Kate Copeseeley's Blog

It's been over a year since I posted last, and many things have changed.  I took about a year off from writing, which was really hard on my spirit, to be honest, because I love writing and that has never changed, no matter how many new things life has brought me.

I went back to school and I'm in the process of starting a new career of SOME sort.  Not sure what the next few years are going to look like.  BUT.

The fact remains, that I will keep writing.  It's a part of me, telling stories, and that will never be shaken.  I enjoy writing as a creative outlet, and I like writing stories that I know I'll enjoy reading myself.  I'm actually rereading the final book in my Five Tribes series—Universis—right now.  My stories are my own, but I love sharing them for others to read and enjoy.

I may not be a big social media person (sorry, I'm never going to be one of those authors engaging on Instagram or trying to get people to review my books), but if one of my stories has found you and you enjoyed it, I'm glad.

Last January, I released the second book in my Colonial Outcasts series, I Heard Small Kingdoms.  I consider it a completed duology, with the potenial for a third book that I have partially outlined.  Right now, though, I'm finishing a contemporary romance from my other pen name.

So, what's next?  A book that has come tickling into my brain and refused to leave, of course!  I can't tell you everything, because spoilers, but I can tell you there is Five Tribes magic in play, and an alternative version of our world.  I didn't expect this book to employ Five Tribes magic and I still haven't worked out if it will involve their world directly or not.  I had the whole book outlined, but I realized that it's going to have to be one long book instead of two, and that threw me for a loop.

I currently have about 20,000 words written, and I'm guessing this sucker will clock in at 100,000.  So it's going to be a long journey.  But I'm writing consistently again, and I'm hopefully that the rough draft will be finished in the coming year.  *fingers crossed*

In the meantime, here is the cover of the second Colonial Outcasts book and a blurb.  Happy Reading!

Five years after the crash landing, the survivors of Maris 3g grapple with the harsh realities of their new world. Rae Fontaine, driven by a mysterious voice, ventures beyond their known territory to seek answers about the planet and the fate of other potential colonies. Meanwhile, Beech Wilder joins a fledgling colony in the north, experiencing firsthand the challenges of establishing a new life on this alien world. As he navigates loss and the growing threat of Grady, a ruthless leader, Beech fights to protect his community. Amidst the struggle for survival, these characters must confront both inner demons and external dangers, forging their paths in a world where hope and resilience are tested at every turn.

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!

 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

 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!

 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:)

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!

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

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!

 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

 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