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Kate Baker Fiction Writer

@katefranceswrites

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Writing most days ✍🏼 Don’t follow for fitness or cooking tips but I can crochet dishcloths 🧶 Love story ‘Maid of Steel’ out now. Working on Book 2

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#bookshopday is the perfect time to post about my visit to @toppingsedin where I met Duncan who accepted a gifted copy of #maidofsteel and said he’d put it somewhere amongst the historical fiction for sale 🤩 We agreed it would be fun to set a little challenge. Anyone who visits and buys the copy will be sent a prize from me! I’ll send you a £10 #nationalbooktoken to spend in any independent bookshop in the UK, plus a copy of my next novel when it comes out (hopefully next year! Follow to keep abreast of proceedings ✍🏼 )

If you don’t wish to buy Maid of Steel, but spot it on the shelves, take a selfie with it and tag me in a story, and I’ll send you a crochet head warmer (I’m practicing my crochet stitches you see 😍)

Thank you to Duncan and the team at Topping & Co, Edinburgh, for being so warm and friendly to a relatively newbie debut author and I’ll follow your advice and visit the Ely branch as soon as I can 📚

Happy Bookshop Day ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🩷

(PS.. and when I say “first novel”, I should clarify I’m referring to an as yet unpublished manuscript, written in 2016/17 and I’m hoping will become Book 3!)

#indiebookstore #edinburgh by @katefranceswrites

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6 days ago

THANK YOU SO MUCH @troubador_publishing for my amazing banner!!! 🤩🎉

I shall handle her with more care out and about at her various events; there’ll be no sinking or crash and burning, I assure you.
(Always do your dress rehearsals in the privacy of your own home 🤣🤣🤣🤣)

I am now Author Event ready 🎉

#authorevents #debut2023 #amwriting @mark.stay #writinglife #writersofinstagram #author #authorlife #maidofsteel #thebookguild #funny #historicalfiction #banner #bannerdesign by @katefranceswrites

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3 years ago

Another banger of a party by @itsthebookparty and massive thanks to @ajwestauthor @bookswithvic @aquintillionwords for so much effort for our benefit ❤️

Was very worth the 5 hours in the car from Suffolk to catch up with and/or meet so many wonderful #bookbloggers and readers and the authors in attendance weren’t too shabby either 🤩 (can’t believe I didn’t get a photo with @gdwrightwrites but was lovely to meet him and congrats to him also for winning his award this evening - bookbloggers and followers were so behind you during those low weeks and you’ve given so much back to us all with your time and a couple of quite good stories too! 🥰)

So happy that @emski_reads was able to attend and I know you enjoyed the company; I told you everyone would welcome you 🩷

And to all my book friends, too many to mention, thank you for the dancing and company, and for supporting a newbie writer ✍🏼 Love you all xxx

#author #authorsofinstagram #manchester #booklifestyle #books #readabook #readersofinstagram taken in The Dome by @katefranceswrites

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a year ago

Love love love this book from that @tealeavesandreads sent in the post today ✉️ It’s by Martina Calvi and is filled with beautiful ideas about not just letter-writing but how you can make packages to people extra special. And with a mass clear out of books ongoing, I’ve had a great idea which scratches that itch about crafting that seems to be developing as I get older!

Watched another couple of brilliant YouTube author interviews with @davidperell while the baby slept and particularly enjoyed the chat with @kuangrf in which they discuss digging deep into emotions as an author to truly bring the show-don’t-tell issue to the fore. Also, Rebecca writes a ‘messy zero draft’ and that’s very assuring 🤩 by @katefranceswrites

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5 hours ago

Great morning chat with @tgtrouper for his YouTube channel in which he chats to local authors.. I’ll share the link in the next few days so you can hear what we chatted about 🎤

Home now to write more words so there’s more to talk about in the future!!

#author #authorssupportingauthors #essexwriters by @katefranceswrites

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2 days ago

It’s not every day an idea arrives fully-formed. I’ve heard it happens but until the early hours of this morning it had never happened to me.

Compelled to get it down, I opened the iPad and over 500 words later, I went back to sleep while the characters continued to percolate. To the point that I visited a travel agents this morning for a brochure to learn more about modern cruises as my MC will be taking one; a week in the Carribean as she wants to do right by what she learns in a letter addressed to her but written two decades before… (poor man thought I might be booking a cruise for myself 😅)

Turns out if you put the crochet hooks down, your hands are free to type, including while having highlights at @thehairlounge_hadleigh (they say all the great writers write wherever they can!)

