Or she may put you in a book and kill you. At least this is what it says on my favourite writing mug. A colleague bought this for me during a work Secret Santa six years ago and it’s a firm favourite for my caffeine fix while I write.
Speaking of writing, did I mention my good news? I finally finished my ghost horror novel WIP after 3 on-and-off years, during which I had writer’s block not once, but twice. Yikes. Of course, while struggling with my writer’s block on this particular project, I stayed productive by finishing and publishing my second short story collection, Pseudologia Fantastica, my third short story collection, Love you to Death and my sixth novel, The Wabi-sabi Doll. I guess that’s the reason why I started writing ghost novel WIP #7 back in May 2023 and I have only just finished it in April 2026.
Now that I’ve finished ghost novel WIP#7, does that mean I’m taking a writing hiatus? Of course not! I always have a WIP on the go; my latest is novel WIP#11, which is a literary horror that I started in November 2025. I’m currently at 17k words, since I started writing this alongside finishing novel WIP#7, but now that it has my sole focus, I think my word count might jump considerably. Here’s hoping.
This week, a book delivery arrived for my creative writers. In case you don’t follow my blog regularly, I teach creative writing to secondary school students, running classes from September to April each academic year, with an end goal of publication in an anthology. I currently teach my creative writing classes as an enrichment course for sixth form (16-17 year olds) in a grammar school here in Northern Ireland where I live, and I previously taught creative writing to KS3 (12-13 year olds) and GCSE age pupils (15-16 year olds) on the gifted and talented registers at two schools in Battersea and Hammersmith in London, so all in all, I have been teaching creative writing classes for fifteen years.
Wow, now I feel old, lol.
My writing certificate after my poem was published in Poetry Now young writers anthology 1995
When I was 17 years old, I would have loved the opportunity to have participated in a creative writing class with an end goal of publication. Apart from one poem that was published in a nationwide anthology, none of my fiction was published while I was a teen. Indeed, I wasn’t taught how to structure a short story while I was at school either, since GCSE and A level English focus on analysing literary methods in literature rather than the craft of writing.
Nevertheless, I began writing a children’s sci-fi adventure novel when I was 12, chipping away at the first draft in dribs and drabs throughout my teens. I eventually tried to get it published while I was a university student (studying archaeology and palaeoecology, not creative writing or even English). Back then, I knew little about point of view and characterisation. My plot wasn’t clearly outlined and the ending fell flat. I had two beta readers, who weren’t editors or even writers, and both praised the manuscript as they didn’t want to dent my fledgling confidence. One beta reader was my aunt and the other was a family friend, and both women only read contemporary romance books on occasion; never children’s sci-fi adventure stories.
My article appeared inNova City magazine November 2004 issue
After one full manuscript request and a handful of rejections, I considered signing up to an online writing course, but I was equal parts naive and cautious and worried about being scammed out of several hundred pounds, so I cancelled my application. Fast forward a few years, and while I was teaching English in Japan, and writing non-fiction travel articles which were published in the now defunct Nova City magazine in Japan, I began to self-study creative writing using primarily the Chicago manual of style, as well as critically analysing novels I was reading, jotting pencil notes in margins and on sticky notes. It was a longer learning curve than if I had attended a creative writing course, but my writing began to improve.
Once my teaching contract ended, I relocated to the UK with my then boyfriend, now hubby (who I met in Japan while we were both teaching English), and we lived in Cambridge, where I joined a writing group, and getting critical feedback on my stories helped to improve my writing skills even more. I began to get my poetry and short fiction accepted for publication in magazines and anthologies in the UK and elsewhere worldwide, and my career progressed from there.
For the past decade and a half, I have been fortunate enough to do something I’m passionate about for my day profession. My life has revolved around creative writing since I was a girl, and I love the opportunity to share this with the next generation of writers and helping them to become published authors too. I can’t wait to see their faces when they hold copies of their published anthologies and celebrate being published authors at 17, and living the dream I would have loved at that age too. 😀
April in Japan is usually hanami season (cherry blossom viewing) and seeing all the pink blossoms blooming in Northern Ireland has left me feeling rather sentimental about the four years I spent over in Japan when I was teaching English as a second language.
What better way to take a trip down memory lane than to share a bit about my latest novel, The Wabi-sabi Doll, when I discussed it on BBC Radio Ulster show ‘The Ticket’. What does ‘wabi-sabi’ mean? Listen as I chat to host Kathy Clugston about what this Japanese word means, why I wrote a sequel for The Buddha’s Bone, and how my main character, Kimberly, has a tough journey in this psychological fiction duology set in Japan.
Time off writing (but my back catalogue is always there with a click…)
The thing about working in a school, as I do, is that all your holidays are fixed; you get a week off for Halloween, two weeks for Christmas, a week around Valentine’s Day, two weeks for Easter and seven weeks for summer.
I’m coming up to the end of my second week off work, and making the most of my time off by switching off. Aside from reading, which I always do for fun, I haven’t really been writing, for the simple reason that writing for me is work. Yes, it’s my passion – but it’s still work. A typical work day for me involves being in class or in the library; I teach creative writing to sixth form (16-17 year olds, for those folks elsewhere) and I manage the school library on a part-time basis. During my work day, I manage writing time on my lunch break and after school while my son is at his after school club. This system allows me to switch off from both day job work and writing in the evenings and at weekends during term time.
