witches of the new forest

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What Does Your Life Look Like When No One is Watching?

Social media, urgh. Devices, urgh. Sharing every aspect of you life with people you’ve never even met, urgh. Right now, this is 99% of internet life for most people these days.

I’m going to go on a little rant now, about the ‘good old days’ when we didn’t have mobile phones, internet, heck, even cable tv. Yes, I’m GenX. As kids, we lived most of our lives outside, unless there was a thunderstorm or it was colder than -25C. Friends came over to play, and we had in-person conversations and social interactions. It wasn’t abstract, it wasn’t one-step removed from a real personal meeting. And I feel that we are losing that reality at an incredible rate.

Even if, like me, you’re perfectly happy being on your own and social interactions are kept to a bare minimum, there is still so much relationship to be had with the real world, the natural world around you. I’m hardly ever lonely, because there are birds around me, deer, trees, the sea, the forest. But all that is being sacrificed to spend time online in a virtual world where you can’t smell the woodsmoke on the air, feel the wintery sunlight on your face or walk through the dewy grass. And yes, I see the irony of expressing myself with these words you are reading here on my online blog, my voice being carried virtually across continents to people I’ve never met. But just bear with for a few moments longer, if you would.

I love silence. I crave silence. Most of my day is spent in silence, the only sound the birds in the garden and the clacking of the keyboard as I write my books. But then that wonderful silence is broken by having to post on social media, to remain visible, to post content to keep the algorithm going. And yet I often wonder as I feed the beast that is social media, am I being nourished as well?

I am providing content for these platforms, but am I getting anything in return? When it all comes down to it, there is very little return on the investment of my time and effort spent in these places. But we are taught, aren’t we, that we must post, we must share, we must continue to be present in these spaces. It’s one of the greatest illusions of all time.

And we can get caught up in it all, letting it seep into every single moment of every single day. I have to retrain my brain, because every time I see a wonderful sunset, I want to share it with the world. When I go for a walk and see the deer, I whip out my phone to record them, hoping to inspire others with the beauty of nature. But I am missing out on being present in that moment, with the sunset, with the deer, with the world that is trying to interact with me. It’s like going down to the pub with your mate, who is trying to video everything for their own social media. What’s the point? Who does that nourish? Certainly not one’s own self or the person you are with.

It’s the greatest con of all time.

Here’s the question we should be asking ourselves, day in and day out:

What does my life look like, when no one is watching?

Some people might realise that they don’t even have a life that goes undocumented, and they then must create one, which can be an utter joy and a balm for the soul or frightening as hell. Others realise how much of their lives are a complete and utter illusion, and want the real stuff, the good stuff, that which feeds our soul and not the beast.

We have to release ourselves from this need for validation.

As a self-published author I need social media in order to get the word out about my work. But social media does not need me. It’s an imbalanced relationship. Some people might say the same of cats, but they are obviously not cat people.

It’s okay to live a life that is your own, and not shared with the world. I am making a serious effort to reign in the desire, the need, the built-in mode of share, share, share that social media instructs us to do. Because for the most part, it’s not to our benefit. It changes the way we think, the way we behave, and we can completely lose ourselves in the process. And that’s not something I’m willing to do.

So I will be spending less time in a virtual world, hoping to retrain my brain to be with me in this world, where the cat wants to play, the branches on the trees are sparkling in the sunlight after the rain, and remembering what my life is like when no one is watching.

Because that’s the most important life of all.  

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Feel the magic…

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It has been 1 year!!!

It has been exactly one year since Hedge Witch, Book 1 of the Witches of the New Forest series came out. I want to thank everyone for their kind words, support, comments and reviews. This series has been so successful, and I am just over the moon with it all. I love writing stories and creating magical worlds to escape in, and I look forward to writing more books in this series! Book 5 to come out in 2026!
Witches of the New Forest, the new series by Joanna van der Hoeven.
Available for Kindle, paperback and Kobo editions.
Buy your copy now!
For the UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hedge-Witch-Witches-Forest-Book-ebook/dp/B0DJL1X635
For the US: https://www.amazon.com/Hedge-Witch-Witches-Forest-Book-ebook/dp/B0DJL1X635
For Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/Hedge-Witch-Witches-Forest-Book/dp/B0DLLFZDKM

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November Skies

I hope that you all had a lovely Hallowe’en, Samhain, Winter Finding/Winter Nights, etc. Even though it has warmed up here in Suffolk, England these last few days, it still feels like winter is nearly here. There is a scent in the air, something indescribable that forebodes the season of long, cold nights. The light in the sky has turned wintry, the scudding clouds across the moon look moody, and the wild winds are here—yes, the Wild Hunt has certainly begun!

