Since it’s shameless self-promo Saturday, I thought I’d focus on a little bit of book promotion for one from my back catalogue. So here goes with an author question: which of my books is the goriest?
That would have to be Matthew’s Twin! Matthew’s Twin is Book 3 of my Belfast Ghosts trilogy and is by far the most gory, since bloody medieval battles, as well as modern day possession and body horror are a big part of this story. Like your horror gory? Check it out:
A few days ago I had a freaky experience outside the Ulster Museum, Belfast while filming birds. My son and I noticed that a bird was flying in and out of a gap in the wall and bringing back worms each time. As we approached the wall, we heard cheeping and quickly realised that there must have been a nest within the dark interior. My son wanted to see the nest, so I put my phone against each of the three gaps in turn to take photos with the flash on.
What could spook a ‘seasoned’ horror author? As a writer of ghost horror, and avid horror movie fan, I don’t scare easily. After taking the three images, my son and I went home, so I didn’t look at the photos until later. Here are the photos. Just to let you know, I haven’t used any filters on these photos at all. Read on if you dare…
Continue reading
I am a huge fan of horror author and journalist, Tina Vantyler. A couple of years ago I discovered one of the volumes in her ‘True tales of the Supernatural’ series and I’ve been hooked ever since. This latest one I ordered came in time for exam invigilation season. Since the exam board rules now allow second invigilators to read books while invigilating first invigilators, I spent a happy three hours yesterday binge reading my latest buy. Vantyler’s writing is consistently suspenseful and her source material fabulously creepy. I will most definitely be ordering more in the series.
As mentioned in a previous post, I have been primarily reading paperbacks lately, mainly because I cancelled my KU subscription and I have been falling asleep earlier due to ongoing health reasons, therefore not reading my eBooks in bed. Snatching some paperback reading time in the park at lunchtime is easier on my eyes during the mini-heatwave here in Northern Ireland than trying to squint against the sun to read eBooks from a screen. But, all things in balance; I’ll be back to my eBooks at some point, and they’ll always be there.
I have more paperbacks in my trolley at the moment (I always do – just can’t stop book shopping), so I’ll update you about more horror book recommendations on my list very soon. But for now, happy reading.
Time for another diet detox post! Now that the stodgy meals of winter are over, and Valentine’s Day, Easter and a couple of birthdays are also out of the way, it’s time for my keto eating plan to commence again. On Monday 28th April, I started my transition back to low carb very slowly. Since last Thursday 8th May, I then started strict keto again. Keto flu is never fun – I tend to get headaches, leg cramps and feel cold as my body shifts from glucose burning to fat burning (ketosis).
This time, my reason for going on a strict keto eating plan is primarily for medical reasons, which I’m not going to get into in this post. In the past, whenever I did keto purely for weight loss maintenance, I found it hard to stick with, as aesthetic factors simply weren’t enough for me to overcome my love of carbs. When it’s for medical reasons, my health concerns are obviously more important than my carb addiction, and so I find it easier to stick to keto in that case.
Once I’m on keto, it almost completely suppresses my appetite. When I do the 16:8 in conjunction, it becomes even easier and I find that I barely think about food, unlike when I’m glucose-burning and always thinking about my next snack in between meals.
This summer my plan is also to exercise more, particularly weight-bearing and high intensity activities. During the weekend I went for an 11km hike around Belvoir Forest Park in Belfast with my family. Luckily my foot is totally healed after the tendon injuries from hiking a few weeks ago.
So, what’s my keto goal this time around? Same as always: to reduce belly fat, suppress my appetite, and most of all, control my medical issues that improve substantially while I’m in ketosis. Let’s see how long I can manage my keto eating plan this year.
One of the things we did during the Easter holidays was to get our little literary dude his own library card. Until recently, he had been borrowing books on my card. Nothing wrong with that of course, but getting a library card is a milestone for a child, in my humble opinion.
To celebrate the occasion, we decided to turn a section of his organiser into a book diary. We were using it primarily for recording lists of his tasks and pocket money earned for these, but adding a section for book ratings seemed a fun addition to this organiser. I bought some gold stars for the purpose, and he decided to get down to his first three ratings. Aww!
Keeping a book diary for kids is a fun idea. Same as for adults, it’s helpful to record books read and on what date. My son chose not to write a short review, opting to allocate stars alone, though he did insist on including half stars to be more specific. Pictured above are two of the three books he finished recently; these will be returned to the library soon, in order to borrow the next in each series.
When he’s a bit older, and if he chooses to continue keeping a book diary, I’ll get him a dedicated journal for longer reviews. For now, we’re enjoying reading together and discussing the books he borrows, or those we buy for him. Reading time is fun time, for kids as much as adults.
Woohoo! A big celebration this Beltaine weekend because I have exciting news… novel WIP #8 is finally done. Hurray!
