SciFi & Fantasy Fiction and Stories by Kathryn Kade Gromowski

Hi! Just wondering how Shaysiris part II is going. I would love to hear more of the story!

Kathryn Kade Gromowski replies: "oh, you know, it’s limping along. Life has seriously curtailed my ability to write (stupid college...), but I try to squeeze it in when I can. It’s making progress, but slowly."

I don’t think Vistalt is human. That’s my thought. But I don’t know WHAT he is. So I won’t say any more.

Kathryn Kade Gromowski replies: "Hmm...interesting suspicion... "

instead of cutting stuff out, why don’t you simply split it into seperate books? like at places where it will annoy people into buying the next books..... cliff hangers are really annoying........

Kathryn Kade Gromowski replies: "Lol, I considered that at one point, but the concern was that there isn’t really a good cliff hanger in the middle of this story anywhere, and it would require serious re-writes to work on in anyways. In addition to that, i’m not really sure there’s enough actual substance to this book to get it into two. Hence, i’m trimming the fat, and we’ll see what happens once I have a lean, mean story."

I’ve bookmarked your page so I can come back and read once I’ve finished nanowrimo for november I read a little bit of the beginning of Shaysiris and shall be back for more. Happy editing!

Kathryn Kade Gromowski replies: "Thanks!"

Hi, I’m back!
Just checking in to reread your awesome-must-be-published story Shaysiris (if any publisher rejects it, let me know and I’ll let my feline armies loose on them-with pie catapults) and see how things are going in the editing department. I know how hard that is, to get rid of your writing...I feel your pain!

Kathryn Kade Gromowski replies: "Considering it’s now been over a year since I’ve even logged onto EW, I suppose that answers your question, sadly. College has completely consumed my life, but I’m graduating in a month and hoping to finally get back on track. Once it (finally) gets edited, I’ll finally start the agent/publisher-hunting process. I’ll be sure to keep everyone posted "

I want more Shaysiris!!! It’s my fav story here.....

Kathryn Kade Gromowski replies: "Sadly, as I said in Chapter 20, I can’t post anymore. I’m in the process of editing it, and then hopefully getting it published (both this one and the next book, which explains all) "

Hey there, thanks for replying to my oh-so-lengthy comments on Shaysiris. Whenever I read something I try and be helpful in what I say about it.
I gather from what you replied that that you were aware of the things I was pointing out, so I’ll refrain from doing that in future. I feel the same about comments on my stories - they’re so old and I’ve improved so much that any critique isn’t really helpful. I’m not on that level anymore. It just makes me feel bad that the reader put effort into trying to be helpful when it’s not.

I’m just leaving the stories up now for the comments. Admittedly after the re-do those comments won’t even be applicable, but it’s all I’ve got left of some elfwood friends who have deserted the woods.

So: What would you recommend for me to read next?

Kathryn Kade Gromowski replies: "Your comments were right on the money, so I do appreciate them, and I’m sorry if I made it seem like I didn’t. I understand what you mean about your work being older, because that seems to be pretty true of most of my stuff too. Most of my friends have left the woods as well, so I don’t maintain this as well as I should anymore. I mostly leave Shaysiris up because there are people that love it and like to re-read it, and since it’s going to change so much when I edit it, I’m really not worried about it being stolen.

As far as what you should read next, the newest stuff I have here is "Black Moon Frost," which is a short story I wrote about 4 years ago and "Kaidyn", which is the start of one of my more-recent novels. I do anticipate it will eventually be turned into a full book. It’s much more representative of the work I’m doing now. I think you might enjoy that one. It’s still fantasy, but I feel as though it’s much better assembled."

i am sorry to say it was clear what Vistalt was but on an up note you are telling the only romance/fantasy that i have ever liked

Kathryn Kade Gromowski replies: "Hey, I’ll take that compliment Believe it or not, it was absolutely not my intention to write a romance. It...just sort of became one. I’m hoping to defang some of the romance in the edits I’m (theoretically) making."

In 2005 I started reading Shaysiris. I contacted you a few times on here, (you’ll see my name peppered through out the guestbook and comments sections) and six years later, NOTHING HAS PROGRESSED? It took me three days to remember the name of the title to find it. Why is it not published?! Is there any more you can email me? Surely six years of waiting for more has earned some sort of reward?!

I was only 13 back then and I’ve just finished rereading the entire story. I’m definitely more aware of the writing style and things that need to be edited but I did not feel the need to comment on them as I’ve seen other people cover these more than satisfactorily. But I thought I should just say that through the years, even if I couldn’t remember the details in the story or how to find it again (for indeed I’ve only found it once before now in the six years) I’ve always remembered it and hoped to be holding the magical words in a published book.

I have now bookmarked this page so that I might return whenever I want.

Sian.

Kathryn Kade Gromowski replies: "*Sigh* I’m so sorry. Here’s the facts on the last 6 years of my life: I went to school to get an integrated bachelor’s/masters of engineering, spent ridiculous numbers of hours passing classes and getting a high GPA so I could get a "real" job in the crappy US economy so I could work on my writing on the side, and when it was all over, the only job I could get (which I do like...most days) basically requires me to work 50 hours a week while I attempt to maintain a serrious long distance relationship and make myself a life in a city I had literally never been to until I got the job.

SO. Long story short: Yes, very little progress has been made (Book 2 stands about half written, and has been so for over a year, Book 1 is about 1/3 of the way through the first hack-slash editing). I’m trying to start motivating myself to actually overhaul this beast, but the task is daunting. I have to basically rewrite the story (which took me 2 years to write when I was in high school...and, let’s face it, that was ridiculously easy compared to college, and insanely, laughably easy compared to real life). Not only will it be time consuming, but it will probably be like cutting up a piece of fine artwork to me. Yes, the original version of the story has a LOT of problems, but I wrote every word of it, and some part of me still loves all of it (even the parts that now make me cringe because they’re poorly written or don’t flow well).

I appreciate your support and continued interest in the story, and trust me, those on the mailing list will be the first to know when I finally DO make progress. I’m going to try, I promise. I love writing. I do. But with student loans to pay off, bills to pay, and real life basically doing it’s thing (for better or for worse), its been hard to devote myself to it the way I wanted to when I was a starry-eyed 16-year-old dreaming of being the next Christopher Paolini.

All of that being said, I’m sorry, but I have to stick to my guns on this. I said nothing from the second book would be released until official publication, and my reasons for that still stand.

I’ve tossed around the idea of giving those on the mailing list a sneak-peak of the edited version of Book 1 (working title - Fatebound: The Duke) once I got it to a certain point, but it just hasn’t gotten there yet. If I finally find some time to wedge it into my life, would that be something you’d like? Or would you (like some of the other people on the mailing list when I released a snippet from the editing process) prefer to be left 100% in the dark until it’s finally published?"

Hi Lovely!

Just wanted to remind your there are some die hard Shaysiris fans out there wishing you all the best in finding time to finish it . I love the story since the first time i read it and i like the person above lost it the first time in the woods (somehow i remember the line about her learning to massage her mothers back and found it that way ) Ive read it soo many times and cannot wait for the book- no matter when it is released.....

although i would die for a sneak peak as per mentioned above

Hope all is well xx