Preparing my handwritten letters

And a glimpse of the trinkets on my writing desk at Hazel Cottage

Welcome back to the wildwood, and to the rusty old mailbox overgrown with ivy. If this is the first time you have visited here then you may wish to open this invitation. In finding your way to All The Wild Magic I trust that you have arrived exactly when you were meant to. This letter is for you.

Dear reader,

Today has been a lot of fun. I have been preparing the tools and materials needed to write, by hand, to my paid subscribers over the winter as promised. I am very grateful to this handful of generous people, who are helping to keep me in tea and writing paper, ink and candles.

Having gone down the path of a vocation that is purposeful (with no regrets on that front), it has not always been easy to afford the time and energy to write alongside it. Yet to write is to deepen further into my purpose as a whole, and so, it is no small thing to have support from these Substack readers, and from a local writing organisation that has done much in helping me to create All The Wild Magic.

Whilst writing this letter so far, I have been distracted by various occurrences out of the window: a grey squirrel carrying a small green apple in its mouth, a blackbird turning over fallen sycamore leaves in search of food, and two wrens, perhaps playing, perhaps trying to decide on a boundary, or likely something else entirely; it makes me happy to think of birds having their own secret worlds that we cannot map onto our own understanding.

Each time I have seen one of these things I have wondered whether to reach for my camera and try to capture it for you. But then I might miss what is actually happening!

Sometimes I am in two minds about whether to take pictures here at the hut in general. Doing so can take me out of the moment, and away from whatever has my attention.

But today, because my intention was, in fact, to take some pictures to include in this letter, I had good fun pottering about, arranging things nicely on my desk, feeling excited about the prospect of writing to people by hand this winter, and enjoying some of my most treasured objects - the trinkets that adorn my desk.

Some of the objects have come from charity shops and bric-a-brac stalls. Others have been gifted to me by the wild world, or by friends, over the years.

I am a bit of a magpie in charity shops and at market stalls; my eye is drawn to anything with hand-painted and accurate detail of native flora, fauna and fungi. Imagine my excitement, then, to discover the plate with the fly agaric mushrooms, dog rose hips, and mice upon it, pictured below! The price tag was just £2.50, making it all the more wonderful.

A discovery like that can really make my day, whatever else might be happening.

How about you - what small things can make your day?

I haven’t sent you many photographs of Hazel Cottage so far. My intention was for us to create our own version of the hut, inside the wildwood of our shared imaginations.

Today though, I thought I would just share this one detail, because I love my cranky old stove so much. This stove - which has always looked as though it is entirely capable of getting up in the night and walking away, yet never would because it is so dedicated and steadfast - heats the whole hut to a cosy temperature even in the depths of winter.

So there is a little glimpse, but I would love to know, when you picture Hazel Cottage, what do you see?

And if you could leave something on the doorstep to add to our little hut in the wildwood of deep imagination, what would it be?

I would love for you to post me a note back.

And, if you are drawn to support my writing financially, you can do so by becoming a paid subscriber. You will then receive a handwritten letter from me this winter, as a thank you for your support.

I also know that extra pennies are not always forthcoming, so I would like to give one person a year’s paid subscription and handwritten letter at no cost. If you would like this honorary subscription, please comment below, share this post on notes and tag me.

With warmest wishes,

Sophie