! Haven’t actually had any orders yet 🙂

I’ve also collected, polished up and edited all my digital books and they’ve gone into the shop too. There are 59 products now and I’m patting myself on the back – metaphorically speaking… I’ve been writing for years and love to share ideas and tips with whoever wants to listen and if you have a moment, I would love to hear from you.

You may have a book idea in mind or a question about the knitting patterns or handmade gifts. Or you may be looking to form a craft/writing related relationship? Please get in touch here or via the Etsy shop and I’ll get back to you asap.

Stay safe
Linda x

P.S. I’m not attached to my devices all the time so it may take 24 hours for me to find your message. I’ll be crocheting or knitting like a crazy woman no doubt!

Over 25 years ago, I gave birth to a new project that has been growing and improving over the years. When we lived off the land money was tight and I created a gift for my youngest daughter that became so popular it exploded quietly into an ongoing hobby business.

The Ekokids are teenage eco-friendly ‘Barbie-type’ dolls that are cuddly, fun and easy to dress in all sorts of wonderful designer clothes – they cost pennies to make, they’re non-plastic toys and have been developed for beginner knitters to enjoy making.

I’ve been writing books and doing other stuff over the past few years and my 25 year old babies have been hidden away in a box for some time. But recently, after an unexpected spell in hospital and a couple of unscheduled surgical operations, I had to spend some time recovering and who better to recover with than my Ekokids!

So, they’ve had a complete makeover and I’m in the process of setting out all the new and improved patterns, making them even easier and quicker to make. It’s a bit of a slog because knitting patterns have to be precise but the math, the designs, the knitting and the photography are all underway and should be ready to launch in a couple of weeks…. I may be a little optimistic on the timeline but I’m giving it a go.

Watch this space for further developments!

Stay safe everyone

Linda x

Since my living off the land days I’ve had many years without a garden. Last year I moved into a lovely house in Cornwall with a smallish but beautiful garden. And over the past few months, my son and I have transformed it into an even more beautiful space 🙂 – we’re growing food …

and finding all sorts of wildlife in our inherited pond. This dragonfly visited today

and we found a pond salamander laying eggs – too slow grabbing my phone for a photo but such an awesome experience. Loving nature! After a tidy up yesterday, the pond is looking even better.

I am so sooooo grateful for my garden.

During the last couple of weeks I’ve shared my time between giving the website a makeover and tending plants (and pond) so haven’t written much – haven’t done much housework either but that’s not so unusual for me!

I hope the sun’s shining in your world today.

Stay safe.

Linda x

Someone once asked me who I would like to be if I could be someone famous. They were dreaming of being rich and famous themselves.

While I wouldn’t say no to being rich, I’ve never really aspired to being famous. It just seems to be too much trouble – having the media constantly watching you and not able to pop down to the shop without a bodyguard has an air of the ridiculous about it – in my world anyway!

The question itself is hypothetical and anyway, shouldn’t we all be happy with our own lives? … hmm

But my subconscious must have been secretly evaluating the question because just recently I realised that there is one person I would like to be. And, strangely it doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that she’s a billionaire – although that would be very nice of course – but more to do with who she is and what she represents.

I’m talking about JK Rowling.

Her creativity, imagination and writing expertise is phenominal and on those days when inspiration has vanished in a haze of everyday worries and uncertainty, her books have helped me find that nugget of self-worth and confidence that I need to develop my own writing skills.

So thank you for all the wonderful stories you have shared with the world JK!

Who would you like to be? And Why?

Linda x

I could theorize until the cows come home (?!) but sometimes there is just no logical explanation why we connect certain things with other certain things.

When you hear a particular song, you may be transported back in time to an old flame or a sad or happy occasion. ‘Fly me to the Moon’ (Frank Sinatra) always takes me back to my dad’s funeral. Sad, but memories of him soon come flooding back – and he did love the song!

And we have certain smells, visuals, tastes and even textures that have very meaningful memories or sometimes the experience is so auspicious, you make a new memory right then and there 🙂

But then there are those illogical connections that can’t be analysed – theorised perhaps, but not always easy to find the reason you’re looking for. It’s kind of like analysing dreams I suppose. There are always bits you forget in amongst the weirdness.

