Kate Ota
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Writing, Publishing, and Bookish Blog

Updates

7/5/2025

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Well, it's been a minute (or a few months!) The day job got a little insane, my private life got jam packed, and this website fell by the wayside. Consider the cobwebs cleared!

Here's what's new: 
  • A new Publications and Awards page, including links to buy my work.
  • A freshly reformatted podcast page for easier viewing

I owe you a TON of book reviews, including the Belladonna trilogy by Adalyn Grace, the latest Emily Wilde, the latest Lady Astronauts of Mars, the latest Hunger Games, a cute romantasy for lovers of Divine Rivals, and even horror!

Stay tuned!
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Goals Check-In 2024

12/31/2024

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Happy New Year's Eve! It's time to check in on if I met my reading and writing goals for 2024!
Reading Goals

1) Read my physical TBR
Achieved! I read my backlog of physical books and bought more, for a total of 25 physical books.

2) Read what my friends are gushing about
Achieved! I read 12 books with my friends, including the ACOTAR series and the Crescent City series.

3) Find comps for my next book
Achieved! I found three recently published books that are great comps to my book.

4) Keep track of reading stats, but don't sweat
Achieved! I read 59 books and 24,133 pages.

Writing Goals

1) See what working with a professional editor is like
Achieved! I had the opportunity to work with Jeni Chappelle and it was amazing. Read about my experience here!

2) Polish my manuscript and send my first query for my next book
Achieved! I finished in time to pitch at a conference in September and have sent queries since. Keep your fingers crossed!

3) Keep up with my writing groups
This one got difficult at the end of the year when work got pretty overwhelming. I had to let go of my highest-volume groups, but was able to keep up with a couple groups that have a lower volume of reading. 
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Dark and Stormy Short Story Contest Winner

10/13/2024

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The Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network (BARN) had their first annual Dark and Stormy short story contest this year with a theme of uncanny valley. I entered because I enjoy short horror writing, and I won! I'm so excited to share my story Waxing Fame at the BARN Dark and Stormy party later this month!
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Mini Hiatus

5/19/2024

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Hi blog readers!

Sorry for the mini-hiatus! My day job has required longer hours and even some weekend hours recently, and I've been reading a very long set of books so I haven't had time to finish books or post about them! As an apology, here is a list of what's coming soon!

Is It Worth the Hype? The Crescent City Series

Is It Worth It? A Developmental Edit (Including a comparison to feedback from beta readers)

My favorite resources for editing your novel

Podcast Episode: Legends and Lattes


Hopefully work calms down soon and I can post more regularly. Thanks for your patience!
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2023 Goals Update

12/31/2023

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In January, I posted my reading and writing goals for 2023 and now I'm checking in to hold myself accountable. My reading list from 2023 is at the bottom and I'll share my favorites in another post!

Reading:
Goal: Read 15,000 pages. 
Reality: I read 19,608 pages!

Goal: >50% of the authors will be marginalized or different from me in a demographic way. 
​Reality: 50.9% were marginalized or different from me in a demographic way.

Goal: Read 9 indie books
Reality: I read 9 indie books (see reading list below)

Goal: Read 2 foundational scifi novels
Reality: I read 2 foundational scifi novels: Frankenstein and I, Robot

Goal: Read 4 scifi nominees/winners from the last two years 
Reality: I read more than 4 award winners/nominess, though I'll admit they aren't all scifi, and not all nominated in the last two years: Chain-Gang All Stars (National Book Award 2023 nominee); Babel (Nebula winner 2023); Woman of Light (multiple award winner/nominee 2023); The Sixth Extinction (Pulitzer Prize 2015), All Systems Red (Nebula and Hugo 2018);  Artificial Condition (Hugo 2019)

Goal: 5 debut novels
Reality: I read 7 debut novels: Woman of Light, Lessons in Chemistry, Please Report Your Bug Here, I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself, The Blood Trials, Camp Zero, and Chain-Gang All-Stars

Writing:
Goal: Send >5 queries each month until I finish my potential agent list. 
Reality: Because some agents never opened in the time period I was querying, I didn't finish the list. However, that's beyond my control, so because I did send more than 5 queries per month until my list ran dry, I am counting this as a success.