Let’s get this written ✍🏼

Have you ever been on a cruise? What might Ronnie discover while onboard that she won’t have been prepared for?

#cruises #shortstory #drinkwater #imagination by @katefranceswrites

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3 days ago

I loved doing this 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Months ago, I picked up this 1970s postcard for 20p from a charity shop in Felixstowe while I waited for dad to have his haircut. It took me immediately to a manuscript I wrote in 2016/17 with an ending not just on Princes St, Edinburgh, but on a viewing gallery at the top of the Scott Monument. I’d googled it, but not been up myself and had no real idea about how much space - or lack of - there would be for my characters. Until now!

During my recent trip, I was lucky enough to book a guided tour and my sister in law and I ventured up three of the four possible levels (the very top one is now closed to the public).

When I next revisit that manuscript, and rewrite the 70k words to improve it with all I’ve learnt over the last decade, I can now make that ending truly authentic 🤩

Who knew that a 20p postcard would lead to such a fun trip. It’s another sign I say… xx

#edinburgh #lovestories #scottmonument by @katefranceswrites

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11 days ago

📚More Books Monday📚 (ad|pr*)

Some fantastic books have made their way into my home this week ~ I am trying to stick to my 3 books out and 1 in and it’s going ok….ish 😂😂

We Call Them Witches ~ India-Rose Bower*
Butcher and Blackbird ~ Byrnne Weaver (Aldi special buy)
Maid of Steel ~ Kate Barker
The Things You’ll Never Know ~ Ashley Audrain*

Are there any you would be promoting to the top of the TBR??

#MoreBooksMonday by @katefranceswrites

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11 days ago

Creating shadows on the sand 🐾

Some quality us time… on the Norfolk coast

#norfolk #dachsundsofinstagram #shadows taken in Sea Palling, Norfolk, United Kingdom by @katefranceswrites

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12 days ago

Competition closed - winner notified 🥰

📚BOOK GIVEAWAY 📚

I’d forgotten that I’d pre-ordered @gillianmauthor 2026 novel and bought and read the hardback in the spring! So now I have the newly-arrived paperback to give away 🤩

As well as this gripping and twisty story about a mother and daughter in peril, I’ve also included one of my head warmers, crocheted by yours truly during the recent @tealeavesandreads festival 🧶🤩 (forgive any pulled threads - ha!)

I’ve thrown some sweets in because you might need a sugar boost 🍬 when you refuse to put the book down and forget to eat. We don’t want your blood sugars to drop.

A cute pencil sharpener and some tinted lip balm by Paw Paw and a really sweet #bookmark from The Fox Under The Moon illustrations by @staceymcneillauthor 🦊

All you have to do to be in with a chance to win this collection when I pick the name from the hat next Monday evening is:

1. Like this post
2. Follow my ramblings here if you don’t already
3. Tag two reader friends
4. Share in your stories for an extra chance!

(I’m sorry to have to limit this to the UK as postage abroad is now something silly 😭)

This #bookgiveaway is not linked with Instagram or another other organisation… just me wishing to share the love of a good book!

Good luck and I’ll notify the winner at 8pm next Monday 5th Oct UK time

#bookstagram #readers #thrillerbooks by @katefranceswrites

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14 days ago

Gifting the @pilotbeaver non fiction book to dad has warmed my heart. He’s already flicked through the black and white photos and recognised names and places. A 22 year career in the Royal Air Force doesn’t just melt away… not while his brain remains as sharp as a 📍

Thanks to Katy at @tealeavesandreads for putting this to one side for me, amid all the thousands of pre-orders at the festival xxx

#raf #royalairforce #spitfire by @katefranceswrites

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18 days ago

Incredible Day 2 of @tealeavesandreads third festival which is held in the hall across the carpark from the incredible #indiebookstore (forgive choice of music for this one- it’s too short; sadly can’t change it once posted! I’d suggest muting the post so you can read on without that ‘stuck record’ vibe going on 🤣)

Came home a little early but full of positivity and inspiration following a panel hosted by @ecwilsonauthor with @liz_fenwick @authorbythesea1207 and @staceymcneillauthor which helped me get off the fence I’ve been sitting on for months!
(More on that this week)

Lots of fun
Lots of friends
Lots of books
Lots of laughs
Lots of memories

Until next year…

#bookfestival #andover #indieauthorsofinstagram
@msalisonmay @bramwelllawes @tomsstudio by @katefranceswrites

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18 days ago