Whelp, getting this blog entry started was much harder than I imagined. I've been having so many different topics on my mind, never knowing where to start and what to choose, putting way too much weight and importance to the first blog entry of my website. Its like staring at a blank canvas of whats going to be the first of 20 art pieces for a really big and urgent exhibition. Only that there is no actual deadline for this blog and the only one putting so much pressure on me is myself. In such a desperate situation, the best thing you can do is forget about everything you wanted to say and just write.
That's actually exactly how I started my book last year: Just typing the first thing that came to mind, breaking the blockade that kept me from getting started by turning off my brain for just a second. Everything else I wanted to write and planned out in my head, every story structure I had in mind came back naturally as I kept writing and got back into the creative flow. Sometime this year, I'll get to publish my first Novel and to say that Im excited would be an understatement. While I already published a book back in 2017, it was written more like a guide into the secret world of gardendragons, than an actual story. This upcoming book however will be the first complete adventure I ever wrote, diving deeper into the world of tiny dragons as we get to know new characters and how they deal with the man-made environment around them.
For those of you, who are unfamiliar with my work, back in October 2017 I published my first children's book titled "Die Geheime Welt der Gartendrachen" or The secret world of Gardendragons. The book acts as a guide, introducing seven tiny dragon species hiding in our gardens, who can grow plants with their flames and act as protectors of bees and other pollinators. Each species inhabits a specific plant they camouflage themselves as and use to lure in prey or attract a partner to mate. But since they cannot grow anything without pollen or seeds of their host plants, they depend on the pollination of bees, so their plants will flourish in the next year as well. The Secret world of Gardendragons teaches children about the importance of bees through a mixture of facts and fantasy, showing them what they can do to help both dragons and bees find a home in their garden. The reception in Germany to my book has been incredibly well and I hope I'll get to publish it outside of Germany some day.
So what's the plan? How am I going to use this blog in the future? Well, as you might can tell from my first published book, I have a huge love for nature. When Im not drawing or writing stories, Im a passionate hobby-photographer, going on walks with my camera to find new inspiration and make little wild life discoveries. And I mean TINY. Im talking bugs and bees and butterflies, but also birds and plants and anything else I might catch on camera. But this year I want to especially focus on taking pictures of wild bees. There's a lot I don't know about them yet, even though I've been focusing on bees since I came up with my book concept back in fall 2014. The thing is, I mainly focused on honey bees back then... Did you know there's over 20.000 wild bee species in the world and we have roughly 550 in Germany alone? Did you know almost all of them live solitary instead of in a social hive like honey bees do? Have you any idea how incredibly stupid I felt when I realized how long it took me to learn about this?
So that's what I want to focus on this year: I want to keep my eyes wide open for wild bees and post my findings as regularly as possible! But I will not only talk about bees, there is much more I want to share and talk about! I want to do everything I can to protect nature and share my love and excitement for it with all of you! There is so much to discover, so much we don't know about animals that have been surrounding us the entire time! And I promise you, its something worth learning about. Because the more we learn, the more we get to appreciate the earth we're walking on and the more we want to preserve it. And maybe I'll get the chance to show some of you just how much there might be hiding in your garden or what's flying right in front of you! Maybe some of you won't even be that scared of bees anymore ;)
Looking forward to the future! :D ~Eleanor
