Sorry I’ve been so quiet here on my blog site, but it’s been a crazy few months. The launch of the third book, The Witch’s Compass in my Witches of the New Forest fiction and paranormal romance series happened at the beginning of May. It went very well, and I am so thankful to everyone who has bought a copy and left a review, for this book and all the others in the series! The feedback has been amazing, and I’m so happy to create a world of magickal people, for magickal people 😊
On a sadder note, my sweet cat, Barnabus, passed away of old age just a few days later. He had already been winding down since January, and we had a feeling that it was coming. I prayed to my lady Freya that when his time came, that it would be quick and painless, and it certainly was. In the span of four days, he went from walking in the garden with me to his body shutting down completely. He died peacefully at home in my arms, loved and cherished for every single day that we had together. I am so blessed to have had this little guy in my life, and I will always, always love him. You and me forever, my little Bobo man.
Ever since that day, the neighbour’s cat from three doors down has been visiting and spending all day outside on our patio, giving us cuddles and snuggles in our period of adjustment. She has been a beautiful gift of love and comfort, and we are so happy to see her each and every day.
In the meantime, I have already begun Book 4, Smugglers and Secrets, and am over halfway through the writing process. This book comes from Ryder’s perspective, and is chock-full of adventure. I had no idea how much would happen to her in a week, but so far it’s been crazy! There is so much that is unfurling as I write this book, that I’m sure it will be at least two, if not three books to fully tell her story. I might even have to have a word with the characters of the book, and tell them to slow it down a bit. But in all honesty, it’s not up to me – they are the ones who write the book for me! I’m just along for the ride 😉
Today we finally have rain, which is much needed. Here in the East of England we haven’t had a good rainfall for months now, and so a dark, dreary, wet day like today is a true blessing. The land is dry and cracked on the heath, my beech tree hasn’t got its large leaves, and everything is a bit stunted in growth except for the birch trees. The grass on the lawn has already been burned yellow by the sun, and our water butts have been dry for months. Thank you, global warming and climate change (yes, I am being sarcastic). Thank goodness we have mostly drought-resistant plants in the garden, living here on the edge of heathland, near to the sea.
And so I am quietly sitting here at my desk, writing away each and every day, doing marketing and promoting my work. It’s a nice life, where I am finally starting to make a living wage from my writing. It only took 11 years! But I am so enjoying writing fiction,;it really is where my passion has been since I was a young teenager, writing my first book.
I hope that wherever you are in the world, that you are enjoying the summer, or winter for my antipodean friends, and that nature’s blessing is upon you.
I just came across this recently posted video about Burley, in the New Forest National Park. If you love my new fiction series, set in the Witchy village of Burley, this might interest you!
The Witch’s Compass, Book 3 of my new fiction series, Witches of the New Forest, is now out and available for Kindle and paperback on Amazon. Kobo ebook editions will be available very soon!
It’s been a busy week so far, and we are only Wednesday! But I’ve been working late into the evenings, getting my new fiction book series, Witches of the New Forest, up to date and ready for the third book, The Witch’s Compass, which is coming out in the late spring.
So, what have I been doing? Well, after much consideration, I decided to change the cover of Hedge Witch. This is so that the other books in the series can follow a theme: forest scenes. As the series is set in England’s New Forest region, it only makes sense to have all the covers correlate not only to that theme, but also to each other.
And so, here is the new book cover!
The colours work well with the second book, almost being a reverse of the greys, blues and orange/peachy tones. I’m pleased with it, but then, I designed it, so there you go!
Hedge Witch has been doing well in the book rankings, last week coming in the top 100 of three different categories: Women’s Fantasy Fiction, Magic Romance ebooks, and Paranormal Witches and Wizards Romance. But this book, and all the others in the series, are so much more than romance novels (though I do love a good love story). They tell the tale of coming into one’s own power, the different boundaries that exist both within ourselves and our society, and also contain a large portion of modern Witchcraft and Druidry thrown in for good measure!
It’s been getting really great reviews as well, for which I am super pleased. It’s so wonderful that this book and the second, The Veil Between the Worlds, is really resonating with folks. I’m two thirds of the way through writing the third book, which will round off Hunter’s trilogy, and then we can begin exploring Ryder, her sister’s story, in the fourth book.
I was a call-in guest today on the Jeremy Vine BBC Radio 2 Show today, and we were discussing ‘romantasy’ as the new genre that’s getting everyone talking. Here’s a link to the episode, and for those who are unable to listen, please see the short transcript below.
Tina Daheley – Joanna is in Woodbridge, Suffolk – Joanna, ‘Romantasy’, what is your view?
Joanna van der Hoeven – “I think it’s wonderful that it is so prevalent now, because it is saying to women, ‘Don’t be ashamed to like, what you like’. You will see women on the trains, on the buses, reading these books, and it is allowing you to just say, ‘Yes! This is what I am going to consume, this is what I like,” and to not be ashamed of it, because far too often we are made to feel small, or ashamed for anything to do with sexuality, as women. And so, the whole ‘Fairy Porn’ thing, when I first heard that it made me laugh out loud, but then I thought, ‘Well, isn’t it the same thing as the patriarchy trying to tell women not to be sexual creatures?
