BLOG DARLINGS

          Well, here’s a lovely thing – and just in time for Christmas!  I’ve been given a Leibster Blog Award, which is given to ‘up and coming’ blogsters who still have fewer than 200 followers.

          When you are given the award, you’re asked to give 5 other Leibster Awards to blogs you think are interesting/beautiful/funny or in some other way outstanding, and should have more viewers. So, I’m on the look-out.

                      First I must thank Jen Alexander, who gave me the award.  Jen is the author of many books and has the most soft, soothing voice too, so it’s somehow fitting that she knows a great deal about how to use dreams in writing, and other ways of contacting that dreaming, imaginative side of us.  She blogs about dreams here.

Katherine Roberts

          When it came to handing out my five Leibsters, my first thought was Kath Roberts and her reclusive unicorn, who has gathered together several other writers’ muses under the heading of ‘Muse Monday’ – but Kath had already been given a Leibster  - and gave one of her 5 to Blott.  Blott and I thank you, Kath.  (But does that mean Blott has 5 Leibsters to give away too?)

Katherine Langrish

          So then I thought of Kath Langrish, writer of some terrific books, and also the blogster at the wonderfully named ‘Seven Miles of Steel Thistles’.  Not only wonderfully named, but a fascinating and often beautiful blog about legends, myths and fairy-stories.  But I was too slow – Kath has already, and deservedly, been given a Leibster.

          So who do I give my first Leibster too?  I’m going to be cheeky and give it to Do Authors Dream of Electric Books?  This is a team-blog of 29 UK writers, who blog about their experiences of self-publishing e-books.  Some are previously published writers – some are accomplished and dedicated writers who have never published conventionally.  They are from all parts of the UK, from Scotland to the West Country, and of all ages.  They take it in turns to blog every day for 29 days and, at the end of the month, there are guest bloggers.

          It’s cheeky of me to give a Leibster to Do Authors Dream of Electric Books? because I am one of the bloggers, so I expect I’ll be accused of self-promotion.  But I don’t care – the fact is, I am only one of 29 bloggers, and if my blog was withdrawn DADoEB would still be a lively, ever-changing, interesting good read, with jokes, news, tips, friendly arguments and chat between 29 very different authors and their readers.

Rhianna Pendragon by Katherine Roberts

          The drawing here is by Kath Roberts, and can be seen on Do Authors Dream, with more about the book that inspired it.  Such talent in one woman, eh? Makes you want to gnash your teeth, doesn't it?
          So there!  My first Leibster goes to Do Authors Dream of Electric Books!

          Who should I give the other four to?

          And Blot is back! - Without, of course, any explanation...

     

Bluebell Looking

I love the colour blue. I think there's no other colour as vibrant in all its tints and shades; and I love blue flowers. Germander speedwell, cornflowers, forget-me-nots, delphiniums, monkshood. And bluebells.
Every year I look forward keenly to the flowering of the bluebells. I watch their rosettes of dark green, strap-like leaves. I watch the stalks appearing. And as soon as I see one flowering in some crack in a wall, I head for the Clent Hills.

The Clent Hills are a National Trust property, north of Birmingham. Every spring, on Walton Hill, the ground under the trees on the hillside turns blue with bluebells. On Clent Hill, the flowers grow on the open hillside, in the sun, and you can look over miles of unbroken blue. Such stretches of bluebells are a sign of ancient, undisturbed woodland. It takes a long, long time for such masses of bluebells to seed and grow.

Walking along these paths I walked through a dense cloud of fragrance: bluebells are wild hyacinths. No wonder folklore says that, if you fall asleep in a bluebell wood, you may go mad, or be transported into another world. They are Elvish, eldritch flowers, according to legend.

They are certainly blue. Sky-blue, dark-blue, purple-blue in the tree shadows. I love them. Next week I'll be here again, and the next week, until they all die. But next year they'll flower again, and I'll be back again, to look at bluebells.