This weekend was the book launch for Book 4, Smugglers and Secrets from my fiction series, Witches of the New Forest. It’s been a crazy weekend, but I am overwhelmed by the amount of support for this series. The book sales were phenomenal, and Smugglers and Secrets reached number 11 in the top 100 paranormal ghost romance books on Amazon! It is still in the top 100 bestsellers in all three of its categories, and I am just so chuffed about it all. As well, production for the audiobook of Hedge Witch, Book 1 in the series, has begun!

Some friends and I had a lovely ritual in the back garden on Friday, followed by a meal indoors. I had found some writings on an old Suffolk ritual called Horkey, or Horkney, and so tried to recreate some of that for us. It was fun! My neighbour even played her accordion for us during a part of the ritual where we sat and thought about our ancestors after laying down offerings for them. It was a very special moment, with the rising moon shining in the sky, the wind blowing and the darkness descending. It’s a memory that I will cherish for many years to come.

The deer rut continues, though it feels like it is winding down now. I shall endeavor to get some more photographs before the end, and share them with you here. Below you will find the few that I have managed to get in between the work of getting this book out, and the planning for the ritual we shared.

I love the month of November. The dark, windy days just seem to set the mood for this time of year. I don’t mind the encroaching night, nor the loss of the warmth. Instead, I love going out for walks, feeling the reflective and melancholy nature of this time, when everything is winding down, the skies are often grey and the feeling of the year’s work rest wearily in my bones. I’ve done all that I can do, and now it is time to simply be, to rest, to let everything go as the wild winds howl, the leaves come down, the rain lashes and the cold nights settle in.

I often feel a pull towards celebrating and working in the pre-Christian traditions of my Germanic and Scandinavian ancestors at this time of year. It’s a soul-deep yearning for connections to the gods, the wights, the ancestors. Though I work with the goddess Freya all year round and Skadhi during the cold season, this winter I might explore working with other deities, perhaps ones I haven’t tried to connect to before such as Freyr, Ullr or Odin. I enjoy the simplicity of a blót, the connection of a sumbel, the forthrightness of the core values that are held dear and the feeling of rootedness that it brings to me, as if I am walking with my ancestors from an age long gone, but which is returning to the modern world.

From here on the Suffolk coast of England, I wish you all Waes Hael!  

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New Hardback Edition!

Exciting news! Hedge Witch, Book 1 of my Witches of the New Forest fiction series, is now available in hardback! All the books will soon be available in hardback editions, which makes me so pleased. There is nothing quite like a hardback edition that will last a lifetime 🙂

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Autumn’s Lessons

I can’t believe that in a little over a week’s time Smugglers and Secrets the fourth book in my fiction series, Witches of the New Forest, will be out! It’s been an incredible year, with tons of hard work that has been so rewarding. Releasing four books in a year is not for the faint-hearted! I say four books, but really, the first two in the series, Hedge Witch and The Veil Between the Worlds were written almost a year before hand, and then were released within a month of each other. I didn’t want to have people waiting six months for the second book, especially as the first ended on a cliffhanger.

Writing fiction has always been my life’s dream. Ever since I was a thirteen-year-old girl, sitting in my room at my desk and typing away on my mother’s old clackety manual typewriter, I had always wanted to write stories. Tales of magic and mystery, of the Fae, of supernatural beings, of adventure and romance. And now, here I am, nearly four decades later, living the dream!

My books are selling all over the world, with the four main markets being the UK, US, Canada and Australia. I’ve had hundreds of lovely messages, feedback, and reviews for all the books, and I thank everyone that has gotten in touch to let me know how much they have enjoyed the series. (And one or two not so great reviews, but hey, that’s what you get for sticking your head above the parapet. And why is it always from someone in the Pagan community? I think that sometimes people forget this is fiction, in all honesty… I do tire of that old chestnut: you are doing it wrong). All of the lovely feedback has really confirmed that the choice I made to pack it all in and become a full-time writer was the right one. Not to mention actually making a living wage off my writing for the first time ever!