TD – “So it’s reductive, you think, calling it “Fairy Porn.”
Joanna van der Hoeven – “Exactly, yeah. As an author myself, as a romantasy author, I find that it is empowering for women to say, ‘This is what we like, so let’s continue with it.’
So, I spent all weekend updating and refreshing my website. When you run the whole show in your author life (on the self-publishing side), you start to learn and develop a whole new set of skills, such as creating your own website, designing your book covers, your marketing visuals, and more. And so this weekend was a big change (at least for me) on moving forward with my writing career.
I wanted to add something fun to the website as well, and thought, what if I created a music playlist for the different books in my Witches of the New Forestseries? So I did!
Each track is a mood, emotion, or scene from the book, run in sequential order through the chapters. It was a new way of looking at the work, and Ioved creating it!
As I returned from my holiday back in Quebec, Canada, spending time with my family, I dove straight into writing the third book for my new fiction series, Witches of the New Forest. The first two books in this series flowed out of me like water, and I wrote like a woman possessed (which may entirely be the case when you’re knee-deep in awen). This third book has somewhat followed suit, and I am halfway through writing it as we speak. But it is providing me with new challenges as well.
Being the final book in Hunter’s trilogy, and the culmination of the books before, (Hedge Witch and The Veil Between the Worlds) there is a lot of pressure on this final book before we move on to her sister, Ryder’s story. The build-up and the expectation is there from the readers (and from myself), and this can sometimes restrict the flow of awen, the flow of inspiration, because I am letting myself and my worries get in the way of writing. It’s hard to admit to, but there it is.
So, I’ve just got to get over fretting what other people are going to think of this book, and just let it happen. It’s how the other two were written. I had a general idea, a few of scenes came to mind while either out wandering the forest and heath (or in the bathtub, terribly inconvenient for writing key points down), and then I just sat down and let the characters do their thing. Now, I feel like I’m worrying over them like a mother hen, and they just can’t do what they want, or need to do, to finish the work.
The characters need the freedom to express themselves and work out their own dynamics without me getting involved. Yes, this is a bit of an oxymoron, as there are parts of me in each character, but it’s only when I allow them the freedom to interact with each other that the magic (or magick) really happens. Worry doesn’t really help the artistic process one bit!
So, following on from my previous post which I wrote back in December, I need to get my Zen on. I need to stop striving and just let it be.
Easier said than done.
I think that there is also a lesson to be learned (at least for myself) in this latest book, which is all about how Hunter is allowing her past to dictate her future. Through the Witch’s Compass, she is able to navigate herself to her true nature, and find her authentic self in all its glory and all its disaster. When we accept this and stop striving, we can move forwards with more awareness. I need to stop trying to be perfect, to stop allowing negative incidents from my past colour my current perceptions, and be open to receiving guidance and the divine inspiration that is all around me.
Easy-peasy, lemon squeezy.
As we move into spring, I think both Hunter and I will make it through this, though there are still going to be challenges and set-backs along the way. But we both have a great network of people that are with us, and though the person that supports me on a daily basis may not be a Druid/Park Ranger like Jack, he is still my foundation and my rock. His science-mind is a great complement to my magickal mind, and who knows? That may even be the inspiration for much of Ryder’s story, yet to come…
It’s coming to the end of the year, and I am about to take such much-needed time off. Throughout the year, I take two holidays: one summer, and one winter holiday. I use this time to go back home and see my family in Canada, which as the years progress gets even more important. They say you don’t know what you’ve got until its gone, but I disagree. I am so very thankful and happy for my friends and family, and I will spend every single chance I can get with them, no matter what.
This time of year is always reflective for me. The autumn season begins the turning inwards of my thoughts, and as the nights draw in, the leaves fall and the winds of change come in bringing the storms. My energy moves from projecting out into the world, to pulling inwards. It’s a cycle of extrovert and introvert, though I must admit that I am a functioning introvert all of the time. When the leaves have all fallen, and the winter rains and dark days lie ahead, I think of home, of family and friends, of warmth and companionship even as I dream of long walks, snowshoe hikes, and cross-country skiing out in the silent wilderness of the boreal forest.
It’s a time when I take stock of my achievements for the year. This year has been exceptional, in that I have completed three books! The first is the follow-up to The Path of the Hedge Witch, my non-fiction work for Llewellyn. The Old Ways: A Hedge Witch’s Guide to Living a Magickal Life will be available next year in the UK, on the 8 March 2025 for Kindle and 8 April for the paperback. (Don’t ask me why the paperback takes a month longer, I have no idea. I’m guessing shipments from the US to UK Amazon stores are involved?)
The second and third books finished this year begin my new fiction series, Witches of the New Forest. The first two books, Hedge Witch and The Veil Between the Worlds, form two thirds of the trilogy set around the main character, Hunter Williams, as she begins on her path of Hedge Witchcraft. With Druids, otherworldly characters, a magickal community and more, it’s a really fun environment to spend my days in, and I love it. Returning to fiction feels like coming home. (Other books in the series are planned, from different characters’ perspectives.)
