Kate Spofford, author

Category: Writing

  • word count jealousy

    For the past couple of weeks, my writing buddy and I have engaged in word count wars during out writing group sessions.  Both times, Janina won.  This past week it was by a much narrower margin but I don’t like losing.  Especially when I’ve won Nanowrimo for the past 4 years and consider myself good…

  • excerpt time

    Finally you can read the excerpt from Hitchhikers on the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award site. However, first you’ll have to download the Kindle app (for PC, Mac, iPhone, etc.)  Then, from the ABNA home site, look on the left hand column and you’ll see the different categories of the Quarterfinalist entries – my category is…

  • *yay*yay*yay*

    After desperately refreshing the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award homepage all morning, FINALLY the quarterfinalists were revealed shortly after noon!  And after bracing myself for NOT seeing my name on the list, THERE IT WAS!!!! That’s right, I made it to the next round!  I was so excited I almost ran across the library to tell…

  • i’m a cliche… maybe

    I found a nice list of one writer’s top ten pet peeves about historical fiction.  Since I’m currently writing a historical fiction, I figured I’d see how cliched I was… #1: 21st century attitudes in historical characters: GUILTY The narrator of The Blood Countess, Ilona, is a pretty modern girl.  She questions things.  She likes to…

  • write it up!

    So recently a friend and I began an informal writing group. We’ve met the past three weeks and it’s been great! Not only do I have someone to talk to about writing, I’m getting more writing done (as opposed to how much writing I was getting done in the two months before we started meeting,…

  • i made the cut!

    Last month I entered the Amazon.com Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) with Hitchhikers. On Thursday they posted the list of those who had made the first cut, from 10,000 entries down to 2,000 (1,000 each in two categories, adult & YA). It took me a while to scroll down to the S’s, where I discovered my…

  • finally, a yes!

    So, you haven’t heard from me since June, when my short story “Seventh Son” was placed on the short list for Pill Hill Press‘s Monster Mash anthology. Since then, my story was accepted and the anthology is now available for purchase on their website and via online retailers such as Amazon! I am eagerly awaiting…

  • the weather is too nice for writing…

    It must be the weather. Either that, or I’m so close to finishing Hitchhikers that I’m delaying it. It’s hard to end something I’ve worked on for so long… unlike during Nanowrimo, when I am usually so ready to finish it and put it away and not look at it for a few months. I…

  • keep on truckin’

    So, a round-up of my publishing efforts thus far: 26 submissions sent, only 12 actual rejections. The rest have yet to respond (and some of them probably never will). I am on track as far as sending out submissions to get my 100 rejections, but lagging behind in getting the actual rejections! I am trying…

  • wash. rinse. repeat.

    It’s back to square one. Nothing panned out, unless you count my growing number of rejections. So it’s back to querying, and writing of course. Still working on Hitchhikers, although I may take another stab at Blood Countess if I can’t get past the weird place I left my Hitchhikers narrator in last night…