You might not believe this, but this is the sixth time I've written this blog. I've done it once a month, but for one reason or another, it's never actually made it online. What went wrong? You may well ask. I'm not sure that I know myself.
The year started off with good intentions, as it always does, but nothing so far has come to fruition. I would say this is despite my efforts, but the truth is, I've found it really hard to get motivated. The chaos around the world this year, hasn't helped; my writing seems trivial set against the destruction and the suffering of so many. The behaviour of certain people who have taken the goodwill and time of my husband and myself for granted has also been a distraction. However, what has really held me back is me.
Sometimes it can be hard to see the point of stressing over plots and finding the right words when there are plenty of good books and stories out there already, and who's going to read mine, anyway? The blogs felt as if I was going over the same ground time and again. In fact, I took a look at my website and decided that it needed a complete overhaul.
I'm not going to whinge or make excuses. We all suffer the paralysis of doubt from time to time, and the only way to get over it that I know is to shake things up a little, even if I only make one small change. So, while I've been quiet here lately, I've been working on sprucing up my website and, hopefully, making it more user-friendly. It's still a work in progress, and there are more changes to come, but I've updated all the links and I've added more stories and poetry.
If you take a look at the site, you'll find I've put Discord's Child and Artists & Liars in the Smashwords Summer-Winter Sale, which runs throughout July. Visit http://www.smashwords.com/profiles/view/ksdearsley and you can download both books FREE.
On the Exiles of Ondd front, I've made a start on collecting together the Iyessi songs for a digital edition and an illustrated paperback. I intend writing the songs that were mentioned in the novels but whose lyrics weren't included. This is advanced warning as there is considerable fiddling around, editing and drawing to do yet. 
As for this blog: in addition to the usual mix of news, tips, rants and ramblings, I'm going to mix in occasional articles about whatever topic takes my fancy from literary analysis to stray cats. From time to time there'll also be pieces of my work which don't fit elsewhere, but which I think you might find interesting. I'm considering beginning to trail what the next blog will be about, but I might change my mind or other subjects might become more urgent, so we'll see.
Thank you for sticking with me. Until next time...