Full Steam Ahead

Getting a new story moving

It's been a minute since I last landed in your inbox. Fine, yes, several. I've dedicated most of them, these past six months, to trying to 1) write a new novel while also 2) keeping a small human alive (and, preferably, thriving). It turns out, to the surprise of absolutely no one, that balancing those two things - and making time for life outside them - is challenging stuff*. I can’t say I’ve mastered it.

My tiny adventurer, crawling towards chaos.

A friend of mine just told me that she doesn’t believe in balance. Instead, she likes to think of her life as an orchestra that she’s in charge of conducting. Sometimes she’s cueing several sections at once; sometimes she’s concentrating on a solo. It’s about creating harmony between all the different instruments; about making room for the ones that may be subtle, but have a vital part to play in the whole. Nice, right?

My next book - the one I just finished drafting, and that I’ll be calling WILD for now -won’t be out until 2027. But I miss talking to you, readers, and there are plenty of things bouncing around in my brain that I’d love to write about. Which to share, though? Musings about the craft of writing, or the great books I’m reading, or the cocktails that I am finally able to drink?

Today, I’m thinking about craft; namely, what it feels like to pick up a creative project after having set it down for a while.

I first came up with the idea for WILD way back in 2013, when I was a high school teacher. I wrote a short story alongside my students, full of girl knights and misleading mirrors and perilous dreams. For years, I let the idea steep, seeing if it had the legs to become a full-blown novel. During those COVID years, I went on long walks with the idea, letting it bend and take on a new shape. I drafted the first few chapters while I was waiting on edits for NIGHTBIRDS. I wrote some more early in 2024, which is when my agent sent it to my editor at Penguin. Thankfully, she loved it. I signed a deal a few months later and turned my mind to drafting the rest. By this point, I was pregnant: a joyous, long-hoped-for thing. But the more pregnant I got, the less the wheels of my creative brain wanted to turn. Writing this novel felt like wading through a heavy London fog. So I put it down and focused on the things my brain WOULD do, like promoting FYREBIRDS and buying tiny onesies, preparing myself for whatever motherhood would bring. It wasn’t until January of this year that I poked my head up out of maternity leave to get into WILD again. And, I won’t lie, I was nervous as hell.

Whenever I put a project down half finished, I always worry. I know that I will struggle, at first, to get back into the story’s swing. It feels like trying to get one of those old-fashioned steam trains out of the station where it’s been sitting idle. It isn’t like a modern train, ready to charge forth as soon as its conductor pulls a lever.** It takes a lot of coal and heat and scrambling to get it moving. Getting that momentum going can be an awkward and sometimes perilous thing. What if, during its long rest, some part of the train has started rusting? What if it’s broken? After so long, will it even run? And this time wasn’t like the other times. I’d given birth and my whole world had changed. I was a different person than the one I had been when I started it.

So how did I get the train moving? I re-read what I’d already written. I put it on my Kindle so I couldn’t edit while I did. I wasn’t trying to make the story better, just then; I was simply trying to rediscover it: the parts that made up this particular train’s engine and the fuel that was going to make it go. I made notes as I went about what I loved and didn’t. When I was done, I got out my notecards and plotted the rest of the story out in as much detail as I could. After that, there was nothing to do but shove my fear into a closet and start writing. It was hard, but not because the train was rusty: because I was. Sometimes, especially at the beginning, showing up is hard. But if you keep doing it, eventually you find a rhythm. The project starts to chug along without you having to shovel so furiously. You start to sit back and enjoy the ride.

*for those of you wondering how I managed to draft a book in six months while being my son’s primary carer, the answer is: I had help. I was given an advance to write WILD, which meant I had the funds to hire a nanny to look after my little man for 12 hours every week. That wasn’t enough hours for me to get the job done, but I also have a partner who supports my career, which sometimes takes the form of evening and weekend childcare so I can nip off and get some words out. Not every writer has these kinds of resources, and I like to be transparent about the fact that I do. For those looking for advice on writing when you have no time, listen to this podcast episode from Amie Kaufman. It’s pure gold.

**can you tell I don’t actually know how trains work? Stick with me.

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Meanwhile, on Pub Dates…

Remember that podcast of mine and Amie Kaufman’s, where we take you behind the scenes on our book series? It’s still a thing! We recently came back into your ears to talk about Amie’s latest book with Meg Spooner, Lady’s Knight. It’s joyful, funny, and full of glittery medieval heart. If you’d like to come behind the scenes with Meg and Amie, this is the perfect listen.

And The Exploress…

My time traveling women’s history podcast is ALSO still a thing! I’m in the middle of a series about a lady’s life in the Viking Age, which has been an interesting challenge. We know so little about what life was like for Norse ladies, but I can almost promise you’ll be surprised by what we do (aka: Hollywood lies). The last two episodes in the series will be going out later this month, full of tales of sorceresses and women warriors, but I suggest you start your listening journey here.

I’ve also spent more time interviewing historical fiction authors, picking their brains about the research they did into women’s lives in past eras. I had a blast talking to Alison Goodman about the Regency era. I shall gush about her book, The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies, below, but I’m adding the video version of our interview here for you. It’s usually behind a paywall, so if your idea of a good time is learning some interesting facts about women in Regency England, you’re welcome.

In June, I published a couple of episodes focused on queer women’s history, including one about opera singer/swordfighting prodigy Julie D’Aubigny. Now there’s a lady who packed a lot of drama into a relatively short life.

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What I’m Reading

I’ve read some real bangers since I wrote you last.

The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies by Alison Goodman. This Regency-era series is about two middle-aged spinsters who refuse to sit around and quietly work on their embroidery. Instead, they make it their business to help women in peril. Immersive, meticulously researched, funny, and very feminist. Imagine Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries holding hands with Jane Austen. If that doesn’t make you want to read this, I’m not sure we can be friends. Bonus: the sequel just came out, so you have two novels to go forth and enjoy.

I mentioned this above, of course, but I have to shout out Lady’s Knight by Meagan Spooner and Amie Kaufman one more time. Imagine A Knight’s Tale, but the story is actually about the lady blacksmith, who falls in love with the rich noble whose dowry is being given away as the prize for winning the jousting tournament. It’s fun and funny, witty and so full of heart.

These next are from two of my all-time tried-and-true authors: The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater and The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo. They’re both immersive historicals filled with rich detail, interesting characters, and a splash of magic. They’re both incredibly, jealousy inducingly good.

Xo Kate