Welcome to my World!

It’s the 23rd of March 2021. I mean you didn’t need me to tell you that. You can see it above this blog post. You probably also know this date because it is one year, I know, ONE YEAR, since the U.K went into the first lockdown. Do you remember the feeling? There was a kind of apocalyptic air, a sense of dread, doom, a step into the unknown. As a primary school teacher, we had to pack up and clear classrooms of everything. No rogue piece of Art left on a shelf. No random rubber on a window sill. No displays. No books. Nothing. There was no ‘end of term’ feeling. My colleague and I walked the streets surrounding the school handing out work folders to children in our classes and then we went back to our respective homes, not to emerge again for quite a long time. Lockdown can send you loopy. You are trapped and seemingly controlled. Basic freedoms and pleasures, completely taken for granted are completely taken away. Hope turns to hopelessness and there my friends is where the slippy slope comes in. You have to decide how you want to be day to day. What you want to feel. Don’t get me wrong, there will have been people for whom being locked at home and indeed the virus itself, has brought challenges, traumas and deeply distressing experiences. For those of us who have escaped relatively unharmed, we are the ones who have to decide what we can control and what we have to let go of. I did not set out to write a novel or a book of poems but both things happened this year. I had always previously written and illustrated picture books but one idea seemed just too big to fit into a thirty two page spread and so my first chapter book was born. It was my project which kept me going, spurred me on through endless days. It’s now in its second edit and is with an agent as I type. My other little project, which kept me sane was The Blanket Book. I began to write a series of short poems about what I perceived to be the important things in life, about what really matters. These musings were not triggered by the lockdown but from a journey of many years through several self help books (my name is Kate and I have a self help book addiction!) and meditation. The lockdown seemed to magnify everything I had learned and indeed what became clear was that the simple things in life really do matter. Love, friendship, inner peace, good food, nature, creating and crafting, moving your body, to name but a few, these are things that matter. The Blanket Book is my little take on those things. I wanted people to have a visual reminder of what’s important, something to dip into on a down day. As it says on the back cover, words of warmth to wrap yourself up in. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I hope one day we can all meet again: swim in the outdoor pool, sip a crisp, sparkling wine with a pal, cuddle grandparents, travel to the sun…….whatever your dream is, hold on tight. Better days are coming.

Love yourself: a little reminder from The Blanket Book to take care of you!