Kate Wood

Current submission stats!
The conference in Austin is still upcoming, and I've previewed the roster of agents at a partner conference in Denver following the one in Austin, and I will be taking advantage of the access to virtually pitching a handful of agents hosted by that conference as well.
I've had some very encouraging steps forward on the journey toward publication, and some big decisions being made in the near future! Once again, your continual support means the world to me!

A little sneak peek into my current
Every year, I’ve made a goal to read more, and I typically do fairly well for myself. Last year I averaged a book a month.

This year has been by far the best in a long time already. I’ve DEVOURED three books in the past 20 days.

I’m so excited to start on Fourth Wing! I’m on page 5 and I’m hooked!

Thank you to everyone who has shown their support! I am astounded to say we are only $180 to the new goal! I’ve been blown away the past couple of days and so encouraged by this show of support! If I meet this new goal of $700 I’ll share the synopsis and a little sneak peek of my novel here!

Help me get an agent!!, organized by Kate Wood Hello there! My name is Kate Wood. I am a teacher, student, mom, and writer (among many other things… Kate Wood needs your support for Help me get an agent!!

We met the fundraising goal to cover the registration fees! Thank you to everyone who has shown their support! I've updated the goal now to $700 to help with the hotel stay. If you haven't yet, and would like to, your support means so much to me! (Even if you simply share the link, that makes a HUGE difference!)

THANK YOU!

Help me get an agent!!, organized by Kate Wood Hello there! My name is Kate Wood. I am a teacher, student, mom, and writer (among many other things… Kate Wood needs your support for Help me get an agent!!

I am so grateful to each of you. Your support truly means more than I will ever be able to put into words.

As of this morning, there is less than $100 left to raise for the registration fees. If you would still like to donate, click the link. Again, anything beyond the goal will go toward the hotel stay first then food and gas beyond that.

Because of your support, I’m going to be keeping everyone updated leading up to and on March 1st. If you would like to see those updates, make sure to follow me on instagram, .wood.author

Help me get an agent!!, organized by Kate Wood Hello there! My name is Kate Wood. I am a teacher, student, mom, and writer (among many other things… Kate Wood needs your support for Help me get an agent!!

After a few people reaching out to ask how they can help me in the publishing process, I’ve decided to provide this opportunity for anyone who is interested in helping me attend this event to help! I put together a GoFundMe to cover (at the very minimum) the registration fees for an event I plan on attending in Austin, TX to pitch to literary agents and learn more about the publishing process. If you would like to help and want to know more you can check out the link below!

Help me get an agent!!, organized by Kate Wood Hello there! My name is Kate Wood. I am a teacher, student, mom, and writer (among many other things… Kate Wood needs your support for Help me get an agent!!

Current querying stats!

15 total queries
4 direct “pass” (replied with rejection)
4 indirect “pass” (no reply, but meant to be taken as a rejection)
7 active submissions

I’m currently looking into attending a writers workshop event to meet with a bunch of agents and pitch my book. It comes with a cost between the admission and hotel, and part of me is hesitant to put money into it (especially with two little ones!)

Letters play a HUGE role in my novel. I strive to write letters still as often as I remember, and I have a stack of Christmas Letters/Cards to send off in the next week!
There’s something magical about writing your first letter. Especially when it’s to the man in the red coat! 🎅🏻
I took my daughter to The Silos for some girl time to celebrate her fourth birthday (she’s a huge “Jojo” fan!).
Last time she was there, she got to meet for a book signing. She was a little sad to not see her this time, but she was proud of Jojo for being such a hard worker! ❤️

I’ve been working on the same novel for over half a decade, and I’ve spent my time writing very little else.

Recently I began stepping into another time and world, writing the thoughts of someone new, and I feel as though I am cheating on my others.

I’ve found that it’s hard to start over. I’m dating story ideas again after being married to one for so long, and I’m questioning who I am as a writer. As I write I catch myself asking if the voice I am using to write is my own or if it is the voice of the character I wrote for so long. Perhaps she and I are the same.

I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about my writing career.
My journey with my novel began seven years ago.
It’s undergone two drafting processes.
Had multiple identity crises.
Been rejected by agents eight times.

But has been loved by anyone willing to read it.

I’m so protective of this story that I’m hesitant to give it to anyone. Beta readers? Not for me (or so I’ve been telling myself.)

I like to think I know what I’m doing—but the truth?

I’m just along for the ride.

And with that another chapter closed.
The manuscript is complete. The courses are done. In a few weeks, the diploma will be hanging on my office wall beside its predecessor. For now? I rest and wait.
There are currently so many moving, shifting pieces of my life, and so many things that I am waiting for. Luckily for me, this isn’t my first season of waiting.
I’m going to embrace the break and rest while I have it, soak in the quality time, quiet moments, and joy of exploration. The work will come soon enough.

Last night I typed “THE END” and concluded a 103,730 word, 369 page manuscript. I’ve been deep in this project for eight years, but this draft I’ve been working on for the past two.

Five weeks ago, I had 22,800 words. In the time since then, I have written over 80,000 words.

In one week, I defend my formal thesis, and once my thesis has been approved and accepted by my university, I will have my Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing in hand.

The past few weeks have been filled with so many ups and downs and I can now feel myself coming down from the stress high, and I already don’t know what to do with myself.

