Happy Returns

June 25, 2021
Wow! What a long time I've been away. It wasn't my intention to abandon you all, and I hope that when you hear my news you'll excuse me. You see, I've been travelling–armchair travelling, that is. I've been off across continents, getting footsore and weary, being seasick, struggling with different languages, getting lost, trying new food that doesn't necessarily agree with me, upsetting some people and making friends with others. Going on a journey with the Exiles of Ondd has been frustrating at times, exhilarating at others, and sometimes seemed endless. However, just as Christmas preparations stretch on forever until one day they're done, I've now got Discord's Shadow at a stage where I can set a provisional publication date of Monday 1st November 2021.
Life's thrown everyone quite a few curveballs in the past year, so I won't be putting it up for pre-order just yet to avoid the possibility of disappointments, but I'll keep this blog up-to-date with developments, as well as announcing them on Facebook and Twitter.
In the meantime, I have a new poem, 'The Never-ending Game', published in Sylvia Magazine at http://www.sylviamagazine.com. The magazine has "poetry and stories for every season", and I highly recommend it, both as a reader and as a writer.
Another thing to watch out for is the Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale which runs throughout July. Discord's Child, Discord's Apprentice and Artists and Liars will be included FREE among the hundreds of free and discounted titles. Take a look at http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ksdearsley and treat yourself.
I hope you're all enjoying a little more freedom these days, and that life is good to you. I'll be back soon, hopefully at a more regular schedule! Now, I'm off to get some fresh air. Travelling on paper might exercise the brain, but sitting on the sofa while doing it does nothing to keep the pounds off!


 

The Three Rs

February 8, 2021
Not reading, writing and 'rithmetic, but repair, reuse and recycle. They apply to writing just as well as they do to saving the planet.
Every writer has a problem piece of writing, one that doesn't want to be pinned down to a page, that refuses to turn out as you envisaged, or that pings back at you with a 'thanks, but no thanks' every time you send it out. Instead of giving up and consigning it to the bin, try applying the three Rs.
Can it be repaired? Make yourself a checklist of features t...
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Tweet Mining

January 25, 2021
Hashtag writing prompts on Twitter are great fun and a good way to find other authors. I know I'll like their work, because I've already seen lots of examples online. These fellow authors also know about the ups and downs of writing. For the most part, they are happy to give other writers their support and encouragement.
Many of the regular hashtag prompts are for tweets from or relating to works in progress. I consider Discord's Child and Discord's Apprentice to be parts one and two of a lar...
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Keep On Keeping On

January 16, 2021
Chances are that if you expected 2021 to be better than 2020 you've been disappointed so far. Even if you enjoyed a good Christmas and started the new year as full of good resolutions as ever, the reality of short dark days, dingy weather and lockdowns might have already sapped your motivation. Take heart–you are not alone!
I find it's easier when times are hard to write something factual. Doing research, planning articles and the discipline of writing pitches and presenting facts readably ...
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A Dickens of a Christmas

December 27, 2020
Christmas rarely lives up to our hopes or expectations, and this year it's likely that it's been further from our wishes than ever. Christmas Day itself is usually quiet for me, but in other years I've had get-togethers with friends and colleagues to remember, and family celebrations to look forward to. In fact, there was a danger that the so-called 'festive' season would not be Christmassy at all.
My recipe for avoiding cabin fever and the seasonal blues is to share a few days with Mr. Charl...
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Excuse Me!

October 18, 2020
I recently enjoyed my annual reread of A Room with a View by E. M. Forster. On this occasion, I found myself strongly sympathising with one of the characters. Lucy? Mr. Emerson? Cecil? No, it was Freddy.
It was the scene where the reader meets him for the first time at the beginning of part two. He was studying a 'small manual of anatomy' and 'From time to time he bounced in his chair and puffed and groaned, for the day was hot and the print small... and his mother, who was writing a letter,...
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Google Discoveries

September 1, 2020
I think I've mentioned before how googling yourself might seem like vanity or procrastination, but that it can throw up some interesting and useful results. In the past, I've discovered that I'd been shortlisted in one competition and actually won another. I've also found a mini-story on someone's website for a hobby related to its theme (origami–'Stone,Scissors, Paper'), and positive reviews of other work.
I'll confess to a little procrastination when I looked last week, but I'm so glad I ...
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Good Out of Bad

August 21, 2020
At the start of the lockdown, poet and playwright Trevor Smith included me in a challenge to write something inspired by the pandemic. There has been a plethora of competitions and special submission invitations on the current situation, and I truly have had little desire to respond. I don't know why. Maybe it's too depressing, maybe it's because it's so ubiquitous that it seems every radio and TV programme or conversation has to include it at least once. But this was a friend throwing down t...
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A Gym-free Work-out

August 6, 2020
Exercise is good for you. I'm not talking about abandoning your office chair or going for the burn, although taking a physical break regularly is undoubtedly wise. The kind of exercise I'm thinking of, is for your writing 'muscles'.
It can be anything from doing a newspaper crossword or wordsearch while enjoying a cuppa, to writing a paragraph about what you can see through your window. There's no need to be stuck for ideas. As long as you have a dictionary, all you need to do is open it at a...
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From Fault to Advantage

July 4, 2020
Last year, I would no doubt have been watching tennis on TV and feeling a little guilty about not writing. From the French Open to the end of Wimbledon, I find it hard to tear myself away. I tell myself the season is short, and it'll have to last me all year, but I still get twinges unless I get a morning's writing in before the matches start. Of course, in England I can usually rely on plenty of rain breaks to catch up with the things I should be doing.
Binge-watching tennis isn't all bunkin...
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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.

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