I’ve always been a writer. From the age of twelve or thirteen, I’ve been writing stories. Ever since I finished reading Lord of the Rings, I knew that I wanted to write books set in a beautiful fantasy world where myth and magick meet.
Having been so productive this year has, however, caused a little burnout. I’m tired. I need some time away from my computer and my desk, away from social media, away from anything digital. I long to spend hours in the woods where I grew up, smelling the snow and the cedars, watching the chickadees and the wild turkeys coming into garden. I want to reconnect not only with the natural world, but also with my own sense of self. What I am craving most, is peace.
Which is funny, considering how crazy the first few weeks are going to be back home, shopping for presents, organising and attending the family parties, New Year’s celebrations and more. But it’s home, and it’s where I decompress, busy though it might appear. My heart just instantly relaxes, my body gives a sigh of relief and my lungs are filled with the crisp, cold air. There’s even an extra hour of daylight, not to mention days where the sun actually shines!
But peace is something that I’ve always sought after in my life. Little spaces of sanctuary. I have always created these spaces no matter where I was in the world, because I needed that in order to function on any sort of level. My homes have never been just houses, flats or apartments. They’ve been havens from the world outside, where I can let down my own walls and just be.
It’s a strange thing to think about, this need for peace. I look outside the window as I type, and I see collared doves in the beech tree. Are they at peace in this moment? They certainly don’t have to worry about promoting their work, keeping an eye on their sales, updating their social media or paying the bills. But they do have to survive in a difficult climate. Do they worry? About different things? Or are they at peace with what life had dealt them, and they’re just getting on with it?
I’ve studied a lot of Zen Buddhism in my time. That’s all about ways to find peace, by giving up searching for peace. There are so many paths to peace in this world. Maybe you could leave a comment on this post, sharing your path to peace? I’d love to hear about it.
Giving up the need for peace, as most Zen Buddhists would say, brings about peace. It’s the need that is the driving force in our own dissatisfaction. When we realise that we can have peace anywhere, at any time, simply by letting go of our need for peace, it can be like a ton of bricks has fallen from our shoulders. It’s so simple. And yet, so difficult to maintain. It can makes sense for five to ten seconds, before something else demands our attention. And our need for peace returns with a vengeance.
With so many external factors creating our personal circumstances, it can be very hard to see how we can let go of that need for peace in our lives, because people bring problems. Life is hard. We have no control over anything. For many Buddhists, simple acceptance of the circumstances is what brings peace. I’m not quite there yet all the time, but I can understand the mechanics behind the concept and try to remember it as much as I can throughout my day.
During the winter holidays, peace is such a central theme. Scenes of snowy landscapes evoke a feeling of peace and stillness on holiday cards. Snow is wonderful. It muffles sound, and covers all the sharp edges of the world, leaving behind sparkly magic in both sunlight and moonlight. Like a weighted blanket for the world, it holds us, frozen in a moment of time, to offer us peace.
Other simple things can bring us peace. The lighting of a candle, the recitation of a heartfelt prayer of thanks, the cooking of a meal, snuggling into a warm bed. Many things we often overlook can bring us peace. It is true: mindfulness does bring peace.
In a world full of lies, deception, insane politics, war and other atrocities, it can seem impossible to find peace. If you live in a country where people with guns are roaming the streets, if you live in dread of air raids or drones dropping bombs on your home, if you don’t have enough food for your cat, let alone yourself, finding peace is not only difficult, but damn-near impossible. When we are just fighting to survive, we are not at peace.
But I am guessing that the majority of you who are reading this blog do not live in these sorts of circumstances. We live in a mainly moral society, where the rule-breakers often get punished for breaking the social contracts and the laws that we have created through a democratic process of electing those to speak for us. In these worlds, we face other issues. We have the time to reflect on morals, on ethics, on philosophical ideas of all kinds. We can even create strange, perverse worlds where we find ourselves in moral competition with each other. “You’re not angry enough about this,” or “by not speaking up about it, you have failed society,” and other concepts often pop up on the socials, where everyone is judging everyone else, and everyone is found lacking.
It’s no wonder we can’t find peace.
Morality isn’t a competition.
But I digress.
For me, it’s in the small moments and in the small things where I find my peace. Having a moment to watch the sun set in the winter skies, with the golds and peaches highlighting the blues, pinks and purples. Stroking a purring cat curled up on a sunbeam on the bed. Eating a meal with my family. Sitting at my altar, honouring the deities, the spirits of place, and more. The big accomplishments are nice, and they are rewarding in different ways. But the culmination of all the small things is what really brings me peace. It’s not in what I do, but almost in what I don’t do. When I stop ‘doing’ and simply ‘be’, that’s where peace is found. It’s that liminal space, where there is no ‘I’ or ‘You’, but only ‘Us, Together’.
And so, I end this ‘end of year blog’ with an Irish blessing that’s often in my thoughts at this time of year.
Deep Peace to You
Deep peace of the running wave to you. Deep peace of the flowing air to you. Deep peace of the quiet earth to you. Deep peace of the shining stars to you.
Down the Forest Path 