Kate Spofford, author

Tag: Hitchhikers

  • Hitchhikers cover reveal!

    It has taken some time – had to get permissions for the artwork, and tweak the font so that it’s readable as a teeny-tiny thumbnail – but finally I have a cover for Hitchhikers!!!   I like a lot, although I did prefer my initial design which used a different model and more of a…

  • writing is hard.

    There are so many distractions… so many things to see on the interwebs… I am watching Janina type away and maybe she’s thinks I’m writing too, but I’m not working on my novel like I should be… Today I read this article about authors who self-publish ebooks and are actually able to make a living…

  • Six Sentence Sunday: excerpt from Hitchhikers

    You have to come back. With a start I wake up. Sunlight is burning through the lilacs in a purple haze. Though I’m sweating, the stray is right there, where Kayla was lying just moments before. My hand remembers her warm skin. Did I just dream about my cousin being naked? Six Sentence Sunday is…

  • dropping the f-bomb

    Recently I read this article about how “YA novels are rife with profanity.”  The study showed that the average YA book had about 38 swears within its pages.  So, out of curiosity, I decided to do a “find” on my most current full YA manuscript, Hitchhikers, to see how many swears it contained.  Admittedly, when…

  • The Hunger Games: distraction or inspiration?

    I went to the midnight showing of “The Hunger Games” Thursday/Friday… then on Friday night, Janina was going to see the movie again so I was left to my own devices, none of which included writing.  I shouldn’t be so harsh on myself; I did do some research on literary agents, etc.  Put together some…

  • long time no write

    I’ve been under the radar recently… not doing much writing (unless you count working on character family trees?).  Since Hitchhikers didn’t make it through to the next round, I sent it out to several agents and a) got 2 rejections ON MY BIRTHDAY and b) had 2 agents request the manuscript on the day after…

  • 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 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…