Kate Copeseeley's Blog

Busy Busy Bee

This past year has gone by in a whirlwind!  I have found myself meaning to come on here several times to update you on my bookish progress, but then I disappear again and forget this semi-regular blog still exists.

Today I come to give you good news and bad news.

The good news is, I have two books to release (one in a week, and one in six months).  They are ya sci-fi/colonization/survival books in a duology (maybe a trilogy.  I have a third story in mind, but it depends on the response the books get.)

I am also working on two books (one of which is the Five Tribes adjacent book I mentioned last year) and plotting a book.

Writing is happening and I haven't disappeared completely.

The bad news is, I'm doing school right now, which is going to significantly cut into my writing time.  When I first started writing, my kids were babies and I had a chunk of time in the morning where I could write and edit.  Now they're big and I'm moving into a different space of life where I decide what I want to do.  Obviously, I would love to just write, but it doesn't pay the bills. haha  It's a nice addition to my fun money, but I'm interested in getting out into the world again, because that's where I get all my story ideas, in any case.

The next year of my life will be particularly busy, but like I said, I have two books that will get released, hopefully giving you a bit of something to cling to while I slowly work on finishing the books I've started.

Here is the book release happening next week:

Description:They were society's cast-offs, a prison population, sent from a dying earth to discover whether an unknown planet was habitable. After a planned mutiny on board the colony ship by one group of prisoners, the delinquents find themselves crash-landed on the planet, abandoned by the other adults. Stranded on a harsh, alien world, they must fight for survival while evading the ruthless criminals who betrayed them. Former privileged teen Cale Kincaid and conflicted mutineer August Bismark find themselves leading a band of survivors as they navigate the treacherous landscape. With no food, no supplies, and little practical survival knowledge, will they be able to live through one night, much less survive long-term?

Happy Reading!

I Take it Back

 So in the world of unexpected things, I've come across something I didn't foresee myself doing for quite some time yet.  I'm writing a Five Tribes book.  Except it's NOT a Five Tribes Book.  I don't know how to explain it yet, and maybe I'll never figure out how to properly describe it. 

It has Five Tribes magic, but no Five Tribes characters.  Yeah, that's the best I've got.  I'm really excited about it, though, and I hope you are too.

Just wanted to quickly update you.  Now, back to the grindstone.

Happy Reading!

-Kate

New Things

 I have not stopped writing as some rumors have stated.  I'm still here, every day, plugging away.  In fact, since finishing Universis, I have written three books and almost finished plotting two.  I'm just not sure what to do with them yet.

While I figure it out, there won't be much released under my name for a bit.  I'll keep you updated, but I'll tell you right now, none of them are Five Tribes stories.  I don't have any ideas for how to expand on that universe as yet.

I have a sci-fi series in the works, and potentially a "we're in the real world" fantasy series getting plotted.  When I know where I'm going with those, I'll let you know!

In the meantime, you can track me on goodreads to see what books I'm currently enjoying (Murderbot Diaries, anyone??) and keep an eye out for news.

Sorry it's been so long!

Happy Reading!

Buy if you Dare

 Hello all!

I've been dealing with sickness and summer busyness over here so I haven't had a chance until now to update you.  It's done!!!  Universis is available for sale at pretty much every ebook distributor you can get it from: ibookstore, amazon, smashwords, barnes and noble, kobo.  Wherever.

It's yours to view when you choose, but set aside a chunk of time, because this one is a doozy!  I want to thank all of you who have hung with me this far.  It's been a super long journey, but here we are! 

I hope you enjoy it.

Happy Reading!

-Kate:)

Holy Carp!

Finally, after months of work, the edits are finished.  I'm dead, readers.  But the story that I wanted to tell is done and I can't help being immensely pleased by that.  Wow.  Just this series alone was about 800,000 words (maybe more, I haven't done the math lately) and when I started I had no idea where it would end up.

My writing may never be perfect (is anyone's?) but I'm really satisfied with the way it turned out.  There are stories still untold, but those who matter in this journey had their day.

So now it's off to my proofreader, and I'm hoping to have it back in another month or so.  This book is 180,000 words, so it's going to take a while.  In the mean time, I wanted to share the cover with you.  I love it, because it represents everything this story has come to mean to me, and gives a hint about where it's going.

I hope to have more good news for you soon.  Happy reading!

Writing progress!

Well, it's been long enough, that I wanted to touch base.  I got my feedback for Universis, and I'm currently in the middle of revising and editing it.  I'm about 20% of the way finished, and with a book this big, that translates to about 40,000 words down and about 140,000 to go!  I'm hoping to be done after the new year and able to present it to you.  I assure you, it's my biggest priority right now, but trying to get it right has been a massive undertaking.

I have three book ideas in the works, but I'm only adding a note here or there in my writing notebook, because I really want to devote all my time to finishing this series!

I'll update again when the editing is done and I've sent the whole thing off to my proof reader.  I'll also show off the new cover too, because I don't think I've done that yet and I really love it.

Happy Reading!

-Kate

New Project

I think I mentioned in my last post that while I'm waiting for feedback on Universis I'd be working on something else.  Or maybe I didn't... I guess I should have checked that entry before I started typing up this one.  Ah well.

In any case, in order to give my brain a break from that last monumental undertaking, I wanted to try something completely different.  I've done a lot of weird projects over the years: short stories about gunslinging angels, retellings of classic fairytales told from the perspective of the helper animals, a story about a girl who can see the universe through the keyhole of her bedroom.  Last Christmas I wrote a serial story about a man and a woman that get stuck in a holiday movie.  Basically, I go wherever my imagination takes me, but I also try to do new things while I'm writing new things.

