It’s October, which means spooky season is coming soon. Of course, I had my Mabon decorations up at the autumn equinox, but this month it’s socially acceptable to start wearing all of my Halloween themed clothes and jewellery without scaring the ‘normals’; not that such a thing would deter me anyway.

Autumn reads: time for a new seasonal display

With Storm Amy here in Northern Ireland today, schools have shut across the country, which means more reading time (I’m currently reading Junji Ito, and working my way through the Goosebumps series with my little literary one), writing time (chipping away at ghost novel WIP#7) and editing time this weekend (I’m working on the manuscript for the next Bindweed anthology, White Witch’s Hat, due for release in November).

Yesterday was National Poetry Day. Ordinarily I would have posted a video excerpt from one of my poetry collections to celebrate, but I’ve been tired from being flat out at work and feeling a bit under the weather with a cold/flu/covid/something else draining on top of it.

Anyway, a stormy weekend provides the perfect excuse to stay indoors lounging about with a book. The only thing is, I’ll have to resist the temptation to just stick on Netflix instead. Oh well. If it happens, I won’t beat myself up.

Happy Friday!

Posted by on October 3, 2025 in Reading, Writing and tagged , , , , , .

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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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