Kate Greenwood's Blog
April 8, 2021
Cover Reveal
I’m so excited that The Way We Thought It Would Be is well on the way to being published! The cover was just revealed on my Instagram @kategreenwoodauthor. Let me know what you think! TWWTIWB will be out August 2021!
March 8, 2021
Pie to Pat’s Day Giveaway
To celebrate all my readers and thank you for your support, I’m starting an annual giveaways called Pie to Pat’s Day. From March 14 (Pie Day) to St. Patrick’s Day (March 17) all my eBooks will be free. Thank you everyone for your support!
January 7, 2021
Calling All ARC Readers
Do you want to be one of the first people to read my new book? Do you want to receive an Advance Reader Copy? If so, make sure to sign up for my newsletter located at the bottom of any page on my website for your chance to be a part of my ARC team! I’m looking forward to release day and I hope you are too.
September 6, 2020
Give Away
September 13 to September 17 A Guilty Man Walks will be available for free as an ebook on Amazon! I hope you all enjoy!
August 30, 2020
20k!
Excited to announce I am 20,000 words into my next novel! Are you excited? I’m pumped! As a teaser, I’m releasing the genre of my next novel……
YA CONTEMPORARY
Who saw that coming right? A big jump from crime fiction, but I am extremely excited for this project and hope you all love it as much as you loved A Guilty Man Walks. Make sure to sign up with your email for updates before the masses!
July 26, 2020
Next project
Hoping everyone is doing well and staying safe during these hectic times!
While the shelving of my last book was a difficult decision, I’m happy to say I’m well into my next one. This will be a little different. I’ve broken away from the mystery/crime thriller genre for the time and moved over to YA fantasy. I’m very excited for this book and I hope you are too! Don’t forget to join the mailing list for updates and important information! Cheers!
June 28, 2020
Shelving a Book
When I finished the sequel to A Guilty Man Walks, I was first and foremost excited to have completed a full length novel! Waiting through the month I gave myself to refill the well before editing was torturous but then the day was here. Editing was going well but there was A LOT of work to be done.
And then, about midway through my first round of editing, it hit me. This is not a story that needs to be told right now.
I am strongly of the mindset that when you write something (be it a novel, a text, or a Tweet), I need to make sure that A) it needs to be said, B) it needs to be said now, and C) it needs to be said by me. I had A and I had C, but B hit me hard. As much as I love the adventures of Margo and Mike, the next story I had written for them doesn’t need to be told at this time. In fact, I didn’t and don’t feel that I can put my heart in that story right now.
So I faced a dilemma I thought was unique to me - having to face shelving a book. I mean, I had already published one novella in the series, didn’t that mean I was failing by shelving the next and moving onto a different project?
No! Abosultely not!
If you haven’t already, let me introduce you to author Alexa Donne. Alexa is a YA author and also a YouTuber offering advice on writing and traditional publishing. Needless to say, I’m a big fan! There’s very few people whose writing advice I sing praises about, but Alexa is definitely a diamond in the ruff! And lucky for me, Alexa had already covered the topic of shelving a book.
Also lucky for me, it’s COMPLETELY NORMAL!!
Not only is it normal, it’s actually healthy! Recognizing when a project isn’t working, for whatever reason, and putting it down to focus on another project allows authors to grow and practice their skills! Because, let’s be honest, every time we put pen to paper it’s not going to be the next great American novel.
I could speak more on the topic, but I think Alexa says it best. See below for her YouTube video on shelving a book and, while you’re at it, check out her channel!
For those looking forward to another chapter in the Mike and Margo series, I’m sorry that you’ll have to wait a little longer. I have not given up on the characters I love so much, but rather hope to revisit the sequel in the near future. I thank you again for supporting me in my writing career. Please keep an eye out for my next project - soon to be announced.
Alexa Donne’s YouTube video:
May 5, 2020
First Draft
I am very excited to announce that the first draft of my second novel, a sequel to A Guilty Man Walks, is now complete! Now before you get too excited and rush off to Amazon, this is only the first draft and there is still LOTS of editing to be done. But we’re well underway to Mike and Margo’s next adventure!
Keep checking in for updates on the sequel! My debut novella, A Guilty Man Walks, is available on Amazon in eBook and print formats :)
First Draft Complete!
I am very excited to announce that the first draft of my second novel, a sequel to A Guilty Man Walks, is now complete! Now before you get too excited and rush off to Amazon, this is only the first draft and there is still LOTS of editing to be done. But we’re well underway to Mike and Margo’s next adventure!
Keep checking in for updates on the sequel! My debut novella, A Guilty Man Walks, is available on Amazon in eBook and print formats :)
April 9, 2020
National Novel Writing Month
Although we’re quite a bit away from November, my recent research keeps bumping me with little mentions on NaNoWriMo and I wanted to share my - probably unpopular - opinion about the writing challenge.
So what is NaNoWriMo? If you haven’t heard of it, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month and takes place during the month of November. Authors new and experienced are encouraged to crank out a novel in just a month. The goal of NaNoWriMo is to push authors to write in a fast paced environment to get their novel finally on paper and squash the self-doubt and distraction that usual wreck havoc on authors.
So why don’t I like it?
Well, it’s not that I don’t like NaNoWriMo per se. I love that more people getting their story out of their heads and onto paper! I also think NaNoWriMo is great to keep authors focused and not stuck in the endless loop of editing what they just wrote and never actually making it to the end goal - a finished novel.
That being said, it’s the speed that gets me. Full disclosure, I’m a slow writer. A lot of that probably has to do with the fact that I have a full time job and writing unfortunately has to be shoved into any spare pockets of time I have. But I think the speed of NaNoWriMo isn’t good for a lot of authors.
Now to be fair, I know there are many a successful book that have come out of NaNoWriMo and to the authors, that’s fantastic! However, how much time did these authors spend rewriting what they wrote during the November writing sprint? I’ve heard it time and again, authors returning to their NaNoWriMo project and realizing it’s… in need of a lot of help. And the reason for this is because NaNoWriMo puts so much emphasis on speed that it lets quality fall to the wayside.
No first draft has to be perfect by any means! However, the first draft should be something substantial. It’s like the Maren Morris song - “the house don’t fall if the bones are good!” If you want to write a novel that’s really going to be something, that isn’t going to suck all your energy and passion for the story during editing, then it has to start with good bones. This means planning (no offense pantsers! I’m very envious of your ability!) and having a first draft that isn’t perfect but you can see something good behind it. Editing shouldn’t be a rebuild but a renovation.
Think about your novel like a house. It’s a lot easier to change up the kitchen cabinets and change the wall color in the living room than it is to rip down the entire structure because you realize you never set the foundation!
Slow down out there authors! It’s not a race. I promise, if a month passes and you’re not done with your novel you will get it done! There’s no set timeframe for writing. Everyone is different. So, if NaNoWriMo isn’t working for you don’t stress! Take your time and keep yourself focused on attainable goals, whatever that means to you and your unique situation. And if NaNoWriMo works for you then that’s wonderful as well!
Cheers and happy writing!
