Don't Put It Off

March 8, 2023
As a writer, I'm an expert at procrastinating. However much I would like to have written something, pinning myself down to actually get the words on the page can seem practically impossible. After all, the cupboard under the sink needs sorting out; there might be a documentary on the radio that would be useful for research, and I need another cup of coffee before I get started... 
This week there's another reason not to pick up my pencil, namely Smashwords Read an Ebook Week sale. I could spend the whole week browsing the hundreds of free and discounted novels by indie authors. Do I go for genres and authors I'm already familiar with, or try something or someone completely new? Reading blurbs and samples will help to narrow the choice, but let's face it, if the novels are free, I'm not going to be risking anything by taking pot luck.
Choosing the books is only the start, of course. Reading them will then jump to the top of the to-do-before-I-start-writing list. However, no one has ever been much of a writer unless they were also a reader. After I've reached 'the end' I shall start writing, because that will be the time for reviews. They're a way of showing appreciation for all the effort and angst that authors put into producing their books. I shan't be doing that just yet though. First, I want to finish Twelve All in Dread: The Twelfth Witch and Other Stories by Juliana Rew that I'm really enjoying. Review to follow!
To compensate for the delay, I've made Discord's Child and Artists & Liars FREE in the Smashwords sale. You'll find them at http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ksdearsley
 

Good News and Bad

February 17, 2023
I'm all disappointed. One of my favourite sites for market listings has closed. Ralan.com specialised in speculative fiction publications in all genres–horror, science fiction and fantasy throughout the spectrum–and all lengths and forms from poetry to novels, audio to print. Over the years I found many of the publications my work has appeared in there. I don't know why it's closed, but the site must have required considerable time and effort to keep up, and I'd like to give the guy behin...
Continue reading...
 

Back Again

December 21, 2022
Hi, it's good to be back. The place hasn't changed much while I've been away (thank goodness, life's been unpredictable enough without more surprises).
This year has been full of detours, and what I hoped and expected to get done seems to have had all kinds of things put in its way. I've hardly written anything worth reading for months–not even a tweet–but I started several short stories with the intention of submitting to various themed publications before I got knocked off track. Not al...
Continue reading...
 

A Narrow Escape

August 10, 2022

Continue reading...
 

Catch-up

July 21, 2022
It's been a few weeks since my last blog, so it's high time for an update on what's going on. There's good news, and there's no news really.
The good news is that one of my plays, Antarctica, has been published by Silver Birchington Plays. You can purchase a copy for yourself or for your company, and if you decide to produce it, the cost is deducted from the licence fee. Self-publishing a play is easy, but handling the performance rights is more tricky, so I'm hoping this will make life easie...
Continue reading...
 

And the Award Goes to...

June 21, 2022
Not me, sadly. The results have been announced at last for the British Science Fiction Association Awards 2021. Discord's Shadow didn't make it onto the prizewinners' roster, but I'm not crying. Who could object to losing out to a book like Adrian Tchaikovsky's Shards of Earth? It was an honour and a thrill to find Discord's Shadow had been nominated, and makes all the doubts and hard work worthwhile.
I shall use the boost being nominated has given me to get going on some of the Exiles-relat...
Continue reading...
 

New/Old Discoveries

May 26, 2022
It wasn't quite the age of steam when I started writing, but it's long enough ago for me to have used a typewriter to produce my manuscripts, including carbon copies! (Even writing that makes me feel ancient.) In some ways, computers have made life far easier: mistakes can be corrected without making a mess; you can produce a copy at a click, and can easily accommodate different formatting requirements. In addition, you save on postage and stationery. Another advantage is how much cupboard sp...
Continue reading...
 

Time Travel

May 15, 2022
I recently spent a happy few days in Tudor England, reading two very different historical novels. Execution by S. J. Parris is a spy thriller cum whodunnit that weaves its way through the seedy backstreets of Elizabeth I's London and a tangle of plots and counterplots. Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell imagines the life of Shakespeare and his family from when he met Agnes (Anne) Hathaway to the years following the death of his son, Hamnet.
In many ways, the two books couldn't be more different. Exec...
Continue reading...
 

Creative Paralysis

April 5, 2022
I know I'm not alone in finding that rather than inspiring me, catastrophes seem to paralyse my creativity. Many people were inspired by COVID-19 to write poetry, essays, diaries and more, whereas I struggled even to find a tweet on the subject. Now, just as the worst of the disruption caused by the pandemic appears to be over, another catastrophe has emerged, with bombardment, death and grief, and I find myself without words adequate to the situation. Writing fiction feels too trivial. What ...
Continue reading...
 

Happy Days

February 22, 2022
You know what it's like when you decide to have a tidy up and throw out the things that you no longer need. You end up going through everything, reminiscing or rediscovering old loves. I finally got around to sorting through my handwritten drafts and notes for the Exiles of Ondd series, and found early incarnations of the novels, several deleted scenes, characters and discarded plot lines that I really did not want to put in the recycling bin. I even found an Iyessi lullaby that I'd forgotten...
Continue reading...
 

About Me


My writing career began as a freelance feature writer for the local press, businesses and organisations. Now a prize-winning playwright and short story writer, my work has appeared in numerous publications on both sides of the Atlantic. I write as K. S. Dearsley because it saves having to keep repeating my forename, and specialise in fantasy and other speculative genres.

Blog Archive

Make a free website with Yola