What happens when your life revolves around books? It’s funny, but I’ve been a writer of some description for so long, I can’t think of my life without writing or books.

My latest video sums up my bookish journey in a snapshot that takes less than a minute to watch, but the reality is a lot more involved. I try to write everyday, though admittedly my latest novel WIP has stalled – again. Yes, I wrote a blog post back in February about writer’s block and it has happened again with the same project. I’ll write more about that saga in another post, as I have already worked out a solution, and I’ve been taking steps towards that.

Teaching creative writing is going well. My students, a group of seventeen year olds at the grammar school where I work, are a highly motivated group. I don’t need to badger them to hand in work at the end of each session; when I give them writing prompts, they produce so much for me that I could seriously do with more hours in the day to read and critique it all.

Bindweed Anthologies, the literary publication that I’ve been running since 2016 with my fellow writer hubby, Joseph Robert, has been going from strength to strength too. We recently launched our latest publication, White Witch’s Hat & other Yuletide ghost stories, and we’ve opened submissions for our next anthology for 2026, which will have a harvest theme.

As for promoting my own books, marketing is always an ongoing effort. Newspapers, radio, social media, paid advertising: the list goes on.

Write, edit, publish, read, teach creative writing… repeat!

Posted by on November 18, 2025 in 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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