Bluebell Publications

Background

Some folk are natural entrepreneurs, they see an opportunity and step out into the unknown with a burning desire to succeed. That vision always burns brightly ahead of them, allowing them to survive the vicissitudes that are inevitable in any new venture.   Some would prefer a humdrum life but get thrust into the limelight and succeed. Others know that business is their way and they work hard to achieve their ends. I fit none of these business models. I like writing and in 2012, after many years of writing short stories as well as books, I decided to self-publish The Spider King. Easy you think? No, first I went on a course to learn how to load my precious manuscript onto Kindle as an eBook thanks to the patient help of my lecturers I managed it, but not until I had help from my son who suggested the right people able to design the front cover for both the eBook as well as the paperback. All sounds straight forward but in the process of uploading the book, you have to say who the publisher is. What?   Then a bright idea sprang into being, I live in a most beautiful part of the UK and we have a well-kept secret, in April/May we have the best Bluebell display anywhere, so why not Bluebell Publications? So the business came into being, very quietly with no fanfare or welcome.

It served me well when I wanted to upload the next book, The Story Teller Gene but then it needed to expand. There are so many stories whizzing around my head like the Quartet of Innocence Series and others related to The Story Teller Gene.

There are books for young children. They are Pterry Tighty the Bladder Pterodactyl and Tessa Tighty Which cover subjects like bedwetting and bullying. Of the bedwetting series, one is aimed at boys and another for girls and a third is not gender-specific. These are hand-painted and work like hypnotherapy scripts. 

Another book Princess Ree saves the Ocean again for children deals with plastic pollution in the sea from the perspective of Princess Ree for this one all the illustrations are crocheted.

A New Book has hit the shelves

Full Circle

An introduction to the series

How the Spider King came to be written

As a teenager in Kenya, I came home from a boarding school in December 1966 at the end of the school year and was utterly shocked to learn I would not be going back to school again as we were off to Australia the next month. The pain of not being able to say goodbye or exchanging gifts and of course addresses, all those things which are special to childhood made a deep impression.

In Australia, I went to three different schools in one year as well as sitting my national junior certificate in ten subjects, quite a lot of curriculum catching up to do. I then went on to Senior and on graduation determined to leave home and travel halfway around the world back to the UK to train as a physiotherapist.

These experiences made me determined not to do the same for my children, but life intervened and they had to move countries too. However, I hoped by explaining where and why we were moving, it would help. By the time they reached high school, I tried to keep them in one place but even that did not succeed. 

Sadly the same scenario played out with my grandchildren having to move countries at short notice and adjust to different schools, not to mention weather conditions moving from Africa to England. It was then I decided to write my book The Spider King, based on them but where children have a significant impact on decision making and they are the ones who make a difference. In other words, they are empowered. But they are not omnipotent, they have to apply themselves and exercise discipline to achieve their goals. Although the book is aimed at 8-12 year olds, it is suitable to be read by any age, even adults!