A lot of the income goes straight back into the production of more books right now, as well as advertising, but still, I’ve made more money in the last six months than I have with all my previous non-fiction books put together for the entire year! It just goes to show how much more an author can make by being self-published.

But being self-published is so much more work. You need to not only write your book, but also edit it, and then find a qualified editor to go over it again. You then need to know how to design a cover, and upload all your material onto whatever platform you are using to publish (for me, that’s Amazon and Rakuten Kobo). Just learning how to navigate these platforms is something else! Then there is the marketing, advertising, articles and interviews, podcasts and more to get the word out that you’ve written a book (but in all fairness, even going through a publisher means that the author is doing the lion’s share of this work themselves these days). I’m now in the process of trying out a hardback version (we will see how the printers do, as I’ve heard it can be hit or miss with regards to quality) as well as working on the audiobook version.

For the audiobook, I had a narrator but sadly the sample that they provided was not up to standard, and so the contract will be dissolved and my search continues to find a new narrator. The cost of creating an audiobook (that isn’t “virtual voices”, ie. AI) can run into the thousands of pounds. So, finding the right narrator for this work is essential, given the cost of production. I’ve tried having a go myself, but in all honesty I just don’t have the time, the right equipment and I would need a proper studio to cut out all the background noise from my house, neighbours, and the wildlife around me (right now the stags are roaring – wouldn’t that be fun to show up on an audiobook?).

I’ve had to research all aspects of the above for myself, and then learn how to implement it and tweak it to suit my work. Other things have had to take a backseat in the meantime, such as writing blog posts here, putting up full-length YouTube videos that so many have enjoyed, not to mention my photography. And so, I plan to pace myself a little better in the coming months. I’m feeling the burnout from all the work since 8th November 2024, when all this went live and the first book was released. It will probably be around eight to nine months between each book, rather than the original six months.

This turnaround time gives both me and my editor, Jasmin, more time to go through the text. Editing can take as long as writing the darned thing in the first place! But it is essential in order to give the readers a quality product. I did the best I could before I was able to hire Jasmin. This is why I released a second edition of Hedge Witch, and will be doing so for The Veil Between the Worlds as well. I couldn’t afford an editor for those first two books, but now that I’ve got an income, I have hired Jasmin who has worked with me on Books 3 and 4, just finished Hedge Witch and is currently working on TVBTW. Big shout out to Jasmin – you are a star!

Some people ask if I will ever write non-fiction again. The answer is – I don’t know! If I have a non-fiction book in me, then yes, of course I will write one. It will most likely be self-published, instead of going through a publisher like all the previous works. I am considering writing a book on working with the goddess, Freya, but that may have to wait until this series has been completed before I can turn my attention to that. There are at least four more books planned in the Witches of the New Forest series, so that’s a few years still to wait!

I also have another series planned, but I’m keeping that close to my chest for now. It will be similar to Witches of the New Forest, but take place in another location, with a whole new cast of characters. Watch this space…

As I sit here and type up this blog on my laptop, I look out of my conservatory window and see the golden leaves of the birch trees swaying in the breeze, the jay digging and storing acorns in the lawn, ladybirds (ladybugs in North America) coming out to enjoy the sunshine, and blackbirds chirping in the hedges. Autumn has settled in, and I hope to get out this afternoon to refill the water containers for the deer on the heath, and hopefully after that spend some time photographing the deer rut, if the rain stays away. Autumn is simply the best season, with the heat of the summer gone, the cool breezes and mellow light, the smell of woodsmoke and leaves on the wind. I feel like I’ve already missed the first half of autumn, and so I am going to make a conscious effort not to miss the second half!

