Showing Tag: "routine" (Show all posts)

Doggy Diary

Posted by K. S. Dearsley on Monday, January 27, 2020, In : Inspiration

Does anyone remember 'Urban Dog'? It was a column in The Telegraph about the real life 'adventures' of a Scottie dog, Parker, and its owner, Will Cohu. I used to love it, and when my husband and I brought home two Bichon Frisé puppies, it prompted me to start a puppy diary.
Our previous canine companion had died two years earlier, and while I had many wonderful memories of what she used to get up to, I was sure there was much that I'd forgotten. I didn't want that to happen with Harry and So...
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Up the Garden Path

Posted by K. S. Dearsley on Monday, September 23, 2019, In : Inspiration

I'm amazed there aren't cobwebs and half an inch of dust over everything. Two weeks away from home and I find the spiders have taken over when I get back, and it's been longer than that since my last blog. I apologise. You've often been in my thoughts, even if I haven't been sitting with my fingers poised over my keyboard.
The fact is that when daily life hasn't muscled its way in to what I laughingly call my writing routine, I've succeeded in tripping myself up. With the only deadline for th...
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Boomerang!

Posted by K. S. Dearsley on Sunday, July 22, 2018,

There's a school of thought that says, as soon as a story, poem or novel etc. is rejected you should send it out again. Like a boomerang, you should throw it straight back to another publisher. This is probably the best antidote to rejection, because it doesn't give you time to worry or get depressed. Your writing is your product, and as with any other business, it isn't going to enhance your reputation or improve your bank balance until you sell it.
Those are the pros, but there are some ...
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Time-wasters

Posted by K. S. Dearsley on Sunday, June 15, 2014,

Strange how those little jobs that you thought would only take a minute or two have a habit of eating up half your day. Social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, can be a great help to writers as a means of publishing their work and of keeping up with what else is going on in the 'literary' world, but if you aren't careful, you could find that there's no time left for anything else. Coming up with a strategy to keep them within bounds makes sense.
Be clear what it is that you want to ach...
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Poet of the Day

Posted by K. S. Dearsley on Monday, April 7, 2014, In : Inspiration

The literary world is currently celebrating the centenary of William Stafford. This remarkable man wrote a poem every day for more than four decades, including the day he died. Even if a proportion of his prodigious output was duds, his discipline meant that over his life he published more than 22,000 poems in 65 volumes of poetry and prose.
I'd be happy if I could keep up that regime for even a year. That would be 365 poems instead of my usual handful. As it is, I struggle to create a tweet...
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Tomorrow Never Comes

Posted by K. S. Dearsley on Monday, October 21, 2013,

Why do writers procrastinate? Presumably we're all writers because we enjoy writing or derive some satisfaction from it (if not an income). Why is it, then, that most of us would rather bath the dog than settle down and get on with it?
My own delaying tactics include everything from sharpening the pencil, making coffee, remembering that the veggies for dinner need peeling and discovering that an essential piece of information requires an hour of research on the internet, to sorting out the co...
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Keep on, Keeping on

Posted by K. S. Dearsley on Sunday, October 7, 2012,

Writers are lucky compared with those in most creative professions. We don't have to wait for anyone to give us a job to keep working. If actors are rejected at auditions they can't perform unless they want to declaim Shakespeare at the supermarket check-out. Singers can practise in the bath, but their performances are ephemeral and gone forever along with the bathwater. Artists can continue painting whether anyone buys their work or not, providing they have money for materials and enough...
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Success!

Posted by K. S. Dearsley on Monday, September 17, 2012,

Two weeks away on holiday equals two weeks' worth of emails to sift through. Amongst the Amazon, Facebook and Linked In updates I found several pieces of good news.
There was an offer from the organisers of the Frome Festival Short Story competition to send my entry to a magazine publisher. The proof of the Bridge House Science Fiction anthology, Otherwhere and Elsewhen, arrived, so it shouldn't be long now before it's available. Lastly, my story, 'Salvage', has been accepted by Daily Scie...
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Bunking Off

Posted by K. S. Dearsley on Sunday, August 19, 2012,

When you have to juggle writing with a day job it can be hard to find time to focus. I've often seen it recommended that you should turn down invitations and become a virtual recluse if that's the only way you can make time to write.
Of course, you need to be disciplined, but if you shut yourself off from the world you lose touch with it. Not only do you risk forgetting how to make conversation (and therefore how to write dialogue), but you can all too easily lose perspective. If nothing...
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Puppy Diary

Posted by K. S. Dearsley on Tuesday, June 5, 2012, In : Inspiration

Yesterday was Harry and Sophie, our bichons', fifth birthday. They are such a huge part in my life, that now seems like the ideal time to look back at when they first came to live with my husband and me. (Before anyone coming to this blog looking for writing tips turns away in disgust, there is a writing angle to my reminiscences.)
From the first moment that we brought Harry and Sophie home, I decided to keep a puppy diary of all their funny ways, their personalities, the mischief they get up...
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Playing Truant

Posted by K. S. Dearsley on Thursday, October 20, 2011, In : Inspiration

I've often seen advice in publications for authors, that the best way to be productive and to avoid writer's block is to establish a routine for writing. Set aside a regular time slot, preferably daily - even if it's only for ten minutes or so. If you're struggling for ideas, write about anything that comes into your head - but here's where I see a problem. If you're so bound by routine, where's the room for new ideas to enter your life or for creative thought?
I recently broke with routin...
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About Me

K S Dearsley

Northampton, England

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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