Goal: Finish the draft of my current WIP
Reality: Success!

Goal: Continue to attend my critique groups and keep up with pre-reading
Reality: Success!

Goal: Attend one writing workshop or conference
Reality: I attended the PNWA 2023 conference. 

Goal: Get one short story selected for publication
Reality: Nope! I totally forgot this was a goal this year. I wrote a short story, but never shopped it around. Oops!

Overall, not bad. I only fell short on a couple goals.

​Below is my reading list from the year. My most popular genre by far was fantasy, followed distantly by scifi. Three of these books were DNRs, but at least 100 pages of each counted toward my page goal.

             Title                                          Author                    Pub Type              Genre                   Link

The Sixth Extinction                                Elizabeth Kolbert             Trad                     Non-Fiction            My Review

Woman of Light                                       Kali Fajardo-Anstine       Trad                       Historical              My Review

Arsenic and Adobo                                 Mia M. Manansala           Trad                       Mystery                My Review

Reminders of Him                                   Colleen Hoover                Trad                       Romance            Podcast

All Systems Red                                      Martha Wells                     Trad                       SciFi                    My Review

Chain of Thorns                                      Cassandra Clare               Trad                       Fantasy

Lessons in Chemistry                             Bonnie Garmus                 Trad                      Historical              My Review

Anastasia                                                 Sophie Lark                       Indie                     Fantasy                My Review

The Chemist                                            Stephanie Meyer              Trad                      Action                   Podcast

I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself        Marisa Crane                     Indie                     Scifi/Literary         My Review

Please Report Your Bug Here              Josh Riedel                        Trad                       Scifi                      My Review

Fevered Star                                           Rebecca Roanhorse         Trad                      Fantasy

The Blood Trials                                    N. E. Davenport                  Trad                      Fantasy                My Review

Murder Your Employer                         Rupert Holmes                   Trad                      Mystery                 Podcast

Artificial Condition                                Martha Wells                      Trad                       SciFi

Bird by Bird                                          Anne Lamott                       Trad                        Non-Fiction        My Review

Babel                                                    R.F. Kuang                          Trad                        Fantasy               My Review

Rogue Protocol                                   Martha Wells                      Trad                         SciFi

Six of Crows                                        Leigh Bardugo                   Trad                         Fantasy              My Review

Story Genius                                       Lisa Cron                            Trad                          Non-Fiction       My Review

Crooked Kingdom                              Leigh Bardugo                   Trad                          Fantasy             My Review

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi    Shannon Chakraborty       Trad                          Fantasy              My Review

Charlotte: The Price of Vengance    James Moore                     Pre-Pub                    Mystery              Podcast

Camp Zero                                          Michelle Min Sterling        Trad                          Scifi                     My Review

The Power of Babel                           John McWhorter                Trad                          Non-Fiction        My Review

Putting the Fact in Fantasy               Dan Kobolt et. al.               Trad                          Non-Fiction        My Review
 
Love, Theoretically                           Ali Hazelwood                    Trad                          Romance            My Review

The Terraformers                             Annalee Newitz                  Trad                          Scifi                     My Review

The Legacy of Yangchen                F. C. Yee                             Trad                          Fantasy

Toph Beifong's Metalbending        Multiple                                Trad                         Fantasy

Fourth Wing                                     Rebecca Yarros                  Trad                         Fantasy                   Podcast

Frankenstein                                   Mary Shelley                        Trad                         SciFi                        My Review

The Mimiking of Known Successes    Malka Older                   Trad                         Scifi/Mystery           My Review

The Raider Bride                           Johanna Wittenberg            Indie                         Fantasy

Starlet                                            Sophie Lark                           Indie                         Historical/Mystery   My Review

Throne of Glass                            Sarah J. Maas                       Trad                          Fantasy                     My Review

iRobot                                            Isaac Asimov                        Trad                          SciFi                          My Review

Of Cinder and Bone                     Kyoko M.                               Indie                         SciFi

Poisoned Primrose                      Dahlia Donovan                    Indie                        Mystery                       My Review

