News and Musings

A blog where Kathryn Knowles, author of the Quiescence Trilogy and founder of Mad Endeavour, will share news, musings, and other ephemera including book updates, helpful tips for Canadian authors, and the occasional book recommendation.

  • How to Balance Reading as an Author

    Lately, I’ve been struggling to disappear into one of my own projects. And I wonder if it’s because I’m too happily getting lost in other people’s stories instead.

  • 5 Takeaways From My First Kickstarter

    Happy New Year! In fall of 2024 I hosted my first ever Kickstarter campaign to launch my new book, These Gossamer Recollections. I had a great experience and learned a lot about strategies for direct sales and crowdfunding. I thought I’d share 5 key takeaways from the experience. 1. It Was Fun Yep, that’s right.…

  • What Scenes are Hardest to Write?

    Key scenes are easy and exciting.  They flow off the page without much effort. But the quiet scenes, the in-between scenes…these ones take some work.

  • How Long Does it Take to Write a Book?

    I expect there are some authors out there who simply sit down and write a book, and it’s all wonderfully straight forward. I, however, am not one of those authors. My books seem to need a twistier, more confusing path towards completion.

  • Book Recommendation: The Shades of Magic Trilogy

    A really well-crafted and distinct fantasy trilogy with compelling characters and great world-building!

  • Announcing the Kickstarter for These Gossamer Recollections

    Signed copies of my books will be available for direct purchase through a kickstarter campaign this fall.

  • 5 Reasons Main Characters Are the Hardest to Write

    It’s easy to criticize an author for failing to write a compelling main character. But in my experience, main characters are the absolute hardest characters to write. Give me a villain, a best friend, or a love interest any day. But main characters are hard!

  • Book Recommendation: Gods of Jade and Shadow

    A lovely, rich, and evocative fairytale, full of wonder and possibility. This book was exactly what I wanted it to be—a fun adventure story steeped in Mayan mythology, with a sprinkling of historical fiction, and a thread of forbidden romance.

  • 5 Strategies to Maintain Momentum as a Writer

    Being an author is, at times, the easiest thing I’ve ever done, and, at other times, the hardest thing I’ve ever done. For me, the hardest part of being a writer is momentum. Maintaining the momentum to see a project through from start to finish. I would hazard a guess that this is a common…

  • Book Recommendation: Elements of Cadence Duology

    A River Enchanted and A Fire Endless Fantasy Romance duology by Rebecca Ross Rebecca Ross has a great ability to create believable relationships between characters. She creates depth and maturity without sacrificing any of the yearning or heartache. This duology primarily follows Jack, who returns to his mystical home on the island of Cadence. On…