Dear ,

A happy holiday to you! (Some might ask, what holiday?)

Here in Estonia, this week we celebrated Jaanipäev (St John's Day, aka Mid-Summer). It was the shortest night of the year, and the 23rd & 24th June are always a two day holiday in Estonia, making it one of their biggest and most celebrated holidays of the year.

Tradition dictates you make a bonfire, sit around with friends into the night, grilling food on the BBQ and (for too many locals) drinking far too much! I even learnt a new use of the term on Tuesday as I walked to the beach with my daughters. I spotted two lifeguards standing on a pathway, and at their feet was a man lying facedown in the grass... looking over as if to check everything was okay, another man just turned to me and said 'Jaani' and walked off, everything immediately understood in the context––the guy's just a drunk whose overdone it ahead of Jaanipäev.

We also had a massive storm on Wednesday which was fun to experience, and which thankfully brought the temperature down 10 degrees Celsius to a more reasonable mid-twenties for us all now. We slept well (and late) last night. Everything had dried out before the bonfire parties to make it a pleasant night.

Tell me, do you celebrate mid-summer in your country? What traditions do you do for it?

Sale:

My latest book came out on 1st June, so for the last week of its debut month, I want to run a special discount price on the eBook to give you all the best opportunity (and incentive) to buy it this opening month. It really is a book I know you will all enjoy, and something you can read with the children in your family this summer.

Link: https://geni.us/TwiggyBook1-eBook

School holidays started here for us yesterday too, promising a long summer ahead. We were due to visit England but had this trip cancelled by the airline. We'll stay in Estonia instead now and explore the country some more. Summertime, after all, is a magical time of the year here.

This Sunday also marks 9 years since my debut novel first released, and therefore the anniversary of me becoming a published author. Perhaps I shall have to do something big next year?

I wish you all a wonderful summer (and I realise for my Australian/Southern Hemisphere readers you are heading into winter, but your winter is like most of our summers anyway).

And if you are travelling and reading any of my 20 novels somewhere new, please let me know via the #TimsReaderMap hashtag (or email me here) and I'll add you to the map!

Thanks for reading!

Tim

That link again: https://geni.us/TwiggyBook1-eBook