It is a new moon today, and that means new beginnings. Autumn always feels like a time of new beginnings for me, which feels contrary to the popular Pagan belief of the season of spring holding that paradigm. Perhaps it’s a relic of my schooldays, when the new year began in the autumn. Perhaps it’s an ancient Viking thing in my blood, who, like the Celts, thought that the new day began in the darkness of night with the setting sun. Autumn is time to take stock, to reflect on the crazy summer energy and then stop, take a breath, and actually learn something from it. It’s harvest-time, not just in the fields but also in our souls. It’s when we take the seeds we have gathered and store them safely over the coming winter months, to plant again in the spring. These can be seeds from plants, or thoughts, ideas, and plans for how we want to live our lives. Either way, it is a time to rest and think. And that’s where I find beginnings. I can see my cat sleeping on the chair in the conservatory, in a beam of sunlight. She knows what autumn is all about.

And so, I will take some time to rest and reflect, even as I contemplate the writing of the next book in the series. I am hoping to release it probably around June next year. We will see how the writing and editing go, and take it from there. I know that this time around I won’t be setting myself a hard deadline like I have for the previous four books. Working to this kind of deadline can be incredibly stressful, which, as a self-employed person who can set their own schedule just doesn’t make any sense! I thought that these deadlines would help me to get the work out every six months, which they have, but also it left me frazzled and a little wobbly (menopause has been a real struggle this year). So, I intend to write, and write well, which takes time. I and my editor will take the time to edit the work as it deserves and as our schedules can reasonably manage. Like everything in life, it’s all matter of checks and balances, of work and rest, of giving and receiving.

I think that is also autumn’s greatest teaching.

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The Season of the Witch

The winds have changed, and the season of autumn leaves, cold nights and dew-filled, frosty mornings is upon us. Finally! After the heat of this summer, I am more than ready to don my jumpers and jeans, get on my hiking boots and head out onto the heath and in the forest without worrying about whether I’ve got enough water, sunscreen, overheating, etc. It’s time to explore!

Not that I’ve got much time myself, sigh. With Smugglers and Secrets, Book 4 of my Witches of the New Forest fiction series coming out at the end of this month, it’s all hands-on deck to get everything ready for the launch date of October 31st. In hindsight, I probably should have picked a date a few days before, but with the ghostly theme of the book, and in my own excitement about sharing Ryder’s story, I chose Samhain, Hallowe’en. So now I’ve got a book launch, and a big festival to celebrate all in one day.

I shall be in bed for the rest of that weekend. Don’t call me.

After a short week in North Wales, I returned home to find that the deer rut had begun. It is always an exciting time here on the heath and in the forest. Hearing the calls of the bucks in the growing twilight and in the full dark always gets my blood pumping. Any spare moments I can get (which will be few this month) I will be out there with my camera, as always. I already got my special boy, Aelfric, who walked right up and asked to have his photos taken. So, I did!

I’m so sad to have had to pull out of Witchfest International this year, due to medical appointments, and especially now that I’ve heard it’s the LAST EVER Witchfest International. I’ve noticed over the last five or six year the numbers of people attending have been declining rapidly, which is such a shame. But nothing lasts forever and so I urge you, if you are able, to check out this wonderful gathering with talks, workshops, stalls, and music in the evening. They even have a lovely new venue for this one, which means that the safety and security of all from any protestors will be ensured. The previous venue’s location meant that protesters to any and all Pagans could picket almost right outside the door. Well, not for this venue! So go, be your best Pagan self, and join the community in a celebration of a wonderful thing.

It’s the season of the Witch, after all!

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September Full Moon and Eclipse Magick

September and October are my favourite months of the year. Nature is winding down, the slant of afternoon sunlight is more golden, and the smell of fallen leaves drifts through the air. This September has started with rain, finally, here in the East of England. We still need much more rain, even though storms have come and gone almost every day this week. Our rivers, streams, and reservoirs are still low, and we hope that this autumn and winter they will be replenished, as last year they hadn’t been filled over the colder months as they should have been. The heat and dry weather over the last six months have taken their toll on the trees, grasses, and wildlife in the area.

And so, I welcome the rain, and the coming autumn months. I seek respite from the harsh sun, from the heat and humidity. I long for the cool breezes, for jumpers and jeans, for cold nights and the scent of woodsmoke from the cottages around me.

