Becoming Little Beaver is the extraordinary story of traveller, showman and sharpshooter Little Beaver Kavanagh, soon to be published by Kavanagh's Attic at Lulu. Written by his daughter, Gail Kavanagh, Becoming Little Beaver is filled with humor, adventure and fascinating characters. And the most extraordinary thing is, it's all true.
Watch this space for publication details.

Paint your wagon and head for the road! This miniature Gypsy Wagon will make a delightful addition to your miniature gallery!
Print: $16.00
Download: $8.00

The simple approach to herbs! How to grow them, prepare them and use them. Lots of recipes for simple medicinal preparations, cosmetics and crafts.
Print: $15.00
Download: $9.00

All you need are two beads - one should be a crystal bead, either clear, coloured or pearly, just pick the one that you like. Find a wide ring bead that it fits into - i used a black plastic bead with a large hole (a bit like a doughnut). Glue the round bead into one side of the ring bead. Stand the crystal ball up by setting it on the other side of the ring bead.
Get the ebook How to Make a Miniature Gypsy Wagon from http://www.lulu.com/kavanaghsattic

The Romany Oracle is a set of unique divination cards that you can use in a spread or as a Question and Answer Oracle.
Print: $15.00
Download: $7.00

Sweet, sweet lavender, Princess of perfumes! But did you know that lavender can be used in cookery too? This delightful book shows you how to grow, harvest, and use lavender all around your home, from the bathroom to the kitchen! Try luscious Lavender Dreams, sweet Lavender Delight, or impress your dinner guests with Omelette au Lavande, Lavender Pate and range of lovely lavender personal products! The most unique and comprehensive collection of lavender lore and recipes you'll find anywhere!
Print: $20.00
Download: $8.00

Told with humor and insight, this memoir chronicles the extraordinary life of Gail Kavanagh, circus performer, mother and writer. Gail began writing almost as soon as she could hold a pen, and in nearly six decades she has gone from obscurity to even greater obscurity. But everything she has learned along the way she shares in this funny, wise and often inspiring book.
Print: $9.48
Download: $5.00

With the advent of the internet, many new writing markets have opened up, and websites need writing content to keep visitors coming back. Content helps to sell products and services, entertain visitors and make surfing the 'net worthwhile - and content is simply writing. This book will help you find markets and write for the Internet - and make money online. This book will show how to write for the `net, how to submit by email and where to look online for paying work. You will find helpful advice, and paying market lists for all kinds of writing - from fiction to greetings. Of course, markets change, and many close down, but with this book to help you, you will be able to seek out new markets for your work.
Download: $5.00

What, where, who, when, why? These are the five writing questions, the backbone of every piece of writing, from the news story to the fiction novel. Freelance writer and journalist Gail Kavanagh takes you through the five questions and shows you how they can help you write better - and generate great story ideas!
Print: $11.54
Download: $6.25

Blind Murty and the Dog Roisin captures a time long gone, a life long lost, a dream long fled. These songs of a traveller's life capture memories shared only by those who lived their lives on the open road.
Print: $8.62
Download: $4.00

Through songs and stories, the Traveller People of Ireland keep their heritage alive.

Old traveler woman,
Where are your kin?
Where is your wagon,
And what do you sing
As you hang out the washing
On a backyard line,
With a fence all around you
And more houses behind.

My aunt sent me a photo. She sits in the garden of her retirement home, at ease in a deck chair, but her eyes are looking far away. I wonder if she is thinking of the old days, when her husband was still alive, and they lived in a leaky wagon. She was always on at him to fix that leak. When the weather was fine, she told him it was a good time to do it.
``Sure, woman, the sun is shining. There's no need to fix it."
When it rained, she shoved a bucket under the leak and berated him.
``Sure, woman, it's raining, I can't get up on the roof in this weather."
Her complaints wore him down, but instead of fixing the leak, he bought a new wagon. He gave the old one to my father to store canvas.
``To be sure," he said as he walked away, ``you'll have to fix that leak in the roof before it rains."

When you were a chavvie
You never wore shoes,
You never read schoolbooks
Or watched the day's news.
The world rattled past you
Like a runaway tram,
But you took no notice
In your old caravan.