My latest weird connection is ‘roast potatoes and Merlin’ ???? Yep, will elaborate a bit but honestly don’t even go down that analytical road…. If I’m making roast potatoes for dinner, I always have to put on an episode of Merlin – goodness knows what I’ll do if Netflix takes it down. Give up roast potatoes perhaps?! Noooooo 🙂

Someone close once described me as colourful and slightly off-centre. And perhaps they had a point. I would love to hear about your strange connections – nothing risque please – my grandchildren may be reading this!

Oddly yours
Linda x

I am so blessed. As I’ve got older, birthdays have tended to be a bit quieter but this last weekend blew that right out of the window!

It began on Friday when my youngest daughter and boyfriend surprised me when they flew over from the south of France and landed in my kitchen! Wonderful.

We had lunch in town together on Saturday with my son and planned on having dinner out – what a treat. And, ignoring the rain, we had a great day.

My lovely daughter insisted I ‘get ready’ to go out as opposed to what I normally do – comfy jeans and hoody style 🙂 – and when we got to the restaurant, I understood why. ….

A surprise party – a huge table with lots of my lovely family, balloons, flowers and even, a bit later, a birthday cake!

I was trembling for at least half an hour and had a crazy grin on my face for most of the evening. We all carried on with an impromptu party until after midnight. What a fabulous treat.

Dancing and a couple of glasses of red wine surrounded by family was definitely the best birthday surprise ever and of course I just had to blog it 🙂

The memory will keep coming up and reminding me just how blessed I am. A happy memory can always soothe the tougher times.

Linda x

What with Brexit and various political leaders (?) coming and going, us Brits have had a huge dose of political stuff over the past couple of years or so.

Some of it has a ring of truth, some of it is obvious propaganda and even more is pure mud-slinging. All this gets a bit tedious.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m still voting for my chosen party, and although it’s probably best I don’t reveal my vote, it certainly wasn’t in favour of a party who obviously doesn’t care about the people of their nation – the people who pay their wages by the way….

Anyway, while all this is going on, there are some wonderful souls out there who are consistently helping those in need and helping to save our beloved planet.

And the media coverage for these ‘real-life’ people who are making a ‘real-life’ difference is practically non-existant.

Yes, we have a climate crisis, a political crisis, a financial crisis and all sorts of other crisis’ happening but moaning about it won’t help change the situation.

So, ranting aside, I am putting my money (=time in my world) where my mouth is and preparing to launch a new project that will help unite us all in our quest for a better lifestyle for all sentient beings here on earth.

Sounds like a plan ay?! It’s going to take a few more months of organising and planning but I’m hoping it will be ready to go in April 2020.

*It will highlight eco-sound and humane projects all round the world
*It will have a no-whingeing policy – that includes pointing fingers. No time for blame.
*It will be easy to get involved with, without leaving your comfy chair
*And it won’t have any advertising – or political propaganda!

So, I’m going to get my head down and hopefully share a dose of the good-stuff in the Spring… Hang in there!

Linda x

Been busy building a new website. It started with an interest in a very well-known company and suddenly I found myself building a whole site! Still a freebie but time enough to upgrade.

It’s a new writing platform with writing articles and a few well-being tips for good balance. And it’ll be a perfect platform to showcase the course I’m building, designed to help anyone who wants to write a non-fiction book get started, finished and published.

I’m going to try the course locally and see where I go from there, although in the meantime I’ll be working on the online version so that I can reach more writing students and keep it affordable. I’ve never presented a course before, let alone with actual real people listening to what I have to say.

That is, without me yelling at them or resorting to the occasional bribe – mum persona 🙂

So, fingers crossed this will be a new career move for me and more to the point, I’m going to love helping people go from ‘I’ve got a great idea for a book’ to actually doing it!

If you have a minute, pop over to the new writing site and see what you think. Not an awful lot of content yet, but you’ll get the picture.  It’s even mobile phone optimized! New Writing Platform

To your success

Linda x