Since I get more holidays than if I worked a full-time job it wouldn’t be practical for me to have thirteen weeks off writing time, so taking time off writing is something that I have decided to do for only these two weeks of Easter break. Before the holiday, I was so busy reading the work of my creative writers, editing their work and giving feedback that I needed proper ‘switch off’ time from all kinds of writing and editing – even my own. I’m over 70,000 words of my latest ghost novel WIP, and very close to the finish line, so having the headspace to gear up for writing the ending has been really good. I think getting back to my draft with a fresh perspective next week will help the story to end with a bang, not a fizzle.
In the meantime, I have been busy spending my two week staycation having family day trips to do all the things we enjoy: nature hikes, fossil hunting, visiting museums and the local library. Ah, bliss.
This week, while off for Easter break, I had an opportunity to dress up as a medieval monk. Do I make a convincing medieval monk? Er, no. Apart from revealing my modern shoes under the monk robe (woops, anachronism!) only men were medieval monks, so that aspect is also inaccurate, but that didn’t stop me from having some fun. I’m a fan of all kinds of dress-up (look at all of my Halloween videos) but historical is particularly fun. To date, I have never had the chance to be in a historical reenactment, but if the opportunity was ever to arise, I’d jump at the chance.
Well, my historical acting leaves much room for improvement – I can’t help but be quite hammy and find it hard to be serious sometimes – but I assure you my historical horror novels are quite different. I try to be as accurate as I can with my research to give my books more authenticity. Even though I primarily write ghost stories, giving them a grounding with the archaeological details adds a level of realism that hopefully helps readers keep up the suspension of disbelief. Four of my books: Gods of Avalon Road, Diabolical Dreamscapes, Matthew’s Twin and Love you to Death, contain archaeological elements, if you’re interested.
Anyway, happy Easter weekend and if you’re in the UK or Ireland, hope you don’t get hit too hard by Storm Dave today.
While doing a spring clean today I found my first writing certificate from when I was a kid. It was fun to take a trip down memory lane especially since my writing career has come full circle and I now teach creative writing to teens in secondary education.
I started writing when I was a young child growing up in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and this was the first time I was published in a young writers’ anthology called ‘Write and Shine’ from Poetry Now. Really fun to have rediscovered that old certificate 31 years later…aww!
Feeling a bit philosophical today, folks, and gearing up for a day of writing as I’m near the finish line of my latest novel draft that has been 3 years in the making (in between a load of other literary projects, plus real life, of course).
Sometimes you have to remind yourself of how far you have come in order to keep going. Lots of things about my writing and publishing journey keep me motivated to write more books, but since my last novel, The Wabi-sabi Doll, was my biggest flop so far in my 16 years of being a published author (sniff…) I have needed to remind myself of my successful books, the reasons why I write (for myself, but also for my readers) and of what I hope to achieve next on my literary journey.
Stay motivated, friends, whatever you are doing today!
Yesterday at 2.45pm the Spring Equinox arrived. Hurray! Winter really felt like the longest slog, so I’m glad to see my least favourite season fall behind for another year.
Today is World Poetry Day, and to celebrate jointly with the first day of Ostara, I thought I’d share a couple of spring-themed poems from my collection, Toebirds & Woodlice. Here I am reading ‘Convolvulus Arvensis’ and ‘The Frivolous Earth’.
The first day of spring over here in Northern Ireland was surprisingly warm, reaching 14°C; positively balmy compared to recent temps. As shown in the photo above, I always seize the moment to get some vitamin D whenever I can and there’s no better way to do that than to bask in the sun. I’ve heard that the weather is going to take a dip next week, and there may be snow showers. Oh well. I’ll enjoy it then while it lasts.
A lot of national holidays this week in three countries that are important to me: St. Patrick’s Day (Ireland, 17 March), Mother’s Day (UK, 15 March) and White Day (Japan, 14 March).
Check it out on IMDB
Today, of course, is St. Patrick’s Day. My hubby, son and I had good intentions to go and watch some live trad music but, alas, Ireland’s only kung fu movie got in the way and tempted us to stay home. Have you ever watched Fatal Deviation? If not, then you must. This gem of a martial arts movie is set in Trim, Co. Meath and is an Irish martial arts extravaganza. I’m a huge kung fu fan; you may or may not know that aside from being a big Bruce Lee fan, I also love all kinds of kung fu movies whether low budget or blockbuster. Don’t miss Ireland’s answer to Bruce Lee! (The mad monk is my favourite, lol).
On Sunday 15th March, we celebrated Mother’s Day with dinner out and my son surprised me with a lovely card complete with a teabag treat…aww.
On Saturday 14th March, it was White Day in Japan. To explain this for those folks reading who have never been to Japan, Valentine’s Day over there is when women make a proposal to men they like by giving him chocolates; he then either accepts or rejects her proposal on White Day by giving her white chocolates (acceptance) or cookies (rejection). My hubby and I met over in Japan while we were both teaching English for rival schools in a kind of Montague-Capulet-esque scenario. We’ve celebrated Japanese style Valentine’s Day and White Day ever since (and yes, I do receive white chocolates, thank you very much!).
How lucky are we to have a second month in a row with a Friday the 13th? Such a delight doesn’t often happen, so I’ve decided to run a 24 hour sale for four of my horror books, just to give you a treat to celebrate the spooky start to the weekend. All of these books will be only $0.99 if you shop on Amazon dot com:
The Blue Man, Book 1 in my Belfast Ghosts trilogy.
Feel free to grab yourself a bargain while the sale lasts, and if you like what you read, please do leave a review on Goodreads, Waterstones, Amazon etc.
Leilanie Stewart 