Chalice of the Gods                    Rick Riordan                          Trad                         Fantasy                       My Review

Sun and the Star                         Rick Riordan/Mark Oshiro    Trad                         Fantasy                        My Review

Crown of Midnight                      Sarah J. Maas                        Trad                        Fantasy

The Dictionary of Lost Words     Pip Williams                          Trad                        Historical                      My Review

When We Left Cuba                    Chanel Kleetan                    Trad                        Historical                      My Review

Chain-Gang All-Stars               Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah   Trad                       Fantasy                         My Review

My First and Only Love           Sahar Khalifeh                          Trad                       Historical

The Savior's Champion          Jenna Moreci                            Indie                       Fantasy

Iron Flame                               Rebecca Yarros                        Trad                        Fantasy                      Podcast coming soon!

The Throne of the Five Winds    S.C. Emmett                         Trad                       Fantasy

Grunt                                         Mary Roach                             Trad                       Non-Fiction

Heir of Fire                               Sarah J. Maas                          Trad                       Fantasy

Assassin's Blade                     Sarah J. Maas                           Trad                       Fantasy

We're All Monsters Here        Amy Marsden                           Indie                      Fantasy                      My Review

Queen of Shadows                 Sarah J. Maas                          Trad                       Fantasy

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Recovering from the Pacific Northwest Writer's Association Conference

9/24/2023

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Hello blog readers and people visiting this site after meeting me at PNWA 2023!

I am exhausted after PNWA's wonderful conference, so this is the tiny little blog post I can wring from my brain this week. Next week I will talk about if the cost of the conference is worth it to help you decide if it's something you'd like to attend next year. (Or even if a conference more local to you is something you'd like to attend!)

Other upcoming posts I can currently tease: 
A review of Throne of Glass from a newbie to Sarah J. Maas: is the hype worth your time?
Lessons from a Classic: Asimov's iRobot
Lessons from my first (and so far only) DNF of 2023

I was also recommended some amazing writing resources at the conference, so I'll be reviewing those as well, including the one I'm most excited for, the Trope Thesaurus by Jennifer Hilt.

Don't forget the Judging More than Just the Cover Book Club podcast is currently reading Fourth Wing. Get ready for my hot takes on the Murder College trope!


See you here next week, readers! If you're here because we met at PNWA give a shout out in the comments!
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RevPit 2023

3/12/2023

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The annual contest Revise and Resub (aka RevPit) is starting up and the window to enter is coming this week. I'm entering for the second time (first for this novel). One of my problems is that I'm pretty shy on twitter, so I haven't been interacting with the editors much. The other problem is that I usually only see threads many hours after they started and feel weird hopping on. So I thought I'd make a post with some ~vibes~ of my manuscript so if any RevPit editors check out my website, they may see this and get more of a sense of my novel without me having to manage the anxiety of Twitter interactions. 

Title: The New Neanderthals 
Genre: Adult sci-fi

Included tropes: 
Cinnamon roll love interest
Fake dating
Corrupted corporation
Fish out of water

Songs that capture a moment/emotion:
Human by Christina Perri
Start a War by Klergy & Valerie Broussard
Confident by Demi Lovato
Look What You Made Me Do by Taylor Swift
You Don't Own Me by Grace
Fight Song by Rachel Platten

Mood Board/Aesthetic:
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Photos from Unsplash
If you're not doing RevPit and/or aren't a RevPit editor, then come back next week when I will have more of my usual content!

If you are doing RevPit, let's discuss in the comments! Have you done it before? Have you been braver on Twitter than I have?
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2023 Reading and Writing Goals

1/8/2023

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After my successful reading (and only a little successful writing) last year, I'm setting more goals! Of course, I've learned some lessons I'll be applying to my new goals as well. 

Reading
1) Volume of Reading
In 2023, I won't be keeping track of the number of books I've read, but the number of pages. This is because I got so stressed about needing to finish books last year that I felt guilty choosing long books, and didn't want to DNF a book after investing so much time into it. If I go off of pages read, then I can DNF a book without feeling like I'm letting myself down, and I can pick long books without worrying about needing to read faster. I went back to my data from 2022 to get a baseline and in 2022 I read just over 14,000 pages. 

