Life Arithmetic

June 16, 2013
Pluses: having a mini-story honoured in the 10th Binnacle Ultra-short competition–'Oxygen' should be published in Binnacle's own distinctive fashion towards the end of this year; the support and encouragement of my Twitter friend @OldeYellerCat; putting the penultimate Iyessi song on my Discord's Child page. Minuses: the illness of a lady who has been a long-suffering, understanding, talented, indomitable, inspiring and fun friend for 30 years. I never was very good at arithmetic, but even though there are more pluses than minuses, when I subtract one from the other the pluses don't seem to count for as much. Get well soon, Mary.

Posted by K. S. Dearsley.

 

Short and Sweet

June 9, 2013
If you're looking for something that you can read in one 'sitting' I have two suggestions for short story lovers. The first is Plasma Frequency Magazine. It wants readers to vote for their favourite stories to help them choose which ones to put in their first annual anthology. You can find all the past issues at http://www.plasmafrequencymagazine.com. The second suggestion is my anthology Artists & Liars, which is now available at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/322872. It includes short...
Continue reading...

Posted by K. S. Dearsley.

 

Chaos

June 2, 2013
I've spent much of this week so far outside my comfort zone that I haven't even been able see where it is–not that I should complain, because it's all been prompted by some rather nice things. I've had a poem commended in a competition and another shortlisted, but what really got me moving was when someone contacted me to ask where they could find my short stories.
I've been planning to put a themed anthology online for some while and this seemed like the ideal prompt. As The Grid has a co...
Continue reading...

Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Coming Soon 

 

Homework

May 26, 2013
It's a bank holiday, the sun's shining at last, so what am I doing indoors blogging? I couldn't stay away, not when I have some information about something to put in your diary. The artists at The Grid studios in Harborough Magna will be taking part in Warwickshire Open Studios from Saturday 29th June to Sunday 14th July. It's a chance to meet the artists and see how they work as well as get a first glimpse of their latest pieces. Go here to find out more.
That's it, I'm off to do some readi...
Continue reading...

Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Inspiration 

 

Idiot!

May 19, 2013
You'd have to be a real amateur to send your work out without keeping a copy, wouldn't you? That's what I've always thought, but maybe I won't be so judgemental in future.
When I received a letter from The Letters Page magazine thanking me for responding to their call for handwritten letters about writing letters (got that?), I was really pleased that although the editors hadn't chosen it for publication, they did 'enjoy the sensitive discussion of correspondence and the strong sense of place...
Continue reading...

Posted by K. S. Dearsley.

 

Generations

May 12, 2013
Today, I have good news and... good news! The latest Iyessi song is now on my Discord's Child page, and my flash story, 'A Matching Pair', which came third in the Bowers Gifford & North Benfleet Residents' Association competition, can be read on the association's website. It's great when your work appears somewhere new and you can feel that it's being read by people who otherwise would never come across it. Will it last generations? The odds are against it.
Even authors who write the bestsel...
Continue reading...

Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Reviews 

 

All Change

May 5, 2013
I've been reading an old book of my mother's, A Loving Spirit, by Daphne du Maurier. This edition was published in 1948. It still has spaces between quotation marks and the beginning of a sentence and the punctuation at the end, and between the end of a word and punctuation other than commas e.g. " Help ! ". I had thought that this died out in the 19th century, but it obviously survived far longer. 
Even since I started writing for publication there have been changes in standard formatting. I...
Continue reading...

Posted by K. S. Dearsley.

 

Playing Games

April 27, 2013
There's a saying that the more you do, the more you can do. This is why it's important to practise writing every day, if possible. You don't have to actually get words on a page, although jotting notes down will help to take your thoughts further, and give you something to come back to. Playing 'what if?' using characters you see in the street, topics that are in the news, conversations you overhear and situations you come across all serve to get your imagination moving and the ideas flowing....
Continue reading...

Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Inspiration 

 

Ooo, Madam!

April 21, 2013
Yesterday, I went to see a local amateur dramatic company's production of Up Pompeii by Miles Tredinnick, which was directed by a friend. The cast rose to the challenge incredibly well. Not only did they have to contend with the notoriously difficult timing of exits and entrances on which such farce-type comedies rely, but there were risqué costumes and saucy clinches that might be embarrassing when they meet their co-stars at the next parents' evening. Added to this was the challenge of per...
Continue reading...

Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Reviews 

 

In Other Words

April 14, 2013
I intended this blog to be about cohesion and coherence, but what I wrote didn't have much of either. Then I tried to make it about writing about subjects that don't interest you (again) and, frankly, it was boring. While searching for a solution, I found myself doing the linguistic equivalent of doodling, and coming up with alternative definitions for linguistic terms. 'Oxymoron' could be 'stupid air', if that wouldn't be a contradiction in terms. 'Tautology' might be what a science teacher ...
Continue reading...

Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Linguistics 

 
« Newer posts
Older posts »
 

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