Gripe alert! Grab a cup of tea and lend me your ear so that I can have a grumble. Lately, not one but two acquaintances have asked me for free writing advice on behalf of their friends. Now, I’m a generous person with my time and I’m happy to help others with their writing, but not if I’m not supported in turn. Let me explain. You see, both of my acquaintances had never even asked how my writing was going, let alone bought any of my books, yet were happy to email me to ask for free writing advice on behalf of their friends when it suited them.

Personally, I would never have the gall to call in a free favour from an acquaintance with a particular skill set if I had never supported their business prior to such a request. Imagine the audacity of that! I would, at the very least, offer to pay for their knowledge and time; and so this is exactly what I did to my acquaintances who took it upon themselves to ask me for free writing advice on their terms. In the latter case, I explained that I was happy to offer advice to their friend, provided they were happy to buy one of my books as a gesture of goodwill. Which they did.

We’re a generous bunch in the writing community, and as an author who also teaches creative writing part-time, as well as publishes fellow authors and poets in Bindweed Anthologies, I’m accustomed to helping others with their writing. But, I expect people to give a little bit back to me in turn.

Fair is fair.

Posted by on July 17, 2026 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.

3 responses »

  1. lyndhurstlaura's avatar lyndhurstlaura says:
    July 17, 2026 at 10:08 PM

    Quite right. Fortunately I don’t have anyone asking for my writing advice, so I’m good – as are you 🙂

    Reply

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