Sick with the vomiting bug on Friday night and now strep throat this morning! But as much as sickness breeds germs, it also breeds creativity. I didn’t get any writing done, but I made a faux leather bookmark with one of the babe’s ringlets from his first haircut last September. Finally getting round to reading my birthday prezzie from my hubby, Joseph Robert too – Jurassic Park, so it’ll be put to good use!
Happy Valentine’s Day! Gods of Avalon Road is a perfect read for anyone wanting action of both kinds: characters in battle and in love! It’s an urban fantasy with historical fiction and paranormal romance. I guess it’s been a good sign that I’ve been so busy writing my novel work in progress and keeping the promo going for Gods of Avalon Road that I’ve forgotten to do a blog post for a while. Anyway, here’s a behind the scenes of what I’ve been up to with spreading the word about my debut novel.
I’ve sent a couple of copies out for review by post, so that could take a while. Sending books snail mail is always a bit nerve-wracking as you never know whether they’ll safely reach their destination or not, but if you send by recorded mail, that will only irk a busy recipient. I was happy to find out that the copies of my book in stock at the local Waterstones had sold out; always news to make an author happy! I’m also waiting to hear back from various outlets too regarding a promotional spotlight – more on that as it happens. As much as I’d love instant replies, much like sending unsolicited manuscripts on submission to publishers in the first place, I’m finding ongoing promotion for a novel is a journey that requires much patience!
In commiseration at leaving the EU yesterday, I’m taking an opportunity to promote my wonderful hubby’s poetry collection, Brexit Brokeshit.
It’s only £3.99 on Amazon, so about the price a loaf of bread will soon be in the UK after inflation. If I didn’t laugh, I’d cry!
If my fortune cookie message is anything to go by, when winter comes, heaven is going to rain success on me. Since winter is well and truly underway, all I need to do now is wait for the downpour.
Fortune cookie messages
Fortune aside, the past few months have been kind to me at any rate. My novel Gods of Avalon Road, sold all the copies in stock at the local Waterstones, which is awesome. I’m in the process of sending review copies out and busy writing my next novel WIP. It’s a literary life, for sure.
January 11, 2020
Currently reading – Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep and Diane Setterfield’s The Thirteenth Tale
One of my goals for 2020 is to read more. Towards the end of last year, I subscribed to Kindle Unlimited, which has doubled the amount of reading I’m able to do. This is mainly because I have no excuse not to read: I have the Kindle app on my phone so I can pretty much read anywhere. Nothing beats a physical book though. I love book shopping, but borrowing is the best way to get more reading in and is far more practical in economic terms: I couldn’t afford to buy all the books I’d like to read anyway! On the other hand, I do find that if I really love a library book I’ve read, I tend to buy it.
At the moment, I’m reading two books: Doctor Sleep by Stephen King and The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. I decided on Doctor Sleep as I saw the film a couple of months ago and enjoyed it, so I was curious to see if the book is any different. I’m not far enough along to say; it seems pretty close to the movie from what I’ve read so far, although fans of both book and film have said the ending is different in the movie. I will have to wait and see. The reason I’m reading The Thirteenth Tale is that it was recommended to me through a library book club I’m part of. I had never read the author before and found it to be a slow start, to the point where I honestly feel the first 40 pages could easily be cut without losing anything from the story. However, I’m enjoying it now that the main story is underway and I’m about a third of the way through.
Will I get through both books in January? Not sure. At the moment I’m snatching moments to read in between working on my next novel draft, reading through the Bindweed Magazine submission backlog, full time work and of course family time. But it’s certainly a start!
Happy New 2020 everyone! Let’s see what writing resolutions can be made – and kept – this year! 🖋️📖
Hard to believe we have entered the roaring twenties again! It’s even harder not to enter the new decade without any aspirations. Sometimes I want to just go with the flow in life: having a day job and a little one can mean things become quite routine-bound at times and part of me wants to rebel against schedules, but as a writer it’s good to have plans, however vague. My goals are straightforward: write more, read more, promote more and procrastinate less. Let’s see what 2020 will bring!
Celebrating my debut novel, Gods of Avalon Road, published in October 2019.
Happy New Year’s Eve! As another decade closes, it’s time to reflect on more than simply a one year journey. Ten years ago I was living in Cambridge with my writer-poet hubby, Joseph Robert. Back in 2009, my publishing journey had just begun: my short story, The Woman and the Stiff, was published in US Ezine Blood Moon Rising in April of that year and my first photographic poetry collection was self-published in June. From 2010 onwards, I published my poetry and fiction widely in magazines and anthologies worldwide as I built up my literary CV with the aim of having longer works accepted by publishers. This paid off when my first poetry collection was accepted by a London Publisher: A Model Archaeologist was launched by Eyewear Publishing in June 2015. I followed this with my second poetry collection, Chemotherapy for the Soul, which was launched by Canadian publisher Fowlpox Press in January 2017.
After a relocation from Cambridge to London for dayjob reasons, I found I was better able to promote my poetry collections through spoken word events. Part of my dayjob involved running creative writing workshops for teenagers in secondary schools across London and providing 1-1 mentoring for gifted and talented young writers and poets. Being connected to other literary types, both young and old, inspired Joseph Robert and I to run our own literary journal to give something back to the publishing community: Bindweed Magazine has been publishing poets and writers from all over the world since April 2016 and is such a success, we have been inundated with a backlog of submissions still to read!
While all this took place, I never lost sight of my main passion: to have a novel accepted for publication. Thankfully this happened after seven years of submitting my literary ms and two years of sending my fantasy ms out into the world of unsolicited slushpile rounds: my fantasy novel, Gods of Avalon Road, was launched by Blossom Spring Publishing in October 2019. Although my literary manuscript is still sailing the slushpile seas, I’m optimistic that it will be accepted for publication eventually. In the meantime, 2020 will hopefully be the year I finish another literary novel WIP and the fantasy sequel to my debut. Hope the new year will be a good one for you too!
Browsing in Waterstones Belfast – and there’s my book!
Books, books, books! Any writer who wants to be good at their craft should read widely from a range of contemporary books and classics. The post Christmas sales are a good time to go shopping generally, but for book lovers such as me, I can always make time to browse bookstores. Online book shopping has its perks for picking up obscure or out of print titles, though for mass paperback copies, I prefer to support local bookstores.
In good company: my novel, Gods of Avalon Road, alongside Lord of the Rings in Sci-fi and Fantasy
As a writer, browsing has an added bonus: it’s a wonderful, indescribable feeling to see your own novel on the shelves of a bookstore – even better when you realise a customer just bought a copy. That happened to me on a recent trip to Waterstones, while shopping for Christmas presents. I must say, it absolutely made my day!
From my (Christmas) family (tree) to yours! 🎄🎁🎅
Leilanie Stewart 