'Tis the season: I thought of two horror story ideas this afternoon and I'm scaring myself thinking of possible endings 🦇

Sharing again for my #booksky friends! Check out Jesi Bender's luminous novel CHILD OF LIGHT. Set in 1896 and obsessed with love and electricity, it provides an important perspective: Technological progress doesn’t make us any less human. 📚💙
from @whiskeytit.com
kateblackwood.com/2025/08/love...

I couldn’t get away from butterflies this month. They were suddenly everywhere, so I started to pay attention.
kateblackwood.com/2025/09/the-...

CHILD OF LIGHT, Jesi Bender's new novel, is out this week. It’s marvelous – historical fiction set in Utica, NY with a story about electricity at its center ⚡ Check it out and support this independent press!

kateblackwood.com/2025/08/love...

"For the better part of a year, Monet got up at 3:30 am and painted haystacks."
A writer walks through the Art Institute of Chicago and this is only one of the insights we get. I'm bookmarking this Substack for return visits.
from @juliafgreen.bsky.social
writingisjoy.substack.com/p/my-kind-of...

Never bring nonfiction about the arctic on vacation to Albania. Especially if it’s a library book.

I'm trying to decide what to read on vacation –  blog post
kateblackwood.com/2025/07/what...

Committing to a group pulled my novel draft across the finish line. Same thing with my latest marathon. #5amwritersclub #amwriting #running #IllinoisMarathon
kateblackwood.com/2025/04/pace...

Sally, the box turtle who's lived in the garden outside my house for 30 YEARS (we only moved in 9 months ago -- did not know a turtle came with the house), emerged from her winter hybernation hole this morning 🌞 We gave her a worm party. #reptilepetsofbluesky

Sweet, sweet Virginia. I drove there and back from Illinois in three days with my mom last week for a family funeral. A sad occasion, but we sped headlong into spring and had some exciting moments together. I think the break added some perspective to my writing #5amwritersclub 🦋

“I don’t dream about hot planets,” my three year old told me. “I only dream about Earth.”

His preschool astronomy education is proving that my adult astronomy knowledge is nowhere near complete.

New blog post with fun fridge art and Voyager 2 planet photos!

kateblackwood.com/2025/03/i-do...

Hello, blue place! It's good to be here, looking for fiction, journalism & running community.

I'm in Bar Harbor, Maine, getting ready to run the Mount Desert Island marathon tomorrow. That's my kid pushing his own stroller in the background. As good as any introduction I can give.