What an epic eight week summer break it has been! These last two months have been day trips with my little adventurer and a much needed family holiday to Ibiza. I’m back to work soon, and with only a couple of days left of leisure time, I’m starting a transition back to writing and publishing pursuits. Here’s what I’ve been up to:

Running Bindweed Anthologies.

My hubby and I have been inundated with a record number of submissions from writers and poets all over the world to our biannual anthologies: Midsummer Madness and Winter Wonderland. We’ve been trying to get through the slushpile within our 4 week response time, which has been a challenge in between full time childcare and being away on holiday. Nevertheless, we’ve managed to stay on top of our Bindweed deadlines this summer, although we’ve had to turn away lots of quality writing simply because of the volume of submissions. On the other hand, we’re thankful that our publication is so popular!

Writing novel WIPS#7 and #8

Producing new writing has sadly fallen by the wayside this summer as other projects have taken over my limited free time. Hopefully I’ll get back into the swing of novel drafting once the little literary one is back to school/childcare and I can structure my before and after work time a bit better.

Belfast Ghosts Book 3 proof copy printed

I snatched as much time as I could this summer working on the story edits for the final installment of my Belfast Ghosts series. Last week I ordered a paperback proof copy, which is coming later this week for my proofreader. She’s excellent, and will no doubt catch things that will embarrass me – but are necessary since there’s only so much my tired, overworked brain can catch when I’ve been stuck on any one book for a long time. Hopefully only minor typos, but I’m prepared to give it another once over if it still needs work.

Legal deposit copies to be posted

I had a request from Edinburgh for 5 x hardcover copies of Diabolical Dreamscapes for legal deposit at the National Library of Scotland, The Bodleian Library Oxford University, the National Library of Wales, Cambridge University Library and The Library of Trinity College Dublin. These are in addition to the copy I sent to the British Library when it was published back in April. Since I was away on holiday, I had to wait until I got home to order these, and as they only just arrived at the weekend, I’ll be posting them today.

And that’s that! I’ll be trying to get myself in gear for scheduling my various projects as we move into autumn so that (hopefully) literary life will flow into a smooth stream. One can hope…

Posted by on August 29, 2023 in Writing.

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About Leilanie Stewart

Leilanie Stewart is an award-winning author and poet from Belfast, Northern Ireland. She writes ghost and psychological horror, as well as experimental poetry. Her writing confronts the nature of self; her novels feature main characters on a dark psychological journey who have a crisis and create a new sense of identity. She began writing for publication while working as an English teacher in Japan, a career pathway that has influenced themes in her writing. Her former career as an Archaeologist has also inspired her writing and she has incorporated elements of archaeology and mythology into both her fiction and poetry. In addition to promoting her own work, Leilanie runs Bindweed Anthologies, a creative writing publication with her writer husband, Joseph Robert. Aside from publishing pursuits, Leilanie enjoys spending time with her husband and their lively literary lad, a voracious reader of sea monster books.

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