For those who haven’t been following my writing progress lately, this manuscript draft is the sequel for The Buddha’s Bone, published in 2021. Originally I had intended this story of Kimberly, a Londoner who goes to Japan to teach English and ends up on a dark psychological journey of self-discovery, to be a standalone book. However, a handful of readers, enough to motivate me, wrote in their Amazon and Goodreads reviews that they wanted more of Kimberly’s story; particularly since it ended on a relatively happy note with her travelling back to London with her Japanese boyfriend, Naoki, to introduce him to her family for Christmas.
Well, no spoilers, but novel WIP #8 is a direct sequel, picking up in the New Year back in Japan after their trip to England. Do things work out for Kimberly? You’ll have to read it and find out.
I began writing novel WIP #8 in March 2023, alongside novel WIP #7, a ghost story set in London. Progress was slow on both because of writing them simultaneously, so in January this year, I made a decision to work solely on #8 and let #7 take a back seat for a while. Turns out that was a good decision, as otherwise I may not have had either finished in 2025.
The last novel I published was Matthew’s Twin in October 2023, so it will be a two year gap at least by the time this one is polished and ready for the world at large. For now, a one week breather and then I’ll have a final read through before printing a proof copy for my editor. More on that later.
Curious to see where I started on this particular bookish journey two years ago? Here’s my blog post when I was first tackling the chapter outlining: Planning a sequel isn’t easy.
Hmm. What an interesting week I have been having. After an adventure-packed hiking holiday during Easter break over the past two weeks, the aftermath began last weekend.
I noticed pain in my foot on Saturday morning, which gradually got worse. Having spent my fortnight off wearing either hiking boots or hiking sandals, my poor feet cried ‘desist!’ yesterday when I forced them into my professional shoes for work.
Aside from climbing Slieve Donard, Northern Ireland’s highest mountain, my son and I hiked for 9k around Lagan Meadows, part of Lagan Valley Nature Reserve, for those unfamiliar with my neck of the woods. Both of these leisure pursuits involved a level of activity that I am unaccustomed to, but I am a stubborn (or maybe deluded) kind of individual, and once I get a notion in my head, it’s hard to steer me away from accomplishing it.
Anyway, after some pretty excruciating pain at work on Monday, I took myself over to hospital for an X-ray. Better to know what’s up, even if not good news, right?
Luckily the bone wasn’t broken – phew! I had a marching fracture back in 2016 that was almost exactly in the same place as my current pain, so I was right to get it checked. Turns out I had tendon damage instead. Not pleasant, but not so serious, and at least I won’t need to wear a boot or use crutches for the next six weeks.
I’m relieved that I’ll be able to continue my newfound interest of hiking; once my tendons have recovered, of course. In the meantime, I have the perfect reason to sit down, rest, and get some serious reading and writing done. No excuses!
Author Q&A today, inspired by a reader of The Blue Man who asked me: “Have you ever played a ouija board like your characters in The Blue Man”?
Before I get into the answer to that question, here’s a question that I have for you. Do you think that authors write about things they have experienced, or do they use imagination, or both?
Continue readingWriting a book is the relatively easy part, marketing not so much. Ask any author and I pretty much think they’d agree. The goal for most authors is to get paid for their work, even in pennies through KU reads or library borrows, so keeping the sales flowing (or trickling) is a necessary part of the writing and publishing business. But how to keep sales going beyond publication month?
I’ve got eleven books in my back catalogue comprised of five novels, three short story collections (all pictured above) and three poetry collections in publication since 2019. While some authors choose to stop promoting their back catalogue, mainly for financial reasons, I actively promote all of my books – at various times, which I’ll outline below, for anyone interested in the strategy (method behind the madness, lol) to my book marketing campaigns. It’s worth the effort, as I make a steady supplementary income from book sales and KU page reads each month.
Sponsored ads
Where do readers shop? Primarily on Amazon. It’s for this reason that I run sponsored ad campaigns to reach new readers, rather than paying for sponsored ads on Facebook, IG, etc where I feel like chances are higher of hemorrhaging money through clicks, versus chances of sales. I get regular sponsored ad sales or KU reads each month to make it worth it.
Having said that, I periodically pause some sponsored ads on some of my books, mainly if I feel I’m getting more clicks than sales for those particular books. My personal cut-off is £5 spent in any given month. If I reach that number and haven’t had KU page reads or book sales, I pause ads for that book for the rest of the month.
This Easter break, I set myself a new challenge: climbing Slieve Donard. For those of you who are reading this post from elsewhere in the world, the Mourne Mountains are the highest peaks in Northern Ireland.
Actually, I can’t take any of the credit. It was my son’s idea, and I didn’t want to let him down. We even went on a dedicated hiking boots shopping trip earlier this week. Now, that’s commitment.
My fitness level leaves a lot to be desired. Day to day, I get a lot of steps in, but I’m not a dedicated gym bunny, or anything like that. I have to admit, I spent the bulk of this week trying to prepare my kid for what I thought was the inevitable: that we would be turning back after the first bridge. Or maybe the second, if I really pushed myself.
Continue reading
Leilanie Stewart 