I've launched a new online journal and you can find all my future updates at www.carolannestrange.co.uk

On this day of beautiful days, I am preparing for a new journey. It is a journey of endings and beginnings. A journey of creativity.

Soon, I will be launching a new online journal to record this journey and to offer insights and inspiration to kindred spirits.

For now, as we trip into November, I leave you with a post summer image and a wish for all good things coming your way.

Last month, I began preliminary research for my next novel and found myself on the shores of Scotland’s Loch Lomond. I've been wandering and exploring, teasing my senses, and preparing the way for creative works to come.

I communed with the speaking tree ~ a rare giant hidden away ~ and shared the song of ages gone and ages to come.

Slipping through the mystery of dreams, I chased dusk demons in the lamplight of hidden worlds.

I found myself and missing others, by the shores of Loch Lomond. The whispers of sages frolicked, their wisdom rippling the evening water.

Little by little, the harr lifted revealing the trembling blue. And I sat by water, listening to countless voices, eddying into oblivion.

It is here where my next adventure will begin … a tale of stars and moonlight, a tale that will perhaps have you wondering, `what if?’

“The light is curious, searching shadows, chasing out the darkness, and gathering strength on these lengthening days. The light is everything.”

Greetings, bright ones. It’s been many sunrises since my last blog post and, like the bees, I’ve been busy busy, writing and dreaming and creating blissful moments.

This month, I have stood by the water’s edge, seeing past, present, and future collide in the most spectacular array of colour. I’ve sat by a waterfall, listening to the rush of life. I’ve been walking and meditating with a thirst, enjoying being in the light, enjoying what it is to simply be. And this precious time has replenished me, feeding my creativity.

It has been a time of milestones, of seeing one journey’s closure and new paths spreading out before me. I received news from the good folk at University College Falmouth that I passed my MA Professional Writing with Distinction. I am delighted with the result and, more so, with the encouraging feedback I’ve had about my debut novel, The Mobile Librarian. I am still tinkering with the fifth and final draft, weaving in radical last minute changes, and will be offering the work for publication this year.

Here in my little pocket of England’s north west, Spring has arrived with a flourish of blossom and tender green foliage. The dandelions are particularly resplendent right now, with their golden heads singing. My pale skin is sun-drunk. My spirit has grown in the light.

That is all for now, from this busy bee. I have much work to do. Remember, you can find more regular updates on my Facebook and Twitter pages.

“Our earth mother sings of new beginnings, lifting us out of slumber. Spirits dance through etheric veils, sparkling in the dawn light.”

Belated New Year greetings, bright ones. The year’s pages are quickly turning and I wonder what stories will emerge over the coming months.

Here in my writer’s nest, I am busy working on new projects. I’ve finished writing a little e-book, titled The Kestrel’s Gift, which is based upon an encounter I had with this beautiful bird of prey.

I officially finished my MA Professional Writing with University College Falmouth in January and I’m expecting the results in the spring. For those of you who’ve been patiently following my journey as I write my debut novel, I can report (with a little more confidence) that I’ll be sending out the work to publishers this year. While writing, I’ve felt truly guided and I do hope the end result will be worth the wait.

For now, let me share with you a video, which is a compilation of scenes from my research trips made over 2009 and 2010. I hope you like it. Don’t forget to turn up the volume to listen to a magical track by Zero Project!

Apart from my writing and publishing commitments, I’m currently weaving through great transformation. I feel truly inspired. Like many, I’m shaking off old paradigms, feeling new energies, and tuning into a multi-dimensional awareness. We are living in times of significant change and of amazing opportunity and I am fortunate to share the journey with so many of like-heart.

Until my next update, do keep in touch through my Twitter or Facebook pages.

"Frost silently blankets the valley, glistening beneath moon and stars. The owl calls. A meteor flashes. We children dream of new beginnings."

As winter solstice approaches, it’s time to celebrate the return of the light and brighter days ahead. With year-end in sight, there is much reflection as I consider journeys past and those journeys yet to come.

With my MA Writing course at University College Falmouth almost at an end, I’m looking ahead to new writing projects and developments. I will share more details and provide an update about my debut novel, The Mobile Librarian, in the New Year.

One creative project I recently completed is Pools and Streams, my full-colour words & art book, which I worked on while writing my forthcoming novel.

For the moment, I’m yearning for Coleridge’s Frost at Midnight, mulled wine, fire glow, clear quartz, starlight, and the company of kindred star-beings. I’m retreating, joyfully, into stillness, finding clarity in the heart, and sending out healing songs to our Earth mother. And, this is where I leave you for now … at least until next year.

Wherever you are, I wish you peace, love, and happiness and I hope that 2011 is a time of wonder and magic for us all.

This is just a short update to let you all know that I’m taking a little break from the blog while I finish my final MA Professional Writing commitments. I’m pleased to say that my debut novel, The Mobile Librarian, is finished and I’m simply revising, smoothing the edges, chipping away here and there, adding extra colour where needed, and making sure the work is ready to let go. And then it will be time for the next phase of the journey … publication!

