Leilanie Stewart

It doesn’t matter what the season – spring, summer, autumn, winter – I write. I find that in winter when I’m in hibernation mode, it actually helps me to be productive. I have less excuse not to be writing! When it’s horrible and cold outside, there’s nothing better than sitting snuggly with my laptop on my knee, typing away. Summer is definitely harder – I’ll be tempted to go sightseeing (since London is always full of things to do!) or go to the park. Churning out a bunch of poems/ a few short stories/ or even better, getting a draft of a manuscript done gets me through the long dark nights in autumn and winter – and of course, making a snowman. I’m proud of this one I made – he’s full of winter charisma!

My snowman jazzing up the winter days!

A lot of people say to me, when they find out that I’m a writer, how they want to write themselves, but can’t find time to do it. My ethos is that a writer doesn’t find time, but rather makes time. I have a full time day job, which luckily for me, fits in with my writing – I get to lead a creative writing group for young writers. But even if I had to do a non-writing related job, I’ve come to believe there’s something to be gained from everything. Life experience = character development. In between working with teenagers, I make time to write, or read on my lunch break. Fair enough, I don’t read as much as should, since I prioritise writing, but I take little bits of information from everything I can – the Metro on the way to work, conversations on the bus, pamphlets at a doctor’s office and so on. Picking up on other styles of writing/ interesting topics/ mistakes in a printed article also helps me to hone my editing skills and improve my writing. Editing is the toughest part of being a writer for me!

Read Joseph Robert’s new short story, Best Taste, in Kaleidotrope this month. It’s an eclectic dark fantasy inspired by Japanese horror. Love the great twist near the end! 🙂

I heard somewhere that baseball players turn their socks inside out before a game, to ensure good success (this might be completely off base – apologies for the bad pun!) I’ve never heard of such a ritual for good luck in the writing world. But personally, when I send off a submission by post, I have my own little ritual – a kiss on the envelope for good luck. Fair enough, I haven’t noticed any improvement in my chances with a submission when I do it, and in fact, I’m more of a cynic than a superstitious type of person, but it’s become something of a habit for me over the years. Maybe I’m simply too sensitive. I think I’ll just go off and write some poems about sunsets and serene oceans now…!