January 16, 2022
Pardon me, but I want to mention one last thing about Christmas before everyone starts thinking about St Valentine's Day. One of the maddest things of all the Christmas madnesses can seem like sending Christmas cards. It can feel rather pointless and simply an extra chore that people only do because it's expected of them. To be sure that the people you send cards to know that you've truly given them some thought and care, you don't have to buy big, fancy cards that will cost as much again to post, neither do you have to make your own. I've often thought that I'd like to try this, but I'm no artist. However, there are two parts to a card: the image and the words.
People you haven't seen for a long time might appreciate a round-up of your year, but it can be hard to condense everything. Alternatively, any greetings card whether for Christmas or some other occasion, will mean much more if you personalise it with a short verse or micro story. Tailor it to the individual person, and it might become something they will keep and treasure.
Thinking about Christmas now might be as attractive as another helping of leftover Christmas pudding, but it won't hurt to jot down a few ideas while the season is still fresh in your mind. Leave it, and other things in life will start demanding your attention, and come next December you'll find yourself without enough time to do it. Start now, and not only will you feel like one of those smug people who always buy presents for the following Christmas in the January sales, but you will have taken the first steps to making the next festive season extra special.
Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Inspiration
January 8, 2022
I don't believe in 'em–New Year resolutions that is, mainly because I know I'll have fallen short before the end of January. However, I do have a long writing to-do list.
While I was writing the Exiles of Ondd novels, I gathered a big folder of ideas for everything from novels to essays, micro-fiction to monologues, and I want to dive into these. I'm not daft enough to think I can write them all in a year, even if I did think they were all worth it, but I should at least be able to finish s...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Inspiration
January 1, 2022
This is such a strange time of year. All the anticipation leading up to Christmas has gone, but the new year has not really got into swing. Many people have been back at work already, but the decorations are still up. Before you can decide what might happen and what you'd like to achieve in 2022, you need to assess where 2021 has brought you.
Personally, I expected to complete
Discord's Shadow far sooner than I did. By the time it was finally launched on 6th November there was little time lef...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley.
December 26, 2021
This is the time of year when submission calls and competition deadlines can be thin on the ground. Editors and contest organisers deserve a break too! It gives writers a chance to look about them and gather some ideas for all the opportunities that are coming up in January. Here's a round-up of a few.
Playwrights should get writing now if they want to send work to the next BBC Script Room call. They're looking for stage, television, film or radio scripts at least 30 minutes long. You'll have...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Competitions
December 18, 2021
I don't have a secret door to a fantasy world in the back of my wardrobe, nor can I flip open my phone and ask Scotty to beam me up, but I shall be running away for Christmas. There will be no last minute rush to the shops, nor any family arguments about which old film to watch on TV. I shall be in my own world, or more likely, a someone else's world.
If I'm not scribbling notes and ideas for my own writing, I shall have my nose in a book or two. There will be no shortage of choice as the Sma...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Coming Soon
November 20, 2021
Technology is wonderful but I've had quite enough of it for a little while, thank you very much. I've been trying to add details of
Discord's Shadow to Goodreads and the cover won't upload. I've tried everything I can think of without success, although I had no problems uploading it anywhere else, so I've had to ask the Librarians for help. They're very good, and I'm sure they'll manage it straight away, but to escape the frustration I've turned to the latest Third Flatiron anthology,
Things ... Continue reading...
Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Reviews
November 16, 2021
Just when you think everything's under control, something comes along and slaps you in the face.
I came up with the title of
Discord's Shadow before I even started on the first draft. At the time, I did an internet search, and was happy that it didn't clash with anything–book, song, game,
anything else. At intervals, I repeated the search. When I put the novel on Smashwords and Amazon for pre-order I checked again. Now, only a week since
Discord's Shadow was released, I put the title in on ...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : FantasyFiction
November 4, 2021
With only a couple of days to go before the publication of
Discord's Shadow, it's now available to pre-order on Kindle and in paperback at
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B09KQRY6MS and
B09KNCZR3D respectively, as well as on Smashwords. This has been such a long time coming that I wanted to make it a little more special, so you can also download the first in the series,
Discord's Child, from Smashwords
FREE until 6th November using the coupon you'll find at
http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ks... Continue reading...
Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Coming Soon
October 26, 2021
Preparing
Discord's Shadow for publication has been rather like getting ready for Christmas: you have a list of things to do and things to get that seems to get longer rather than shorter as the days race by, then just as you're ready to throw up your hands and resign yourself to being too late, they're all done. There are still a few things on my publication list, such as reformatting the manuscript for Kindle and paperback but, at the risk of jinxing myself, they should be easily doable in ...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Coming Soon
August 22, 2021
I treated myself to enough books to fill a shelf in the Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale, and I couldn't resist starting on them any longer. I must have had the wrong glasses on when I chose them because instead of series starters, I found that two of the books I downloaded are second instalments. Once I stopped being irritated with myself, I realised what a good opportunity this was.
As anyone who follows this blog can hardly have avoided noticing, the third novel in the Exiles of Ondd series, ...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Coming Soon