Writing this novel has been all consuming … the most intense project I’ve ever worked on … the most remarkable journey … so I’m looking forward to letting it fly in the hope it will capture your heart, mind, and spirit, as it’s captured mine.

If you’d like to gain more regular updates, please do join me on Facebook. I would love to see you there and keep in touch with all you lovely people.

Thank you all for your support, encouragement, and sparkling presence. Please stay tuned. The winds of change are blowing and the air is full of tomorrow’s song.

Here I am, a ghost on Silverdale’s shores. I’ve spent so much time here in south Lakeland ~ in the physical and astral realms ~ contemplating the nature of reality with the characters in my novel. Should you visit this shining coastal village, I’m sure you’ll hear my spirit self singing on the breeze.

My novel, The Mobile Librarian, edges closer to its grand completion. I am busy adding layers and the work is consuming me whole during this intense period of shaping and revisions. Oh but I’m happily spending my days and nights with a mobile librarian, a healer, and a theoretical physicist on their fantastic journey from the ordinary into the extraordinary. There will be no rest now until the novel is finally surrendered for publication. And that, my friends, will be the start of another journey.

As we slip into the veils of autumn, I’m taking moments to bathe in the changing colours and light. Art, music, story, and poetry have been a constant inspiration, such as Goldfrapp; Bright Star; Skellig; Chagall.

I’ve also been busy stitching my imagined world into the Lakeland map. And I can tell you this: stretching the landscape’s fabric to make way for the villages in my novel, villages where extraordinary things are happening, is no easy feat.

Meanwhile, I’m wondering, what happens if you open this gate and step through?

I’ll be with you anon. For now, here’s wishing you all a magical season!

It’s been a while since I posted and I apologise for my absence. I’ve been wandering between realms, working on projects and publishing commissions, communing with nature, negotiating energy fluctuations, and contemplating life’s vicissitudes. Time really has run away from me.

Where the novel is concerned, I’m now working with a fabulous supervisor through my MA Professional Writing course. Work is going well and I aim to achieve my goals before the year is out.

It is harvest time here in England and, as farmers gather matured crops, I’m beginning my own harvest of words, working through my initial drafts, picking out what is wholesome and necessary. I’m aware that I’ve been working on the novel (reflecting on ideas, research, experimentation, and writing) for over a year now. It is not an unusual amount of time. Ali Shaw, author of the The Girl with Glass Feet, spent almost five years writing his wonderful and extraordinary novel. I’m hoping to be finished by year-end but I’m also conscious of creating something special, which I do not wish to compromise by rushing. I hope you can bear with me and I wish to thank you for your incredible patience, which is a rare quality in this age.

Apart from focusing on my writing and creative projects, I have also been ever mindful of our connection with mother earth and the changes impacting us all. It has been a strange summer, made stranger for the unusual episodes of autumnal weather and suffocating cloud we’ve had here in England’s northwest. More so, it has been a time of deep reflection, listening to ancient voices as I consider the work I must do. Already, I’m looking ahead to 2011. I have new projects requesting my attention, and I’m really excited about what I hope to share with you in time to come. More about that anon.

Right now, I wish you well in the dance of life. Thank you for visiting. Please note that I now welcome comments about my blog posts on Facebook, which I find is more ideal for keeping in touch with you all. You’ll also find extra updates and images. I’d love to see you there!

Wishing you well, bright ones.

"From somnolent shores, I journey south, watching swallows swoop over honey-glazed land, waiting for the ancient ones to rise again."

On my recent research travels to Wiltshire and Somerset, I visited my beautiful friend, Joanne May, a very dear kin creative spirit and a brilliantly talented artist. Do visit her fabulous blog. We spent an enchanting afternoon together, catching up on several lifetimes and gently gliding through the stillness of nature’s domain, listening to the sapient lament of graveyard guardians. What a blissful time we creative soul sisters shared.

Here we are, looking for inter-dimensional rabbit holes and our fairy friends.

Although I’m often fleeting here, there, and everywhere, what a delight it is to share special moments with loved ones and like-minded spirits. My dear Mr Fenwick is a kin creative, as are other loved ones in my family, but I’m so fortunate to have cherished creative friends, too ~ some I’ve met, some I’ve yet to meet, and some I’ve known for many lifetimes. I’m truly blessed with the magical presence of such bright beings.

Moments spent with creative individuals are inspiring and nurturing, and provide a refreshing break from the challenges and usual isolation of writing. I value the contact I have with everyone, whether we communicate face-to-face, via cyberspace or through some other medium. There’s nothing quite like a get-together, though, sharing the same space under the same stretch of sky.

Apart from spending a magical time with Jo May, I also recently enjoyed an informal literary lunch with two fabulous authors, Elizabeth Ashworth and Mary Sharratt, at Whalley Abbey in my home county of Lancashire. Next week, I’m looking forward to being in the presence of another bright array of creative individuals at a special red carpet event. And, as the year continues to turn, more gatherings and adventures with creative kin are on the breeze, which certainly balances what is set to be a challenging schedule of writing.

So, as the journey continues, I’d like to thank you all for your sparkling presence. Whether we have physically met or not, we are all connected, and what a joy it is to be travelling with you.