From my (Christmas) family (tree) to yours! 🎄🎁🎅
Today is officially the last shortest day of the decade. This is a time to celebrate the battle between the Oak King and the Holly King and the inevitable rebirth of the sun. When I woke up at 8 o’clock this morning, I seriously thought it was much earlier – more like 4 A.M. as it was pitch black outside. It began to get lighter around 8.40 A.M only for it to darken again at 3.30 P.M. No wonder so many suffer from seasonal affective disorder at this time of year in the Northern hemisphere!
Loving my secret santa from a work friend – too true for every writer!
Really makes it understandable why all of us folks living at higher latitudes bother to decorate trees, eat, drink and give gifts as our pagan ancestors did – what else would people do to get them through the miserable weather and shorter days other than try to be merry? Shame the winter merriment and traditions couldn’t be carried over into January!🎄
Stocking filler!🎅
Ho ho ho! Paperback copies of Gods of Avalon Road are on sale for a limited time offer just in time for Christmas. Stocking filler anyone?
On Friday 6 December, I had my second book signing event for Gods of Avalon Road at the beautiful McGrath Library in Belfast.
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Although the event was for staff/adults, the students had many great questions about writing and publishing.
Thanks to the Librarian Elaine for organising and advertising the event and to everyone who came for a signed copy.
Although my recently published book, Gods of Avalon Road is an urban fantasy, there are archaeological elements in the story, which were influenced by my former career as an Archaeologist. Since archaeology is still a major influence on my writing, I spent the summer break from my work in secondary school education doing research in the British library and Museum of London, in order to update my knowledge on the Roman occupation of London and Iron Age Britain. The latest promotional write-up for my novel appears on the QUB Archaeology and Palaeoecology Facebook page.
Novel research!
Writing is a business; no sooner than an author finishes one book, they’re on to the next project. At the moment, I’m working on two novel manuscripts: the first is a literary novel, which is a spiritual exploration of the main protagonist while living abroad and the second is a sequel to my published debut novel, Gods of Avalon Road. The photo gives a clue about my writing research for this project: finding names for new characters!
Gods of Avalon Road is now available to borrow from the beautiful McGrath library.
Since my debut novel is for readers of 18 and above, it’s available only for the staff to read. But the display copy gave a lovely photo opportunity in the recently renovated library.
For a newly published novelist, there’s no greater feeling than the excitement that comes of seeing your debut novel stocked in a bookstore. It was an amazing moment to see Gods of Avalon Road among the new Sci-fi and horror releases in Waterstones – my book among such great titles in the UK’s biggest bookstore chain.
When I was twenty, I was in the midst of writing a children’s fantasy adventure story. One day after a university lecture I went into the Belfast branch of Waterstones with the aim of buying books similar to my story, both to hone my skills as a writer and to get an idea of fantasy publishers out there. Although I moved on to other writing projects and archived that particular story, the feeling of seeing my work in a bookstore never left me and became one of my ultimate goals. To go back into that same store nearly two decades later and see my book in the section where I had been browsing for inspiration, back when I was an aspiring writer, is truly a dream come true.
The launch of my debut novel, Gods of Avalon Road was a great success at Waterstones Belfast earlier this evening. It was lovely to read excerpts from my book to an audience of around 15-20 people, including a few customers who stopped by to listen while they were browsing. Thanks to Belle and Sam for setting everything up and to Emma for organising
Leilanie Stewart 