I'd been planning a sci-fi survival story for a while.  I've always wanted to write a sci-fi story, but I've never had a story big enough to write a whole novel about.  When I finally got an idea I wanted to try, Amazon sent out an email about their new Kindle Vella library and it seemed like fun timing.

Kindle Vella is a serial story platform, similar to the Wattpad one that I tried out over the Christmas break, but it's more convenient for me, in that hooks right into my kdp account so I can track everything without an issue.  It releases on Kindle app next week, so if you have kindle app on your phone or tablet, you'll have access to my story.  By the time it goes live, there will be at least 3, if not four episodes released.  My plan is to release new eps MWF.

It does cost money.  The first three episodes(that's what they call chapters) are free, and each episode after that varies according to length, with a cap at 50 coins.  I have no idea how much coins cost to buy.

If you're interested and you feel like you have the wherewithal, feel free to check it out.  I'm over halfway through writing the book itself, and I'm guessing I'll be finished writing it by end of August.  Then I will be doing a deep dive into editing Universis.

The story is called Between Me and the White Fire, which is from an amazing poem written by one of my favorite poets, Mary Oliver.  It's called Sleeping In the Forest. 

Here's the cover and the blurb.

Here is the premise: They were the cast-offs of society, a prison population, sent from a dying earth to discover whether an unknown planet was habitable. After a planned mutiny on board the colony ship by one group of prisoners, Cale and her fellow delinquents find themselves crash landing on the planet, abandoned by the other adults. With no food, no supplies, and little practical survival knowledge, will they be able to live through one night, much less survive longterm?

So that's what's going on with me in the down time between finishing Universis and editing the rough draft.  This year is going to be a busy one, writing wise, and I look forward to what comes next!

Happy Reading!

A Final Wish

 Hello readers,

I am happy to report that The Five Tribes series is finished.  Whoa.  I can't believe I just typed that.  This series has been 12 years in the making, thanks to various life hiccups and my inability to write any novel for this series in under 100k (barring that first one, of course).

This book, Universis, is actually coming in at 175,000 words!  I'd love to say that it will get back down to 150k, but I think what with being more descriptive and clarifying some of the plot, it will probably end up around 170k.  But it is chock full of everything you could want: love, loss, change, explosions, new characters, new worlds, and new legends.  This book is the culmination of everything I've been building since the very beginning of the series and I hope it will have the answers you've been asking yourself about the Five Tribes and its existence.

It's hard to know where to end a series, but I've done the best that I can to honor these characters we've all followed for so long, and to tell their story to all of you.  There is an epilogue and some loose threads, and who knows... there could be some books set in this world in the future.  No promises, but there are several characters who still need stories, to my mind.

For now, my plan is to do one rough pass through, where I make sure all the names are correct and double-check my scrivener file for inconsistencies before I hand this sucker off to the betas.  And while that project is marinating, I'll be starting something completely new.  I'm not going to talk about it now, but there will be a post in the near future about what I'm working on next.

Thanks again, to all of you for your encouragement, your comments, your emails, your reviews and ratings.  I've tried to take in as much feedback as I can and really consider what would make the books even better, but in the end, the story will be what it wants to be.  I'm just grateful that some of you have been along for the ride since the beginning and made my writing the richer for it.

Happy reading!

-Kate

Almost Big News

 When you're staring down the short end of 150k, people, it's time to celebrate.  That's right.  I'm at 145k, and that's not the only good news.  I've got three chapters and an epilogue left!!!  That's it!  Then I will do a rough draft editing pass before I send this sucker off to my beta readers.

I am feeling all kinds of good right now, about that.  I will also post the final cover for your enjoyment in an upcoming post (have to have something to look forward to!).
So, yes, good news.  Each chapter has three perspectives, and each perspective is a chapter length in itself, so I'm guessing it will take another couple of weeks to put that part in the bag, and it will probably be a month before the rough edit is done.  I have a lot of clean up work to do and I have to check everything to make sure it fits overall with the previous novels.  But I am seriously hoping for an end of the year publish date.  (I don't want to say earlier and totally fail, but who knows, it could happen!)
Hope you are all well and happy reading!-Kate

I used to write so often...

 Oh life.  How unexpected you are in ruining all my plans.  Or not.  

Hello, all.  Those of you lingering few that have read my books and thought to yourselves... I wonder what Kate is up to these days, since she hasn't written a single entry in a year.  A freaking year.

Well, Kate has been busy.  Not writing.  Oh no!  She's been homeschooling her children, because of Corona and school closures.  So unfortunately, Universis has taken a back-burner to that mess.  But I did brush it off and look it over and the half of the book that IS written is stuff I like.  So I'll keep it.  There was a bunch of stuff I didn't like, and I cut it all out and started over.  I wrote more stuff that fit better, and now I'm back up to half and spilling over into finishing.  Yes, I can see the end in sight friends.  I'm not sure what sort of ending it will be, but it will be the END.  Because writing a series is hard, y'all.  

Not a fan, if I'm going to be honest.  The planning and the designing and the note taking so I don't mess everything up is exhausting.  On the other hand, watching these characters learn and grow over the past 10 years has been some of the best work of my life.  I will MISS them so much: Nikka, Luka, Zyander, Alea, Surgal, Alys, and the Vixen.  They've been such good friends to me, and I hope they go on to live good lives when I'm not there chronicling them.  I'll guess we'll see what the chances are by the time the book ends, huh?

I've got about 40k words left, but as long as I stick to my goal of 1000 words per day, I should finish this sucker up (barring sickness or major life events) in a couple of months.  So exciting!

In the meantime, I've been planning what I'll do next, and I think it will be very different.  It's only alive in Scrivener for now, because I'm not writing another word that isn't about the Five Tribes.  

Hope all is well with you and your families,

Kate:)