Kate McIntyre's Blog, page 6

10 Ways You Can Help

Well, here we are. It is now June 13th, and there is only a month left before the release of my debut novel, The Deathsniffer’s Assistant (which you can preorder now on Amazon.)

I’ve been in an almost constant state of anxiety for two months now, and every day it gets a little bit crazier! I’ve poured so much of my life into this novel and in such a short time, it’s going to be turned out loose into the world. Already, strangers have their hands on ARCs and are weighing in with their thoughts...

THE DEATHSNIFFER’S ASSISTANT: Available for Preorder!

Exciting and wonderful news, everyone!

My debut novel, The Deathsniffer’s Assistant, is now available for preorder on Amazon.com! You can see the page here! Be sure to get your copy now!

Schrodinger’s Manuscript

I finished my first pass revisions of my second novel this weekend. That’s the first step in my editing process, when I just go through and read the book and fix anything that sticks out. I found some contradictions within the logic of the mystery, which I fixed, and ended up combining a couple minor characters into one. I also added a few scenes to build up the profile of some of the suspects in Olivia and Chris’s murder du jour to support the whodunnit aspect. Mostly though, my changes were...

Getting Out of the Labyrinth: Part 8 — Signing

Wow! It’s been a long time since I had a new entry in my Labyrinth series, hasn’t it? Between the A-Z Challenge, being out of the country, the upcoming release of my debut novel, and my second book wrapping up its first draft, there just hasn’t been the time for a long, meaty blog post. But things have slowed down a little bit, and I’m here to talk about the spot where the process becomes business: signing with a publisher.

Congratulations! Somebody likes you. It’s so exciting and validating...

First Draft For Deathsniffer2 Finished!

it’s time to meet my best friend again.

Good news everyone! I just finished my first draft for the sequel to THE DEATHSNIFFER’S ASSISTANT! It was one of my goals to finish my second book before my first one was released, and I’m excited to have hit that target with a lot of room to spare! It’s now eight weeks until July 13th, the release of my first novel, and I’m sitting on the first draft for the second in the series!

Of course, like all first drafts, it’s going to need a lot of finessing t...

Audio Adaptation

I recently got home from a long trip in the states! My friends and I took a lot of great long road trips while I was there, and since we were spending so much time behind the wheel, we decided to grab an audiobook from Audible. I suggested that we listen to a book I’d been trying to get them to read: Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger. Between hours of wonderfully charming fantasy of manners, we talked a bit about audiobooks.

I love them. A good audiobook is something totally magical. But...

Z: Zen Time, or, theta waves are magic.

Consider me a skeptic.

It’s just… part of my personality. I’m skeptical about everything. I like proof that something works. I don’t accept anecdotal evidence. I’m just that kind of person. So it’s especially impressive that I swear by such a weird, unproven, scientifically vague thing like theta waves.

I suffer from pretty bad anxiety attacks and I found theta waves while looking for some way to take the edge off them. I was desperate enough to try it despite my skepticism and was amazing wh...

Y: Yuck/Yum, or, being an author who hates caffeine

It’s my curse.

A writer runs on caffeine. Most creative types do. Hell, most noncreative types do! Caffeine brings your brain to life, chases away all the cobwebs, and lets you work to your best potential.

So what good is a writer who hates coffee?

I’d tried it all! Iced coffee, hot coffee, lots of sugar, lots of cream, fancy espresso mixed drinks… I hated it all! I tried dealing with it and gaining it as an acquired taste, but that was no good, either. I hated it more and more the more I dra...

X: Xhilerating Xercise Xceeds Xpectations, or, writing while walking, or, xs are stupid don’t look at me

A nice, slow walk on a perfect day is just the best. Something about it always gets my creative juices flowing. I can’t even guess at all the hours I’ve spent muttering to myself on the beautiful forested trails in my hometown, brainstorming and even fully outlining scenes. It’s a bit embarrassing, but sometimes I’ll even compose dialogues back and forth between characters, sounding out the way it should flow with my own voice. And the beat of my feet keeps me going.

It’s hard to say what it...

W: Write Women Unique

Here is the trick to writing strong female characters:

Write your women unique.

We need frumpy housewives to stand beside femme fatales and for both of them to be equally valuable to the narrative. We need fine ladies in sparkling gowns and we need rough tomboys in stained overalls. We need women who spend five hours on their hair and women who shave their heads. We need ladies in politics and ladies on the battlefield. We need adventurers and we need beaurocrats. We need women who are amoral...