I was born a traveler, or as the Irish say, `born on the straw'. As a chavvie (child), my life was a series of campgrounds and crossroads. I never attended a school, but the whole of Ireland was my classroom.
My mother was one of the Settled People until she married my father, and she taught me to read and write. None of the other travelers saw the point in that. Stories and information were saved in the head, and passed on round the campfire.
Did they ever tell a story about me? I wondered. Like the time I was running down the road and cut my foot on a piece of broken glass. I left a trail of blood all the way back to the campground, where the traveler women washed my foot in a bucket of water and poured vinegar over the wound to `kill the gerrems (germs).' Then the women held the edges of the wound together and smeared honey on it before bandaging it with a strip of linen. I hobbled about for a bit, but it healed perfectly without stitches.
My father demanded to know what I had done with the boots he had bought for me. I didn't tell him I had hidden them under a hedge. I couldn't wear shoes at all. I still prefer to go barefoot.

You were a young dona,
and a mother and wife,
Thinking you'd be a traveler
For the rest of your life.
But the fences, old woman,
Were closing you in -
You've a house and a yard now,
Like the rest of your kin.

My mother recalls her first glimpse of the traveler's campground after she married my father. Raised in a village, she married my father against her own mother's wishes. Coming into the traveling life as an adult was a shock, she admitted. Women had to do without the refinements and comforts of the Settled Life. She did the laundry with a tin washtub and a rubbing board.
Then there was the strangeness of the Irish culture - my mother was English, and here she was, surrounded by people who believed in fairies and ghosts.
One night she gathered in the washing from the makeshift line and was walking back to the wagon draped in white sheets when she heard an unearthly shriek. A man was running away from the campground as fast as his legs could carry him.
My aunt looked out of the door of her wagon.
``Oh, Maire, it's you," she said. ``You gave me a turn. I thought you were a ghost."
So did the fleeing farmworker, who had popped down to see if anyone wanted milk.

Old traveler woman,
I know what you sing,
You sing of the old days,
On the road with your kin.
You peg out your washing
And dream of the day,
When you leave this fine prison,
And go traveling away.

My aunt's picture was sent to Australia, where I now live. I have traveled far from Ireland. Like her, as I look out on a suburban backyard, I dream of the old days. And though I can read and write, I keep the stories and songs in my head, and pass them round by the fire's glow.

English Lavender (Lavendula angustifolia) is probably the strongest
in perfume, and it is a very hardy plant that thrives almost anywhere. It
has the deep purple flowers and gray-green foliage we associate with
lavender. This plant grows quite big, but if you haven't much room
there is a dwarf variety, Lavendula angustifolia Munstead.
French Lavender (Lavendula dentate) is not as strong in fragrance as
the English variety, but it does look marvelous, especially when grown
in large numbers. It has a serrated edge on the leaves which give it the
name Dentata, meaning teeth.
Italian Lavender (Lavendula steochas) has very dark flowers, and a
sharper, more astringent aroma. It is also known as Spanish lavender.
This plant looks brilliant in the garden but does not produce as strong a
perfume as English lavender.
As well, there are a number of other varieties, such as Australian
Lavender (Lavendula Allardii), a rugged variety that grows well in
the often harsh Australian conditions; Spike lavender (Lavendula
Spica) which has a more medicinal fragrance; a pink variety called
Jean Davis; a white variety called Nana Alba; a beautiful deep pink
variety called Lavendula Stoechas Tickled Pink; and a new variety
called Lavender Lady, which is the only variety to flower in the first
year when grown from seed.
If you are planning to use lavender in cooking, there is a culinary
variety you can plant, called Lavendula Vera.

Information from the book Sweet Sweet Lavender by Gail Kavanagh, available to purchase from $8.00 at http://www.lulu.com/kavanaghsattic

You will need one container for commercial wipes; a roll of thick strong kitchen paper such as Bounty; i teaspoon of your favorite non-allergenic liquid baby soap dissolved in 1 cup warm water; 1 cup camomile tea, cooled (make camomile tea by steeping 1 tablespoon dried camomile in 1 cup hot water).

You can place the roll as it is in the container if it will fit, or separate the leaves and fold them into a flat rectangular container. Mix the other ingredients and pour over the paper. Leave to soak up the liquid overnight.
Camomile is safe for babies from birth, but you can also use lavender.

There are more great ideas using herbs in The Apothecary's Kitchen by Gail Kavanagh at www.lulu.com/kavanaghsattic from just $9 download.

The EYE
The all seeing eye is the most potent of Romany Symbols. If flanked by auspicious omens, the Eye is a sign that fate is smiling on you. But if inauspicious omens surround this card, then you are warned of danger ahead.
This card is from The Romany Oracle, available at www.lulu.com/kavanaghsattic for $7 download or $15 print.