This moment deserved a permanent spot in my feed. Readers will not understand until they get to it themselves, but tonight my heart broke in words.

Writing is not an easy task, and they say when a writer cries, the reader weeps, but what if the writer is the one weeping?

My little writer’s assistant erasing away notes from the day’s chapters. Still one chapter left to write for the day! 💕

After a highly productive writing day, during which I wrote nearly 10,000 words, my grand total word count is now just over 90,000, and I have completed 28/39 chapters!

I have six days remaining until my deadline!

UPDATE: By the official end of my writing day (10:30pm), I’ve reached a grand total of over 12,000 words written for the day with 29/37 chapters. In the process of writing chapter 29, I inadvertently combined it with a later chapter and in assessing the damage I’d done to my outline, decided the chapter that fell in between was no longer necessary. So my total chapters in my novel will no longer be the unsatisfactory 39, but the slightly less unsatisfactory 37 😅

Here’s to writing days and finally discovering what my pregnant body was craving (plot twist: Topo Chico’s sparkling water with a twist of lime). So far, I’ve written nearly 5,000 words today, and I’ve only been at it for two and a half hours with so much time still left in the day. My deadline is in less than a week, and I have thirteen chapters still left to write. To say I’m overwhelmed is an understatement, but I’m going to make it through because I have to see the end of this story. It’s been eight years in the making, so there’s no way I’m giving up now. Not when I’m this close. I’m throwing everything I’ve got at this story this week, so look out!

A little over a month ago, I had the first three chapters done and 22,800 words to my novel. My goal was to write my novel with a minimum word count of 75,000. Tonight I met that initial goal having written over 53,000 words over the past few weeks. I’m now working on chapter 25 of 39 with my final deadline being approximately a week and a half away. To say that this journey has been easy would be to lie. I’ve gone days without writing and have been faced with fierce frustration when I felt just drained or unmotivated to write. But with the help of my amazing husband, my family, my coworkers, and my students, I’ve persisted, and it has felt so good.
I’ve been working on this story for over eight years. I’ve been developing this draft for the past three, and it has been amazing to get a taste of something that I would love to do as my actual job one day, just to be home or literally anywhere writing stories that people actually want to read.
The journey isn’t over yet, but I’m oh so close.

This morning in the wee hours before my little family woke up, I wrote almost 1,000 words, bringing my total to over 70,000 words. With each 5k milestone I grow more and more in awe of the fact that I finally get to do this, and it makes me so excited for what’s to come.

Thanks for being here for the journey ❤️

I look angry, but that’s my resting writer face 😅🤷‍♀️
Peach Ginger tea, my , and a quiet library on a Saturday afternoon. Set up couldn’t be better.
Today’s goal is to write 3 chapters, and I’m only about half way through the first one, but I’m moving and that’s what matters!!

A bit of a Monday night rant:

I had a heart to heart with myself today.
For the past few days I have struggled to get motivated to write. It's not writer's block--I know what that feels like. This is different. I know what to write, and I know how to put it into words but the motivation is genuinely not there.
I haven't written anything that felt GOOD since last Thursday, and today I pinpointed it to the moment I received my first query rejection.
I didn't go into this process ignorant in the rate of rejections from literary agents. I knew 99.9% of my queries would be met with "Unfortunately"s, and it would only take that one or two to really make the difference. So, I set myself up almost numb to the idea of rejection, and I subconsciously did so out of self-preservation. But what I ended up doing was preventing myself from CONSCIOUSLY acknowledging and feeling the rejection for what it was--a rejection and a missed opportunity. As a result, I've been subconsciously affected by the rejection and I'm left unsure of how to fix it because I'm not consciously upset that I was rejected because I know there are SO MANY other opportunities out there.
Basically, in NOT letting the rejection bring me down for a day or so and getting the "grieving" out of my system as my sweet husband put it, I left myself unsure how to shake this funk because I wasn't even aware I was in a funk until precious time had already passed.
So the plan is this: I'm going to set myself up for writing success, with a cozy candle, a cup of coffee, my favorite Glen Miller records for background noise, and I'm going to write because I'm a writer, and that's what I do.

I received my first rejection from the literary agents I submitted to this week! It was disappointing only because it seemed like such a wonderful opportunity and fit to me!

However one of my students said it best today:
“Rejection is just an opportunity for redirection.” 💙

Monumental milestone for me today!

If you don’t already know, this project began in the spring of 2016 and I completed the first draft in May 2018 for my Bachelors of Fine Arts thesis.

Today, as I was working on it for my Masters of Fine Arts thesis, I officially surpassed the TOTAL word count of my first draft, and I’m only a third of the way through this one!

It’s mind boggling to think what the word count will be when it is complete!

Recap of my writing time this evening! 🥰

Kate Wood on Instagram: "A recap of today’s VERY productive writing session!! I’m off to try to write one more chapter before the night is over! #historicalfiction #historicalfictionromance #romance #amwriting #ww2 #writer #writing... 0 Likes, 0 Comments - Kate Wood (.wood.author) on Instagram: "A recap of today’s VERY productive writing session!! I’m off to try to write one more chapter..."

I’ve officially reached over 44,000 words and have completed the first thirteen chapters of thirty-nine! As of yesterday I have submitted query letters to three literary agencies and will hear back from all of them by late May, some sooner!

Thank you all for your continued support! ❤️

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