Little Things...

September 14, 2014
This has been one of those weeks when it's been time to catch up with a few bits and bobs.
    I was given the opportunity to have a poem ('Bare the Body and Hide the Soul') on Songs of Eretz Review, which required a short bio and 'poet's notes'. I'd no sooner sent them off than Steve Gordon put them online for the Poem of the Day on 9th September.
    There were proofs to go through for my feature in Thresholds about Samuel Beckett's story, 'Ping'. That should be online tomorrow (Monday 15th September). Then there was an invitation I couldn't refuse from @TwictionAddict. A fan of the site suggested that having published a couple of my twiction stories on a 'custard' theme, and a series of 'sexbot' stories from S. Kay, we should combine the two. Naturally, we were both game for the challenge. I've already sent mine off and have my fingers crossed that it'll be accepted. I couldn't mess about getting it done, as I'm due to be @TwictionAddict's featured author for October. There'll be an interview and a handful of tweets. Hopefully, I'll live up to the honour. Meanwhile, you should be able to find one of my tweets on the prompt 'congregation' online today (14th September).
    It's surprising how the time all these small things take mounts up. Consequently, I haven't got as much done on Discord's Apprentice as I'd hoped, but every couple of hundred words I manage will also mount up eventually. I'm sure it'll all be worth it in the end.
 

One Little Word

September 8, 2014
People who don't write usually don't understand how those who do can agonise over a word. Would it be better to use a name or a pronoun? Is 'indicate' a better choice than 'show'? It isn't only a matter of getting the grammar right, or even of making sense, but a need to convey a mood, capture character or to be beautiful or striking. Does a word have the right rhythm? Will it maintain the pace and flow?
    A single word might have to fulfil several functions, such as showing a character's at...
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Four Legs Good

September 2, 2014
The good news this week, is that my entry was a runner-up in the Haynet and Lavender & White Equestrian Short Story competition. 'Horse Sense' is about a man who tries to reignite the spark in his marriage by taking his wife on holiday in a horse-drawn caravan. When things go wrong, it takes horse sense to save the day. All the runners-up will be published on the organiser's site at http://www.hay-net.co.uk in the near future, and you can already enjoy the winner, 'Be Careful What you Wish Fo...
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A Little of What You Fancy

August 25, 2014
One of the drawbacks of the school holidays is that the choice of films in the cinemas is restricted to blockbuster action movies targeted at teenagers, or animations aimed at children. There's little depth or humour, and when these are used, there's a tendency to batter the audience over the head with them.
    On the face of it, Guardians of the Galaxy is no different, and my expectations of it were low. I looked forward to 90 minutes of fairly mindless action and noise with caricatures inst...
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Productivity

August 18, 2014
I've had one of those weeks where I feel I've been rushing around without really getting anywhere. I think everyone has them from time to time. They're frustrating because you think you've achieved nothing, but is that really true? I've made a list of what I've been doing since last Monday.

I've written: blogs - 3
                   tweets - 6
                   notes for features - 3
                   doggy diary (the things my bichons get up to) - 2 A4 sheets
                   Discord's Appren...
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Absolutely Fabulous Twiction

August 11, 2014
Twiction Addiction has accepted another two of my tweets in response to its regular prompts. The most recent one went online on 9th August. So far, I've submitted tweets on paper, custard, collar and congregation. Not only has the man behind Twiction Addiction, Mark Connors, invited me to be its featured author for October, he's also introduced me as "the fabulous Karla Dearsley". I'm dead chuffed. Now, all I have to do is live up to it. 
Check out @TwictionAddict to read lots of twiction fro...
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No Pruning Required

August 4, 2014
Having recently been to Florence, I took the opportunity on a sunny afternoon to sit in the garden and read E. M. Forster's A Room with a View. I watched the film again the night before I went away, and I'm glad to say that it's very faithful to the book. That's quite remarkable, especially for a novel of that period (early 1900s).
    Usually, novels have to be pared down for the screen, but Merchant-Ivory's adaptation has kept every character and scene. Practically every line of dialogue in ...
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Don't Fight It

July 28, 2014
It's been almost too hot to think. It's hard to plot stories or craft beautiful sentences when you're wilting. Not that I'm complaining. Who knows how long the lovely weather will last? I would encourage everyone to avoid spending all day at their computer, if they can. Slap on the suncreen, don your sunglasses and possibly a hat, and set your chair up in a shady spot outside.
    You can write just as well with paper and a pencil. Should the piece you intended to work on become a sluggish tri...
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Waste Not, Want Not

July 20, 2014
Researching a novel can be fun or frustrating, but it's always time consuming and, all too often, the facts that you find the most fascinating never make it into the finished work. That doesn't mean that the hours spent checking websites, hunting out books and talking to experts are wasted.
    The more background information you have, the more confidently you can write. You'll know your characters better and won't have to waste time rewriting because you've placed them in impossible situatio...
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A Room with a Different View

July 14, 2014
When you go on holiday, it isn't unusual to see people taking photo after photo, barely taking the time to focus. In fact, they're so intent on getting the shot that they don't even really look at the things they're taking photos of. When they look at them afterwards they probably have trouble remembering that they were there.
Writers are always told to carry a notebook with them, and I second that, but there's a danger of becoming like those photographers. Somehow a balance needs to be found...
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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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