From The Fairy Garden: A Release Date For Fairyproof

August 9, 2012 by

Today, I’d like to take a break from the usual posts to share some news in a special “From the Fairy Garden.”

After all the blood, sweat, and tears I am so please to announce here that Fairyproof has a release date: September 4, 2012.

Instead of sitting back and watching the clock tick away the seconds until the book is ready to buy, I’ve come up with some ways to pass the time in the coming weeks. So check back regularly.

Also: I will be sending the first edition of my quarterly newsletter on release date. There will be four emails a year with news about upcoming releases, fun little short free reads, and contests. Follow the link below to sign up so you don’t miss out on the first edition and the first contest. (There is also a sign up link in the sidebar –> )

Subscribe to my newsletter

I will also be doing a blog tour with Bewitching Blog Tour, beginning on September 4. Links to all tour stops will be posted on this page as well.

I’m pushing into a busy weekend, and will be back Monday with my usual posts.

Filed Under: Books, Fairyproof, Writing Life Tagged With: , , ,

From the Fairy Garden: The Healing Properties

June 14, 2012 by

You may have notice I missed posting last Thursday and Friday. We had a minor medical crisis that resulted in my daughter spraining both her ankles. She was in need of some extra TLC and since she’ll always be my little girl…

Between care-giving moments are started thinking about some of the fairies in Fiaryproof, those with the ability to heal.

Wouldn’t it be nice, I thought, if one of the Woodmoore’s could use their power to take away my daughter’s pain and speed her healing.

Though I will defend the mystical creatures existence to anyone who argue, I do know that the chances were slim and (close to) none that we would be visited by healing fairies.

But isn’t that part of the appeal of fantasy… or any book for that matter: that it can’t take us away from our pain or distract us from our problems. Whether it a healing fairy or just a good contemporary story, a mystery of a non-fiction odyssey; the elements of the story may not be able to come to life and cure what ales, but getting lost  in a book can help pass the time while you recover.

Filed Under: fairy gardens, Fairyproof, Life Tagged With: , , ,

From the Fairy Garden: Still in Planning Mode

May 31, 2012 by

We had planned to begin construction on the pond for the backyard, which was going to be the center of my fairy garden. Unfortunately, extreme heat and a busy schedule over the holiday, mixed with a new, bigger plan has put us two weeks behind.

Which isn’t all bad. It gives me more time to shop — both online and in brick and mortar stores.

It gives me time to think of what elements I want to incorporate into the garden.

I’ve also used this time to nurture my miniature garden. Surprisingly, the plants have grown by leaps and bounds. An amazing amount for two weeks. In another week, I may have to thin the plants or do some transplanting.

Look for some pictures here next week as well as the before  pictures of the area that is going to be used for the large garden.

Filed Under: fairy gardens, Life, Writing Life Tagged With: , , ,

From the Fairy Garden: The Tiny Details

May 24, 2012 by

As I talked about here last week, I was introduced to the not-so-new idea of fairy gardens on Mother’s Day.  Since then my husband and I have been talking about adding one to the pond he’s been planning to build in our back yard for several years now. We hope to start basic construction on the larger version over the coming weekend (watch progress on these pages on Thursday) but in the meantime, my impatience got the best of me.

We’ve had this container for a while now, but hadn’t had any plants in it for quite some time. As I started looking at pictures of miniature fairy gardens, this came to mind as a perfect setting for a garden.

Most nurseries will carry the smaller plants and the stones as these can be used in any terrarium or small container garden, but for the arbor, meditation bench and mushroom tree we had to go to a nursery that carries fairy garden supplies.  While we were checking out, the cashier and I were talking about fairy lore, and she said she thought a garden made with all borrowed from the real world items would be cool. For example a gazing ball made from a marble and a golf tee.

I was immediately reminded of a children’s book that spoke of fairies borrowing items from the human counterparts, and have been trying to find it online since. My searches yield The Borrowers, a great book, but I’m remembering one specifically about fairies. If you remember this book, please let me know in the comments.

The fairies I added to this garden I found at another local nursery. And I borrowed that idea of a golf tee and a marble for a gazing ball.

You can’t see it as well as I hoped, but I couldn’t resist the “fairy” bulldogge.

I don’t think the garden is quite complete. The fun is going to be in adding things here and there to round it out and make this a home for the teeny fairies that have taken up residence (and their little dog too!)

Because, as when we write a story, the devil is in the details. I’ve already discovered that the most enjoyable part of these gardens is studying them for all the little things.

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Where Fairies Live…

May 17, 2012 by

Last weekend my husband and I visited a few nurseries looking for some landscaping ideas and plants for our yard.  We were about to leave the last store, when I noticed a display with some garden fairies and stepping-stones, one of which said “I believe in fairies.”

Well, given the subject of my upcoming Crescent Moon Press release, Fairyproof, I do believe.  I fell in love with two of the fairies, and my husband purchased them for me for Mother’s Day. The next day, I was telling a friend of mine about how much I loved them and how serendipitous I thought it was to find them at a time while I’m working to get my book about my kind of fairies ready for publication.

The next morning, that same friend emailed me a few pictures of fairy gardens that her sister had taken at another local nursery that I hadn’t visited with the subject line “Fairy Gardens are In.”  Of course, this sent me on my own internet and pinterest search.

Wow.  I never knew. See what you miss when you live in a writing cave.

Over the next few weeks, I’m planning to build a fairy garden in my yard. No, this isn’t the type of world that Monique, Keiran and the other fairies in Fairyproof come from, but in my Thursday posts highlighting the gardens, I will be sharing tidbits and news about my upcoming release.

If you have a fairy garden, I’d love to see pictures. Please post a link in the comments or email pictures to phillips (dot) connie (at) gmail (dot) com.

Filed Under: Books, Fairyproof, Life Tagged With: , , , , ,