Now that we’re at the end of it, I can safely say that 2017 was a better year than 2016. Joseph Robert and I achieved a lot in terms of our writing goals; to put this in perspective, it was no mean feat, especially with a newborn and no less than 2 house moves, one during pregnancy and the other with a 6 week old baby. Whew! Even writing that leaves me exhausted! Let’s have a look at what we got done:
1. January 2017 kicked off with the launch of my new poetry collection from Canadian publisher, Fowlpox Press. Chemotherapy for the Soul can be bought as a paperback from my publisher, or read online as a PDF Ebook. We also moved house and had a brief writing hiatus to get ourselves sorted out.
2. In March, a selection of my poems were published in Lagan Online’s journal, Four x Four Issue 19 (page 12).
3. Joseph Robert and I launched Bindweed Magazine Issue 4 in April 2017.
4. In May 2017, Joseph Robert and I were jointly published in Inane Pure Slush Volume 14, from Pure Slush books. The anthology can be bought as a paperback or you can read our individual stories on Google Books for free: This Really Happened by Joseph Robert and Fear of the Mould by Leilanie Stewart.
5. In June 2017, aside from wrapping up my day job to start maternity leave, we published Joseph Robert’s story, The Libertarian’s Prison on my blog.
6. July 2017 was a big month for literary goings on. My author interview appeared on website Too Full to Write, while Joseph Robert and I did a joint interview as Bindweed Magazine’s editors, published in Lagan Online’s Around Ireland feature. We also published Bindweed Magazine Issue 5. Meanwhile, my novelette, Til Death do us Boneapart was published in Dark Gothic Resurrected Magazine Summer 2017. This was a milestone, as not only was it my longest work to be published as a stand-alone in an anthology, but the theme is similar to my recently finished novel, which was completed in~
7. August 2017. After 5 drafts, my debut fantasy novel was finally finished and ready for a proof draft!
8. A literary hiatus in September as life events took over writing and Joseph Robert and I enjoyed family time.
9. In October, Joseph Robert’s story, A Life in Books, was published in Dark Gothic Resurrected Magazine Fall 2017. We also moved house, to a bigger place for our newborn.
10. My fantasy novel went out on submission in November.
11. We celebrated our literary round-up for December 2017 with Joseph Robert’s story, The War, published in Scarlet Leaf Review. We also completed our quarterly Magazine editing run by publishing Bindweed Magazine Issue 6.
And that’s our year in summary. Here’s hoping for more exciting literary ventures in 2018.
Happy New Year!
Leilanie Stewart 