Finally, after three years of writing my latest novel project, a ghost horror book set in London, I have finished the final draft. Hurray, yippee, whoopee, happy dance!
The reason that this novel draft took me so long to write was that I had several other projects on the go at the same time, so I hadn’t been focusing all my efforts on this one solely. I started writing it in May 2023, and during the three years, I finished and published short story collections Pseudologia Fantastica in June 2024, Love you to Death in February 2025 and novel The Wabi-sabi Doll in September 2025, in addition to reading and editing submissions for Bindweed Anthologies; so you can imagine how often I set it aside.
Better late than never, eh? I always print paperback copies of final drafts as I find it easier to spot mistakes than reading the manuscript on my computer; for this purpose I always use Lulu. Plus, the printed drafts make a nice edition to my bookshelf as a way of helping me remember the progression of my plot and characterisation before the polished book is ready for publication.
Speaking of publication – my goal with this book is to have it out on submission later in 2026. After five years of running my own indie imprint, Leilanie Stewart books, and building a readership for my ghost horror and psychological fiction books, I feel the need to come full circle again and find a traditional publisher; for this project in particular. Some of my earlier books were published by small press publishers, but I feel that my reach as an indie author has extended beyond the audience that those small press publishers could achieve for me (six of my self-published books far outstrip sales from two of my books published by small press publishers) and so I’m hoping, on the basis of that, to approach a mid-size publisher with my latest novel manuscript to hopefully continue to widen my readership.
That’s not to say I have given up on self-publishing. I still have several ISBNs from Nielsen to use on future books, and I don’t see publishing in limited terms of self-publishing versus traditional, the way some folks in publishing might, but rather a way of widening my audience and reaching more readers. Marketing is an ever evolving thing for me. Let’s see what happens.
In the meantime, you can check out my unboxing video below. Why do I keep the title under wraps? A personal tradition – or you could say a superstition. Besides, I like to do title and cover reveals at a later stage. Whatever happens, I’ll keep you posted.
Leilanie Stewart 
Congratulations on getting to this stage, Leilanie, especially after such a long time of working on it. I had a similar experience with ‘The Guilty Party’, which I eventually published late last year. It’s always a good feeling to get that first draft ready to read, re-read several times, edit etc, but for something that you’ve despaired of ever getting finished it’s even better. I hope you’ve celebrated suitably. 🙂
I always knew it would get finished, I just didn’t know when. I archived two novels previously as they didn’t work, but this one does, so here’s hoping. 🤞😀