What's Afoot

December 19, 2024
The Smashwords end of year sale is now on, which means it's time for me to make a few decisions, and put some changes into effect.
I transferred my books to Draft2Digital earlier this year as a result of the merger of the two indie publishing platforms. Since then, I haven't enrolled any of them in the Smashwords sales because authors either had to enrol all their books at the same discount or none. However, this has now changed (possibly because other authors also opted out). Consequently, until the end of December you will be able to download Artists & Liars and Discord's Child FREE. All you have to do is visit http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view.ksdearsley and use the code you'll find there at the check-out. If you don't have a Smashwords account, it's easy to sign up. I have to say that since I did, around nine years ago, I have never been bombarded with advertising emails or had any problems. I'm touching wood as I type this, of course!
For those who prefer paperbacks, the whole Exiles of Ondd series and Artists & Liars will remain available on Amazon at virtually cost price until 2025.
Of course, there's no point putting work on sale unless you're going to promote it. One of the ways I've let people know about it in the past is by posting on X/Twitter @KSDearsley and @ExilesofOndd. For some time now, I've had real reservations about X/Twitter, so I've decided to migrate to Bluesky. In doing so, I'm following the example of many other writers and creatives. 
Opening the Bluesky accounts was easy enough–the hardest part was finding a new photo of me that isn't too scary. For a short period, I'll be using both platforms while I get the word out, but once January arrives I don't intend using X/Twitter any more. I'll update you as things progress.

P.S. I've already had a Christmas present. My story, 'Eric's Quest', won second prize in the NAWG short story contest and will be published early in 2025.
 

Writing Left Unread

December 2, 2024
People write for many reasons: to record something for posterity, or to jog their own memory; to entertain, to inform and educate; to communicate something to others. It had never occurred to me until recently that anyone would write something without intending it to be read. At first, I thought the notion was ridiculous: what would be the point? However, the more I thought about it, the more reasons for doing it I found.
It was after completing a joint project with the writers' group I go to...
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Something to Look Forward to

October 29, 2024
It's all over! Tea Party of the Gods has had three performances by Theze Guyz, including yours truly, and like the aftermath of any party, I could be suffering post-celebration blues.
The performances took place over two days. Tea Party of the Gods was the third play on, and I'm please to say that  half the audience didn't disappear after the first two. I wouldn't say we were faultless, but we still got laughter and applause. Several of the audience approached me afterwards to say how much th...
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Endings and Beginnings

October 15, 2024
Putting on a play can take almost as long as producing a baby. It's been a long haul since Theze Guyz first asked me if I had a one-act play they could perform back in March. The group, founded by Sarah Love, is celebrating its 21st birthday this month. It has both adult and youth sections, and has a policy of giving everyone a chance to perform whatever their experience.
I was delighted when they chose 'Tea Party of the Gods' as one of four short plays to be performed on 18th and 19th Octobe...
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Anyone for Tennis?

August 8, 2024
Am I the only one who finds it incredible that we are already more than two thirds of the way through summer? I confess to spending quite a lot of time watching lawn tennis and reading the pile of books I acquired at the last book group picnic I attended. However, I contend that I haven't been lazing around.
Tennis tournaments have a gladiatorial aspect with heroes and villains; past favourites against newcomers, athleticism versus experience, wiliness versus strength. How do the players cope...
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Zooming in on Success

June 9, 2024
The week before last was exciting and scary in equal measure. I received an email saying that two of my three entries in the Wildfire-Words Flash Fiction 150 contest had been longlisted, then I received another congratulating me on winning second place, and inviting me to a showcase on Zoom of all the longlisted and winning entries.
When I'd come down from the ceiling, the reality of having to read out my entries and get to grips with unfamiliar technology hit me. My only previous experience...
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Syntaxing the Brain

May 22, 2024
Would you expect to become a top concert pianist if you never practised your scales? If you didn't practise your serve, would you expect to win Wimbledon? The building blocks underpinning any skill might be difficult and repetitive to learn, but they are essential if you want to be the best. Initially, it can seem that they are holding you back, and stifling your creativity and flair, but if you practise enough, the basics become second-nature, and you get them right without even having to th...
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No Rhyme, No Reason

April 22, 2024
I always knew there were two camps when it came to poetry. Some people feel that unless it has an obvious rhyme, it isn't a proper poem. Inexact rhymes, they feel, are cheating. Others enjoy the combination of concepts with rhythms and singular language in free verse. If you want to start a debate between them ask whether William Carlos Williams's 'This is Just to Say' is really a poem. In my opinion it is, because of the way it makes you appreciate the sound of the words and the feel of them...
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A Literary Legacy

April 15, 2024
With everything bursting into life outside, I've been tackling some long overdue tidying indoors before the garden demands my attention. One of the cupboards whose contents jump out at me every time I open the door, is the one where I store all my manuscripts–well, most of them.
I started to sort it out last year, but apart from discarding some manuscripts of stories that I've subsequently changed, and making sure I had hard copies of everything, that was as far as I got. The fact is, I hav...
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The Fun Begins

March 18, 2024
Last Friday was a first for me. I attended the initial reading by Theze Guyz of my one-act play, Tea Party of the Gods. It was a real pleasure to be there at the start of the play's first production.
Theze Guyz are an amateur company set up to give everyone, no matter their abilities or experience, a chance to perform. This year is the company's 21st anniversary, and they're planning to mark it with three performances of three plays. I'm honoured to have been asked to supply one of them.
Tea ...
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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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