Birthday Blog!

After a wonderful week where loads of incredible and ridiculous things occurred…

  1. I performed as part of a Magic show where 200 people were watching virtually. Lots of my amazing friends and magicians tuned in. Only after upon perusing the audience did I glance and realise that Lance Burton was watching! This of ofcourse was my incredible (shut the front door) moment!
  2. I performed yet another new magic show for Mae Murray Foundation this time with a Wizard of Oz theme. I’ve just two more of these sessions before I take another break from it.
  3. I have been putting together a Harry Potter themed magic show for my nephew who is reading Harry Potter in School and thanks to my sister setting it up I will be performing for his class a Wickedly Wonderful Magic Show.
  4. Being simultaneously ecstatic and gutted at a magic trick within one week of itself is a new experience for me. One I experienced with purchasing a Card Fountain X. I made sure I bought a good one, from a proper magic dealer and sadly to my surprise no cards went flying, none, nada. Even my dad was excited to see it working!
  5. On this journey with the card fountain I went on an epic odyssey to discover the batteries that would make it work as the product came with absolutely no instructions and no batteries. Three Tesco superstores later I arrived home batteries in hand and it still didn’t work. How hard is it to buy a product in magic that works?
  6. And then as if that wasn’t bad enough (spending one hundred quid on a trick that was faulty) I completely covered myself in slush powder experimenting with it for an effect in my Wizard of Oz themed show. This was the ridiculous moment.

But all this reminds me how much I love what I do. Being a magician is about trial and error. Learning from our mistakes to improve. If I didn’t pour slush powder on myself today I may have poured it on a spectator another. Or maybe just throw it over the fault card fountain, perhaps some magic slush will make the wheel spin!

The year of writing!

I cannot believe that today marks a full year of the Arkane Magic Monday blog! That’s a whopping fifty two topics I managed to explore with you all.

The reason I began writing last year was after publishing my first book, Becoming FizzWizzPop, I realised that without massive help, my writing skill were not up to scratch. Also big changes were happening in my life that I wanted to document in the hope that in years to come if I didn’t recognise my growth as a performer I could see it in my journey of my blog.

A little bonus was to allow you all to follow along with me!

Vanity, play, motifs, being a girl and an explosion!

Being the special day that it is, I thought it appropriate to go back and look at five of my favourite posts from the last year and invite you all to join me. The great thing about writing a blog is all the posts are there so if you ever wish to go back and read any of them you can.

5. A Bombing in Belfast!

©Press Eye Ltd Northern Ireland – 13th April 2013 Mandatory Credit – Picture by Darren Kidd /Presseye.com Magician, Nicola Cunningham from Belfast.

Written on 2nd December 2019 this blog was all about getting onto stage and dying a death. This is a prospect we all have to face and accept as performers. in the’s blog I explored coping mechanisms that I have found. But also ones that other professionals recommend. This is inevitable when we perform however we can make it easier on ourselves by installing these mental strategies to help.

To read click HERE!

4. Lights, Camera… WAIT!

I had no idea when I wrote this blog in May 2020 how important recording ourselves would become. And how many skills I would have to develop in order to go on this journey. This blog was all about learning where to look and also how to use your camera to practice magic properly.

To read click HERE!

3. The Annihilation of Creation!

Having the ability to play as a creative person is vital. However when we make stuff we have to take the good with the bad. Admitting when we need to change things when we really do not want to is part of progress.

To read click HERE!

2. 5 easy ways to create a themed show

This has been one of my highlights this year! Experimenting, brainstorming and sticking to really crazy deadlines.

To read click HERE!

1. Honorable Harassment

This post is my favourite because if I look at where I am now and the things I am doing and achieving daily compared to how I felt in this post the difference is night and day! Reading this post again reminds me of how far I have come as a performer and person in just two years!

To read click HERE!

Final Thoughts…

After going through all the blogs to find these little gems I realise just how much I have achieved in the space of two years. My writing has improved immensely and my blogs now have substance. Even though I still struggle I’m comfortable in my own skin now more than ever and I’m finding myself as a person in this world.

This blog for me has been my diary, focus, enemy, friend has given me more freedom than I could have imagined it too.

Thank you so much for being with me on this journey. I simply could not have done it without you. Well… I could but it would be less fun!

Onwards into this next year of my Wondertrail!

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