Now that we are on the other side of the solstice here in the northern hemisphere, it’s officially summer. Hooray! I’m not going to think about the days getting gradually shorter, but instead will be optimistic, and focus on how the weather will hopefully be improving. I love working on my laptop at the park. There’s nothing more stimulating for one’s imagination than nature. Writing outdoors is also an opportunity to get some inspiration from random snippets of conversations, or even ideas from things I sometimes see.
With Pseudologia Fantastica published and the latest Bindweed Anthology (Midsummer Madness 2024) out in the world too, I have been focusing on my three ongoing WIPs. I’ve been making slow but steady progress on all three over the past year. A friend recently asked whether I find it hard to switch gears between each manuscript draft, but I told her that I actually don’t feel it’s hard at all. All of my current projects are so different that I find I can easily change between them.
Novel WIP#7 is my ghost horror draft that I’m expanding from a short story idea I had back in 2009. I’m currently up to 46,170 words on it.
Novel WIP#8 is my sequel idea for The Buddha’s Bone, which I’m writing at the request of a few readers who commented in reviews, or messaged me directly, to ask for a continuation of Kimberly’s adventures in Japan. I’m up to 39,180 words on it.
Fiction WIP#10 is a seasonal ghostly short story collection and I’m up to 18,230 words on it.
Do I have any deadlines? Nope. I can’t be bothered putting myself under that kind of pressure, and as my own publisher, I have only myself to answer to. I’m a relaxed kind of boss. I enjoy writing for the process, rather than focusing on the end product. What can I say? I’ve always been a writer, ever since I was a girl of single digits. I have been writing regularly since long before I decided to write for publication. It comes down to this, really: if I didn’t write, I simply wouldn’t be me.
Leilanie Stewart 