The most vital piece of equipment on a writer's desk is the contact book. This is a "bible" crammed with names, phone numbers and organizational contacts.
Any freelancer, fiction writer or beginner needs a contact book. It is invaluable and will make your job much easier.
Start by buying an alphabetized notebook. The size, cover and any other features are up to you.
You can use a ring binder but they tend to be a nuisance when pages fall out. A bound book is more secure. You can always start Contact Book #2 when it fills up!
Now that you have your book, begin filling it with contacts that can give you quotes, news leads or background for an article or fiction story.
The best place to begin finding contacts is in your own backyard. Look at the contacts you already have, and be creative.
You may not think you have many in your own social circle at first, but once you start compiling you will be surprised.
Make a list of professional family members and friends. Who works in a law firm? Who works in the education system? Who grows exotic vegetables?
Your own personal contacts may yield some surprising finds.
Don't be shy about asking, but be diplomatic. A junior member of a law firm may be good for general advice, for example, but won't be able to speak on behalf of the firm. So ask your contact to put you in contact with someone at the firm who can. Network your contacts, and they can help you find more authoritative contacts.
Start keeping those business cards that people give you. The guy who installed your home security, even your plumber and your electrician, are all contacts if you need advice or quotes in those fields.
Collect business cards from shops and counters, even if you are not using the services. Call that florist when you need to know which is the most popular flower for Mother's day or Valentine's, ask the jeweler whether more people buy their engagement rings ready made, or prefer to design their own.
Chat to people at dinner parties and social functions. Not only will you make more friends, you will be networking for more contacts that may prove invaluable in your writing.
Get acquainted with your local Chamber of Commerce. You are a business as well, and becoming involved with local businesses will bring you more contacts, and more story ideas than you can handle.
Visit your local library, and introduce yourself to the people in charge of newspaper archives and local history. Much of the most interesting material in a library is not generally available to the public. This is an invaluable resource if you are researching local history. Keep and eye on the public notice boards and free pamphlet racks at the library. This is another source of contacts and stories that is often overlooked.
But don't stop at the Main St. The more you spread your net, the more information you will have at your fingertips.
Introduce yourself to the Public Relations Departments at local government offices, hospitals, factories, and community service organizations.
You can do this by calling the organization and asking to be put through to the Public Relations department. (Some organizations call it the media department).
Explain to the spokesperson why you are calling, and always offer to fax or email credentials. If you are researching for a story assignment, give the spokesperson the name of the publication and a contact to verify your query.
Keep your contacts up to date. These days, people move very quickly from job to job, especially in the public relations field. The spokesperson you contacted at the Heart and Lung Foundation may turn up weeks later at the Sports Research Group. Call every three months to make sure your contact is still active in that organization. If not, get acquainted with the replacement.
As a full time freelance writer you can also ask to be put on the press release fax stream, or you can get yourself on newsletter mailing lists. Both are a great source of story ideas, as well as keeping you up to date on what is happening at the organization
Look up various organizations on the Internet, and check out their media pages. If there is a mailing list, get on it, or call the contact numbers given. Many organizations put media releases on their web sites, and these are a good source of story ideas.
You can use media releases for quotes and facts but always get an update if they are more than a month old.
The same goes for statistics. If they were gathered during a census, statistics can be up to ten years old. Use your contacts to get up to date information.

The business of compiling your contact book may take time, but it will be worth it. Just make sure you are not having too much fun making contact, to actually sit down and write!

This article is from How to Make Money Writing Online by Gail Kavanagh, available from www.lulu.com/kavanaghsattic just $5 to downl;oad and packed with advice and markets!

If only life, instead of being drab and commonplace,
Could be adventurous again, a song;
If genie's lamps could still be bought for coppers
In the marketplace
And a prince in silken robes could mingle
With the throng
Of common people.
They would see him set forth with sword in hand,
And Heaven's Grace,
And I, his faithful squire,
To seek the Questing Beast - dragon - unicorn -
And rest by night with stars aloft
As music drifts like woodsmoke
From a silver horn.

Tis true, such glamor'd things
In our time cannot be -
But look beneath this dull cloth.
You might see,
A flash of gold,
A glimpse of gorgeous tapestry.

This poem is from Kavanagh's Dozen, a book of poetry by Gail Kavanagh, available at www.lulu.com/kavanaghsattic, just $3 to download.