My 2023 goal:  Read 15,000 pages


2) Variety of Authors
I liked keeping track of the number of female authors I read, but I found it super easy to hit my goal of >50% of the authors being female. Therefore, I don't think I'll set a goal for this in the up coming year. However, I will keep track, and if it drops below 50%, then it'll be back on my resolutions next year. I just want to see if I naturally meet this mark. 

However, I was challenged by my 2022 goal of 50% of the authors being unlike me in some (demographic) way.

My 2023 goal: >50% of the authors will be marginalized in some way


3) Variety of Publishing
One really tough aspect of my goals last year was the 8 indies. Most of them were great, but two were big flops for me. Still, I could just be looking in the wrong places for recommendations, so I'm going to keep at it!

My 2023 goal: Read 9 indie books


4) New Aspects to Track
I want to add a new challenge this year as well, and I've thought about reading award winners/nominees, classics/foundational novels of scifi, or debuts. I'm a little torn, so why not all three? 

My 2023 goal: Read 2 foundational scifi novels
My 2023 goal: Read 4 scifi award winners/nominees from the last 2 years (2021-2023)
My 2023 goal: Read 5 debut novels (from 2022 or 2023)


Writing
A lot of these will look familiar, but the only way to get published is to keep trying. 
1) Querying
This is staying the same, since finding five open agents from my list every month proved to be pretty tough sometimes.
My 2023 goal: Send >5 queries each month until I finish my potential agent list

2) Writing Fresh
I don't care which month I finish the novel in, so long as I finish it. I've been getting great feedback on the first half, which has given me a ton of ideas for the second.
My 2023 goal: Finish the first draft of my current WIP

​
3) Critique Groups
Tried and true, I'm going to earn my keep in these valuable groups.
My 2023 goal: Continue to attend my critique groups and keep up with the pre-reading (when applicable) 

4) Continuous Improvement
I have great opportunities this year for workshops, and I feel like maybe it's even safe enough to go to big conferences again. Hopefully the timing works out. 
My 2023 goal: Attend one writing workshop or conference

6) Short Stories
These have never been my focus, but with two short stories published now, I want to keep going. You never know when an agent's reading an anthology or magazine, right?
My 2023 goal: Get one short story selected for publication. 

​
That's about it. I'll check back on this post at the end of next year to see how I did. 
Do you have 2023 goals and resolutions for reading or writing? Let's chat in the comments!
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2022's Resolutions: Updates

1/1/2023

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A year ago, I posted my 2022 reading and writing resolutions. Now it's time to check in and see how I did. 

Reading
Goal: Read 45 books
Achieved! I read 45 books exactly and reviewed 23 of them (see links below)

Goal: 8 of those books would be indies
Achieved! I read 8 indies exactly and reviewed 3 of them (see links below)

Goal: Greater than 50% of the books would be written by female authors
Achieved! 66.66% were written either exclusively by women or at least one woman, where multiple authors contributed

Goal: At least 50% of the books would be written by authors who have a marginalized identity. 
Achieved! 55.55% were written either exclusively by or including at least one author with at least one marginalized identity

I read a ton of great books this year. It was a good mix of new, old, big hits, and quieter releases. SciFi and Fantasy tied as my most common genres, which is no surprise as those are always my favorites. 
​Here's my reading list from 2022:
Title
The Norse Queen
Reckless Girls
Last Day
The Rosie Project
A River Enchanted
The Staff of Fire and Bone
Dating Dr. Dil
The Kaiju Preservation Society
Kitsap Writers Group Anthology
Gideon the Ninth
An Unkindness of Ghosts
Jade City
Updraft
The Emotional Craft of Fiction
Firefly Lane
Hom
This is How You Lose the Time War
Heartbreak Incorporated
Partials
Jade War
Jade Legacy
The Dawn of Yangchen
The Rift Part 2
The Rift Part 3
Suki Alone
Black Sun
Love on the Brain
The Falcon Queen
The Echo Wife
You Sexy Thing
Dawn
The House Across the Lake
Entheophage
Noor
The Matzah Ball
The Sea of Tranquility
Iron Widow
Crispr Evolution
Not the Witch You Wed
Certain Dark Things
North and South Part 1
North and South Part 2
North and South Part 3
Nightmare Sky
Binti 
Author
Johanna Whittenburg
Rachel Hawkins
Luanne Rice
Graeme Simison
Rebecca Ross
Mikko Azul
Nisha Sharma
John Scalzi

