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 rain, the size and speed of the drops, whether it clings or splashes. Then there's how it alters the light, affects the temperature, how it changes the feel of the air, the smells and the colours. What does it sound like on roofs, in gutters, hitting wood or pavements, plastic macs or umbrellas? It affects all the senses. How does it feel to be out in it? How do people walk in it? Can you make up forecasts, predictions, folklore or proverbs about it?
Does it feel like a punishment or a boon, or like the end of the world is nigh? When the sun appears is it a reprieve or blinding? Depending on your point of view, rain can be a disaster or a lifesaver–think hurricanes and droughts–there have been enough of both in the news this year.
I now have enough musings and metaphors concerning rain to last me until my next wet holiday, so if whoever is in charge of the weather is listening–you can stop raining now, thank you!
Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Inspiration
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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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Inspiration
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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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Competitions
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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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Reviews
July 30, 2017
Third Word Press has accepted my 80-word story, 'Turning to Stone', for its anthology
A House of Music and Other Stories, which is being sold to help the homeless. The 80 stories of 80 words each were selected from entries to its fortnightly competitions, and I'm looking forward to reading them.
When I told a friend about it, she couldn't understand what I meant by 80-word stories. How could a story have a beginning, middle and end when it was so short? Surely it must be an extract from so...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Coming Soon
July 11, 2017
One of the joy's of self-publishing is that you're free to do what you want with your work. No one might read it, but at least the decisions are yours and no one can insist on a different cover or cutting out your favourite scene. All the responsibility and the rewards are yours–as well as all the chores.
It's easy to see publicity and marketing as 'housework'–jobs that need to be done, that take up far too much time when you could be actually producing something, and whose benefits ca...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley.
July 1, 2017
Do writers ever really take a holiday? I recently spend a week on Rhodes. It's a beautiful island with something for everyone whether they prefer the beach or mountains, wild forests or orderly olive groves and vineyards, ancient ruins or nightclubs. While I had a wonderful time, there was a part of my brain that never switched off. Whatever I saw or did, I wanted a better record of it than a photo. That's why I always carry a notebook with me on holiday. A snapshot can give you a flat visual...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Coming Soon
June 10, 2017
You know the game–someone says, "If you could invite anyone, alive or from the past, to dinner, who would you choose?" If I was doing the cooking, it would either have to be guests who knew me very well or who were used to burnt offerings, as I'm no candidate for Masterchef.
Perhaps I could invite Ray Mears to cook us up a campfire feast from ingredients he'd foraged in the wilds of central England. Between his cooking duties, he could fascinate us with tales of survival, or maybe give ...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley.
June 1, 2017
I've been trying something completely different. Usually, I know I want to write about a subject, or I've had an idea, and I plan as much as I can before I start writing, but for the past few days I've simply written whatever comes into my head. I haven't had any characters or story in mind, nor have I attempted to shape my thoughts. I've simply daydreamed on paper. In fact, as far as possible, I've avoided censoring or editing what I've written. If I try to think of what might happen or deli...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Inspiration
May 12, 2017
Is there anything worse than getting a critique from a competition judge who didn't like your story? Mostly, I appreciate feedback, even if I don't agree with it, because it makes me look at my work with fresh eyes, and maybe consider things that hadn't occurred to me before. However, I once had my entry to what purported to be an open competition with no theme or restrictions on style or subject, returned with the comment that "I used to like fantasy stories in my teens, but then I decided t...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Competitions
