A is for Alphabet

February 22, 2015
Sometimes subjects to blog about are obvious, for instance, when there's news of a publication or event. At other times, it isn't as easy. The trouble isn't that I can't think of anything, but that there are so many subjects, it's hard to pick one. Today, I have come up with a solution. Starting next week, I shall choose a subject to blog about according to the alphabet. I've already made a list, and I have enough ideas to keep me going for at least the next five years! They are the usual mix of tips, opinions and general comments about life as a writer.
    Of course, when anything interesting happens, or something that's time sensitive occurs to me, I shall blog about it regardless of what letter the theme begins with. I'll still do my best to keep readers up-to-date with news such as the fact that Writing Short Fiction has just been updated with even more champion fiction and advice from winning writers. It's free, so whether you need guidance with writing problems, or want to treat yourself to a good read, you can visit the site whenever you like.
    Now I have my A - Z list, in future, I shall never have an excuse for wasting time on indecision again–unless I change my mind, of course!
 

Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Mo...

February 15, 2015
Life's full of difficult decisions. Lately, I've had lots of different writing-related tasks to do, and I've found it hard to know what to tackle first. Time to make a list! I have a story waiting to be written, a feature half-researched, work to rewrite, a story to key-in, potential markets to check and marketing to do. Thankfully, nothing has a deadline, but that leaves no clear favourite to start with, so I've put together a series of questions that might help me to avoid wasting time dith...
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Anti-social Media

February 8, 2015
This week I was invited to an adult education class. The tutor had to hang around at the main entrance to let all the students in, and as they arrived at the classroom in dribs and drabs I was struck by a certain lack of hospitality. I would happily have introduced myself and tried to make small-talk to break the ice, but everyone was too busy texting, playing games or looking something up on their mobiles. Their impoliteness was not confined to ignoring me, but ignoring each other as well. T...
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Putting a Name to a Face

February 1, 2015
A recent BBC documentary about the artist Hans Holbein, who painted so many of Henry VIII's court, was fascinating, and not only for the insights his work provided into the sitters' personalities. He had written Anne Boleyn's name as 'Anne Bollein'. Spellings in Tudor times were not as standardized as they are now, and Holbein probably wrote the name as he heard it pronounced. As the artist's surname also ends in 'ein' this could mean that it was pronounced the same way. So Anne Boleyn was ei...
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Hoots!

January 25, 2015
Today is Burns Night, the annual celebration of Scotland's national poet. He wrote in his own dialect, and while many people (including, I suspect, some Scots) might struggle with it, every poet owes him a debt. Robert Burns broke the chains that bound poetry to classical forms and helped us all to escape the 'thees' and 'thous' and archaic language.
    Now, poets can write sonnets or haiku, odes or free verse. They can write about eating the plums someone had saved in the fridge ('This is J...
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Free Competitions

January 18, 2015
I've been writing a short story, which seemed simple enough before I started. I'd got the beginning, middle and end, and I'd even jotted down parts of a couple of scenes. Yet as I scribbled away, it began to wriggle around. Would the story be better set in the past or the present day? Should I aim it at youngsters or adults? After a couple of false starts and much crossing out, I finally reached the end only to discover that the story isn't about what I thought it was at the outset at all. Ne...
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Tempus Fugit Again

January 13, 2015
I've been plagued with clichés buzzing around my head while I've been trying to write, but I'm holding out for my own fresh metaphors, similes and turns of phrase. Clichés might be accurate, but everyone has heard them so often that they have become meaningless. Maybe a heroine does 'go weak at the knees', but readers will no doubt forget her unless she does it in an original way. Notice that I haven't provided an alternative myself. Devising good ones isn't easy, but it's well worth making...
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New Beginnings

January 4, 2015
Happy New Year! My festive season was quiet, to say the least. Injuring my elbow was more frustrating than painful, and it prevented me doing things like sending Christmas cards (I could write them, but not get them in the envelopes) or keying in Discord's Apprentice, although I did succeed in completing another rewrite. Typing in this blog one-handed is as much work as I've attempted at the computer.
    The enforced inactivity gave me a chance to reflect on a number of things. Mine is a rela...
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Normal Service...

December 13, 2014
Sorry to everyone who expected a new blog before this. I've had a fall, and although I feel fine, the plaster cast on my arm is slowing me down rather. Normal service wil be resumed when it comes off.

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Black Friday

November 30, 2014
I don't usually use this blog as a platform to complain about society (apart from errant apostrophes), but the behaviour of the bargain hunters who stormed the shops on 28th November prompts me to break my rule.
    What on earth did people think they were doing? Whatever happened to the British tradition of queueing? There was no politeness or consideration, and very little common sense. Wheelchair-bound people were knocked down and trampled over, shoppers were rugby tackled and people had go...
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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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