For a while I wandered the land, but now I am home again. There's a peace to be found here. I'm settling to work, though still busy with events, mostly would around the launch of The Lost Spells in the UK and in USA. Our next event is with Ottawa International Writer's Festival, 25th October and will be at 2pm Canadian time which I think is 7 pm BST.  Robert Macfarlane and I will be talking about writing, painting and making The Lost Spells, and I get to ask Robert a question! I think this will be the first event I have been able to do from my studio, as I have changed my internet provider and seem to have one that gives a professional service now, rather than one that felt like being connected to the web by a tin can and a bit of string.

I've much to do. I need, now, to move forward into The Book of Birds. The Lost Spells came along and elbowed the birds aside. Despite its small size there is so much work in the book. We were contracted to write and paint twelve spells, but we ended up with twenty one and a glassary. The book is now for sale in UK and soon in USA. So, birds now, and also this, which is my space between the birds. The Unwinding, my first book with Unbound, was given an amazing boost by inclusion in the Brainpickings website. If you aren't familiar with Brainpickings, it is THE place to become lost and entangled in beauty and wisdom on the web, so a massive badge of honour to be included in its labyrinthine passageways. Copies of The Unwinding special edition are in short supply now, but I am told Kenilworth Books and Number Seven Dulverton still have a few, and the trade edition is reprinting but still available.

Today I rose early, took the dogs to the airfield and found skylarks. So many. A curious exaltation of larks. Some came so close they seemed to hang in the air at head height as if they were as curious about me as I was about them. Words from the walk with later become a part of The Space Between.

The light at the airfield was amazing, the sky a beautiful blur bowl overhead. I love how it illuminated the shape of my curious goddess of a hound.

Back home I decided to settle my head with ink. It works as a strange meditation. I want and need to paint. If I don't my mind becomes agitated. So, time spent grinding ink. Yesterday I had prepared a large piece of Two Rivers paper with some of Flora Wallace's ink. This turquoise ink is made with copper piping.

Today I painted a meditation in twenty eight otters. It's a large piece and will be for sale through Number Seven Dulverton.

I also used up the ink that was ground for this making smaller, postcard sized otters. These are for sale to support Edge of the World Bookshop who are placing books in women's refuges in Cornwall and are £200 each. Again the coloured inks are Flora's. The green ink is from Buckthorn berries. The black is sumi ink. I'm putting them up for sale here first so that people who have supported The Space Between get first chance to buy, but in about three days time will also put them on my blog. If you are interested email me and I will let you know what happens next. ( jackie at jackiemorris dot co dot uk)

It's time now to light the fire, think about work, make dough for pizza, read, write. I've a desire to move the writing forward for The Space Between and ideas for how to make the object that the book will become an object of desire. I've also many things to post including book plates, signed, for independent bookshops.

This began as an invitation to join me, in the events of the day today and also at festival events coming up, but as with most things these days it didn't go according to plan. I do have the most astonishing event coming up in February. Follow the link to find out more. Where ever you are in the world you will, with the aid of a computer, be able to join us. It will happen. It must happen. And I have promised not to disappear into the bowels of the museum to draw the egg collection.....but I did have my fingers crossed.

Right, time to get logs in, light the fire, choose a typewrite and shuffle words. Still a way off being fully funded so any sharing of the campaign is always welcome.