Leilanie Stewart

August 27, 2014

Novel writing and traditional publishing

What with all my recent magazine publications and correspondence with editors on forthcoming poetry collections and book length stories (more on these in upcoming posts!) I have neglected to write an update on the status of my novel publishing ventures! Last year I wrote a post on having my full manuscript requested by a UK publisher, which you can read here. After many months of perusing my novel, the editor made the decision not to take it on.

The feedback I got was really encouraging – I’ve included a couple of nice rejection letters from publishers that considered my work, which for an author is always better than receiving a form letter!
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Posted by Leilanie Stewart on August 27, 2014 in Books, Fiction, Novels and tagged correspondence with editors, getting a manuscript published, novel writing, traditional publishing.

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August 18, 2014

Astipalaia theatre ruins at Kos, Greece

Theatre ruins at Astipalaia, Kos

As a writer (and a former archaeologist) a visit to the ancient ruins of Astipalaia on the island of Kos, Greece was a must while Joseph Robert and I were on holiday last week. Here, the Koan villagers from the 2nd century BC would have watched plays performed in the heart of Kefalos. Only the remains of 2 rows of seats and a few columns from the original theatre building are left. Here I am showing how the people of Kefalos might have watched plays, maybe even Hippocrates himself, who was born in Kefalos. Continue reading →

Posted by Leilanie Stewart on August 18, 2014 in Writing and tagged Astipalaia, Greece, Kos, Theatre.

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August 8, 2014

Joseph Robert’s poem in Leaves of Ink

This month my writer hubby’s poem, Mastered Thesis, is published in Leaves of Ink magazine. What to say? Academia… What would Socrates make of it all? It’s interesting that everything of his was published through either Plato or Xenophon. Does that mean that Socrates had a Ph.D. from The University of Life too? Of course – his educated opinion on the matter would be as follows: All we are is dust in the wind, dudes.

Posted by Leilanie Stewart on August 8, 2014 in Poetry and tagged Earl Wynn, Joseph Robert, Leaves of Ink magazine.

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August 3, 2014

Optical Illusion, The Laws of the Cosmos, Electrician’s Paradise

August kicks off with 3 of my poems appearing in Black Mirror Magazine. What this batch have in common is that they all play around with shape and form. Since poetry should be open to the interpretation of the reader, I won’t say too much about the inspiration behind them. Poems are subjective, and all too often the poet can get ‘precious’ about their work. I’ve met many writers in my time who try to defend the intention behind their work. Why bother? Isn’t it wonderful to hear how other people see your work? Isn’t that how we develop and improve as artists? At least I like to think so… comments are always welcome!

Posted by Leilanie Stewart on August 3, 2014 in Poetry and tagged Black Mirror Magazine, ezines, Online magazines, Poetry magazines.

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August 1, 2014

Poetry video for August – Belemnite Soup

Does poetry work better as words on a page, or is it better performed? Is it better to be read, or heard? When I hear a poem read by the poet, often it sounds different than how I hear it in my mind – not only the poet’s syntax, but even their natural accent can make a change to how a poem sounds.

With that in mind, here’s my latest poetry-video-selfie. What do you get if you combine one poet plus one ipad? Depends on the verse! This is a metaphysical one of mine that was first published in Inclement Magazine Summer 2011 Issue.

Posted by Leilanie Stewart on August 1, 2014 in Poetry, Reading and tagged Inclement Magazine, performance (visual art), performance poetry.

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July 25, 2014

Event this month – Poets in the Afternoon

Poets in the afternoon is a performance event held on the first Thursday of every month at The Poetry Cafe in Covent Garden, London. With so many poetry evenings in London, manager Paul McGrane came up with the idea of holding a poetry afternoon instead; all the better to cater to those poets who can’t otherwise attend evening readings. Since yesterday was the start of my holiday, a spoken word event was an ideal way to kick off my literary summer. Continue reading →

Posted by Leilanie Stewart on July 25, 2014 in Literary Reviews - Leilanie's thoughts, Poetry and tagged performance poetry, poetry readings, spoken word events.

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July 16, 2014

Getting your poetry and fiction published

The thing that seems to be the most daunting to aspiring writers is how to go about getting their work published; where to submit it, how to submit it, what to expect. The first thing to ask yourself is this – what do you consider being published means? For some people being published means simply posting your work on your own blog, website, or on author sharing sites such as Wattpad. For others publishing means a contract and royalties. For me, publishing means having my work reach an audience, whether that is through print and online magazines, anthologies, pamphlets or books – and for me, money isn’t the main objective – exposure is. Over the past few years I have felt connected to a readership and haven’t felt so cut-off… after all, writing can leave a writer feeling isolated at times.

Once you have worked out what you intend to achieve through your writing Continue reading →

Posted by Leilanie Stewart on July 16, 2014 in Fiction, Poetry, Resources and tagged Getting published.

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July 4, 2014

Writing for money or writing for fun

If you ask the majority of writers why we write, the answer will be for pleasure. Why? Probably because for the majority of us, there isn’t much money to be had!

That’s not to put off any aspiring writers out there. Of course, if you’re in it for the money, it’s probably best you start thinking of a different career. There might be one or two out there who will write the next as-of-yet undiscovered bestseller, which will be translated into X-amount of languages and win a few debut writing awards at that. But the odds of that are like winning the lottery. Off to buy a ticket, anyone?

It can take years for writers to see their work in print or online. Writers tend to get more rejections than they do acceptances. Continue reading →

Posted by Leilanie Stewart on July 4, 2014 in Fiction, Poetry, Resources, Short Stories, Writing and tagged Success at writing, Writing for money, Writing for pleasure.

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June 28, 2014

Harvest Art

My poet hubby’s latest poem is published at an apt time… on a rainy London day at the end of June! Long may the fickle rains of fortune fall on poets who not only can’t afford irrigation, but who have to plough their fields by hand, sowing seeds with calloused fingers and hoping against hope that the slugs will stay off the sunflowers. Pimms anyone? Let’s be optimist, poets, a new month is a-coming!

Eunoia Review

Plowing the fields of my farm, my soul, myself
With a ploughshare beaten from sordid words of distemper
Sowing seeds of observation
Into the bullshit-fertilized soil of the medium
I await with patience the fickle rains of fortune
For I have no connection and can’t afford irrigation
But when chance befalls, when conditions are ripe
When those arty sprouts shoot toward a watching heaven
I busy myself chasing off critical crows with violence
And poisoning whinging weevils with kindness
However, I’ve been recently taught about crop rotation
Which means sometimes fields are best left fallow and barren
So that’s my excuse for sitting on the sofa
Staring at the wall, having watched a deadly documentary
On the problems of modern farming

Questions answered about Joseph Robert by Joseph Robert negate themselves more than inform you that he is married to poet and writer Leilanie Stewart.

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Posted by Leilanie Stewart on June 28, 2014 in Writing.

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June 23, 2014