New Bginnings

January 1, 2018
Happy 2018! This is a time when many of us try to say 'good-bye' to our old selves, and make ourselves all kinds of promises about who we're going to be in future. From now on we're going to be non-smokers and/or vegan, exercise daily, go on a diet, learn a new language etc. etc. A fair few of us will already have broken at least one New Year's resolution–ah well, a bank holiday after a night of celebration probably isn't the best time for fresh starts, especially if it's cold and dark outside.
    If you've slipped up already, what do you do? Leave it until next year? Give up? Absolutely not! New Year's resolutions are like starting to write a new story. So what if the first sentence you write doesn't work? Draw a line under it and have another try. Keep going even if you aren't sure it's right, and you'll reach a point where you can see the best way forward. Eventually, your goals will be in sight. In life, as in writing, it really doesn't matter how many times you have to start again as long as you don't give up.
    Anyone who wants to read more this year but is finding cash light at the moment, has a final chance to find hundreds of discounted or free books at Smashwords. Discord's Child and Artists and Liars are FREE in the sale, which ends at 23.59 today Pacific Time (that's around 8am tomorrow in the UK). Visit https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ksdearsley. Plus, you'll find a code in Discord's Child for a FREE copy of Discord's Apprentice, valid until 31st January.
    May 2018 bring you all peace, good health and happiness.
 

Christmas Dilemma Solved

December 21, 2017
You might think that my middle initial, 'S', stands for Scrooge, as I don't generally give Christmas presents (note: that's 'give', not 'gift'). I like going around the shops looking for ideas, I'm happy to wrap even awkward-shaped items, and I love to see a heap of presents under the tree, but the problem with presents is that they're often bought out of desperation to find something–anything! Even when the recipients like them, they often have no use for them. Instead of giving people thi...
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Read to Write

November 12, 2017
Reading can be depressing. The reason? I recently read Natasha Pulley's The Watchmaker of Filigree Street and now I feel like throwing my pencil away.
    The novel is the author's first, and it's a triumph. The characters are unusual but real, the historical setting is intriguing, the story complex, yet the reader is never lost or jolted out of the world of the novel by any blip in the narrative.
    As if that wasn't enough, I've just finished reading Strange Beasties, Third Flatiron Antholog...
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A Menagerie of Stories

November 12, 2017
The clever editors at Third Flatiron Anthologies have hunted down a batch of stories and released them in Strange Beasties. Each tale features some wild creatures that will roam through your imagination. Some will make you shiver with dread, but not all of them are monsters–in fact, you could end up taking another look at society and wondering who's more dangerous–them or us?
    From the story that opens the anthology, the excellent 'In the Days of Mister Cuddles' by Bruce Arthurs, which ...
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Free Reads (and Much More)

October 24, 2017
Continuing on the theme from the last blog, I want to highlight a place where readers in the UK can enjoy unlimited free books–at least for the time being. Public libraries have books for all ages and tastes, whether you want to read for fun, for research, or to learn more about the area where you live. You can read them on site or take them home. If you can't find what you want, the librarian will help you, and if they don't have the title you want in their catalogue, for a small fee they ...
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Readers First

October 15, 2017
It occurs to me that I've been writing more for writers lately than for readers, so this week I aim to redress the balance. I have three pieces of work due for publication in the near future. In fact one, 'The Enlightened One's Blessed', is already available online–and it's free to read.
    The story is one of 15 fiction finalists in Pen 2 Paper's contest aimed at raising awareness of disabilities. The other sections are non-fiction and poetry. When you visit http://www.txdisabilities.org/p...
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Take Note

October 2, 2017
I always try to keep a notebook cum diary when I'm on holiday, so I can stock up on ideas and tweets. On my recent holiday, what I wrote about mostly was the weather, not just any weather, but more specifically rain. As I once tweeted, 'England's been having such changeable weather–sudden downpours, drizzle, persistent rain, showers, light precipitation, squalls... ' A fortnight of heavy showers interspersed with steady rain has added to my store of descriptions.
    There's the type of rai...
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Dull Light, Dull Writing

September 26, 2017
I've just returned from the rainiest holiday I've ever had. The week I spent in Brighten when I was 10 comes close, but my memory of that is coloured by a child's perspective and my desperate desire to play on the beach.
    It would have been nice to see the sea last week without it being screened by rain, but as a writer, being kept indoors shouldn't depress me (you might think). What an opportunity to write without any of the usual distractions! If I can produce a few thousand words with th...
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A New Crop of Opportunities

September 4, 2017
September. Can you believe it? The summer's gone, the children are heading back to school, and the holidays are over. Before the gloom sets in, this means that many of the magazines that were closed to submissions over the summer are now open again. Theatres that were dark are now launching their autumn seasons too. Even places that hadn't closed tended to be short-staffed, but now they'll be getting up to speed again.
    Any work that's been languishing in slush piles might now get read, and...
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Other Worlds and Earworms

August 23, 2017
At long last I've caught up with reviewing some of the books I've read lately. Indie authors can find it hard to get their work noticed, and it can be equally hard for readers to know whether a novel by an indie author will be their kind of book. Reviews act like word-of-mouth personal recommendations, and help readers decide whether they fancy reading the sample, so I would always welcome honest, constructive reviews, and I hope the ones I write will be useful to both authors and readers.
   ...
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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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