Multiple

Tamsyn Muir
Rivers Solomon
Fonda Lee
Fran Wilde
Donald Maas

Kristin Hannah
James Moore
Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
Alex De Campi
Dan Wells
Fonda Lee
Fonda Lee
F.C. Lee
Multiple
Multiple
Multiple
Rebecca Roanhorse
Ali Hazelwood
Johanna Whittenburg
Sarah Gailey
Cat Rambo
Octavia E. Butler
Riley Sager

​Drema Deoraich

Nnendi Okorafor
Jean Meltzer
Emily St. John Mandel
Xiran Jay Zhao
Charis Jones
April Asher
Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Multiple
Multiple
Multiple
Multiple
Nnendi Okorafor
Indie /Trad
Indie
Trad
Trad
Trad
Trad
Indie
Trad
Trad

Indie

Trad
Trad
Trad
Trad
Trad

Trad
Indie
Trad

Trad
Trad
Trad
Trad
Trad
Trad
Trad
Trad
Trad
Trad
Indie
Trad
Trad
Trad
Trad

​Indie

Trad
Trad
Trad
Trad
Indie
Trad
Trad
Trad
Trad
Trad
Indie
Trad
Genre
Hist Fic/Fantasy
Thriller
Mystery
Romance
Fantasy
Fantasy
Romance
SciFi

Anthology

Fantasy
SciFi
Fantasy
Fantasy
Non-Fiction

​Hist Fic
SciFi
SciFi

Fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy
Graphic Novel
Graphic Novel
Graphic Novel
Fantasy
Romance
Hist Fic/Fantasy
SciFi
SciFi
SciFi
Thriller

​SciFi

SciFi
Romance
SciFi
SciFi/Fantasy
SciFi
Romance
Fantasy
Graphic Novel
Graphic Novel
Graphic Novel
Anthology
SciFi
Links
​My Review
My Review
Podcast Episode
My Review
My Review
​Series Review
My Review
My Review

Buy it Here

My Review
My Review
My Review
My Review
My Review

Podcast Episode
My Review
My Review

My Review


Series Review
My Review



My Review
My Review

My Review
My Review

Podcast Coming Soon


My Review

My Review






Buy It Here

Writing
Goal: Have my WIP query ready by February
Achieved! I sent my first round of queries for this project in February 2022.

Goal: Send at least 5 queries per month
11/12 on this one, can't win them all, though some months I sent more than 5. 

Goal: Complete the first draft of my next WIP by August 2022
Nope! This one is still under construction. 

Goal: Continue attending writing groups whenever possible
Achieved!

Goal: Keep up with this website
Achieved! A couple months were slimmer on content than others,  but that's the way it goes sometimes. 


I'm still deciding on my 2023 resolutions/goals. Did you achieve your 2022 goals? Did we read any of the same books? Let's discuss in the comments!
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Publishing Announcement!

7/3/2022

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 I'm so excited to announce that my short story "Please Don't be a Serial Killer" will be published in Nightmare Sky, a night sky themed anthology from Death Knell Press. My story is my first attempt at publishing horror rather than scifi, so I was surprised and thrilled! I will say that there's a lot of humor in my story compared to most horror, so it's still very me. 

You may recognize the name Red Lagoe, the editor, as someone who was on my 2021 reads post. She has two anthologies of horror out now, Lucid Screams and Dismal Dreams. She also recently released a stand alone short story, "Black Feathered Fury" and has many shorts published in other anthologies. 

Nightmare Sky will be published in January 2023!


Transparency note: I know Red Lagoe in real life, as we have been in the same writing group. She did not see my short story in advance. I did not think submitting to her was a guarantee for inclusion.
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