The full moon on Sunday, 7 September reflects this feeling. Here in Britain, the full moon will rise in a full eclipse, something which will be spectacular to see, if the skies are clear on the horizon. I hope to watch it rise from the North Sea, blood red and powerful during this harvest time. For me, this eclipsed moon and its deep red colour connects me to my ancestors and the hard work that they endured during harvest season. It is also a magickal moon, which connects me to the wise women and cunningmen of my ancestors, whose gifts have been passed down from generation to generation.

It is a moon also of manifestation: with the aid of the ancestors, allow the power of this lunar eclipse to manifest for you what it is that you have worked so hard for all year long, with the extra energy of not only the full moon’s magick, but the eclipse, blood-red energy of the ancestors who have got your back.

Attune to your power, and know that long lines of ancestors stand behind you. Those magickal people who have passed down their gifts in your bloodline will want you to succeed, to thrive. Use that energy during this moon, and be blessed.

P.S. Don’t forget, pre-order are now available on Amazon for Smugglers and Secrets, Book 4 of my fiction series, Witches of the New Forest 🙂

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The Power of the Summer Solstice

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The Binge Culture

So, one thing I’ve discovered when writing a series is that people like to binge. Whether it’s books, television, food – you name it – binging is a thing right now. And now I am dealing with the added pressure of getting the next book out as soon as possible, because some people have read the third book and instantly want the fourth. Wait, they have to wait six months for the next book to come out?

Yes; yes they certainly do.

I know that most of you know that writing is a process. That if you want a book created instantly, you’d use a nasty AI programme to rip off other people’s works and then sell it as your own. But that’s not what us authors do; no, most certainly not. We think up stories (which takes time) and write them down (which takes even more time), researching and editing (which takes up SO MUCH TIME), pouring hour after hour each and every day to get that book done. And for me, so far the process requires six months to write, edit, and then release a work of fiction. And I think that’s a pretty good time frame.

I could have spent a few years just writing the series and then releasing it all at once, but hey, a girl’s gotta eat. And right now the first three books in my fiction series, Witches of the New Forest, are paying the bills. This is actually the first time I’ve made a living wage off of my writing! (More on that later.) So, I will be writing two books a year, release dates around May and October, or thereabouts (possibly even June and December, depending on the book). If the story is set at Yule, for instance, I’ll release it in December. I want readers to get into the vibe and mood of the books as much as they can, and timing the release really does help in that regard.

With my non-fiction writing, it took me two years to release a book. One year was spent reading, researching, and gathering all the material I needed before I started writing. The following year was a writing year, followed by six months usually of editing, going back and forth with the publishers. It was a long process.

I never even considered the pressure that readers would place on an author to get a book out as soon as possible, until I experienced it myself. But I refuse to rush my books, because I want the best book possible for my readers. Romantasy author Rebecca Yarros (Fourth Wing, etc.) rushed her last book, Onyx Storm, and she made the decision to take as long as it needed for the next book to come out, which might be over a year, maybe even two. Some fans were angry, they wanted it right away.

Well, tough!

Our culture of instant gratification is running rampant. We can have entire series downloaded in one go onto our devices. But what we often forget is that those series took years to create, even if it takes us a week or two to binge and watch them all. Remember the days before you could record television shows? No? That’s my GenX background speaking. You had to wait a whole week for the next episode, and then wait three months during the summer while the reruns of the less than popular shows were on before you could watch the next season in September. And those seasons were long, back in the 80’s and 90’s. I remember when a television series was 24 episodes or more! Of course, that was all dependent upon the show. Comedies ran more episodes and for a longer span than dramas, because they took less time to create. Now, you are lucky if a season gets ten episodes. But you can binge the series, wherever and whenever you want!

I think we all need to take a deep breath, slow down, and smell the books. Give authors the time to write without the added pressure. They are likely doing the best that they can. In fact, most authors have other jobs, and so can only write in their spare time. I’m one of the lucky few right now, and that’s only because I’ve persisted for over a decade with writing and earning a meager salary that afforded me to fly back to Canada twice a year and that’s about it. Now, even after I pay for all the advertising campaigns that I run to promote my work, I can also buy groceries!

Let’s support our human authors, and give them the time that they need to tell a good story, without adding extra pressure on them. A rushed story is not the best story. And if you don’t believe me, just ask Rebecca Yarros.

No, don’t ask Rebecca Yarros. She’s probably on a much deserved holiday right now.