Kate Hardie

Submitted to both the #CBCShortStory contest and my first ever @writingbattle.bsky.social this weekend! Celebrating with a bowl of ice cream and an episode of Slow Horses. #AmWriting #ShortStory #WritersOfBluesky

Or art thou but
A dagger of the mind, a false creation
Proceeding from the heat-oppressèd brain?

Act 2, scene 1
Macbeth
#ShakespeareSunday #WritersOfBluesky

I only want to brag a tiiiiny bit. My first submission to McSweeney's was rejected, but I got a personalized email response. So that's basically a win.

#Rejections #WritersOfBluesky #CelebrateFailing

.....

Just leaving this here. No words.

Paperwork We’ve been in the midst of a Week at my house.

What's worse, being cursed or the paperwork?

My three remaining brain cells have had about 8 hours of sleep over the last two nights. Somewhere in the blur of laundry, doctor's visits, and delusion, I wrote a short story.

open.substack.com/pub/katehard...

#ThingsTheMoonToldMe #ShortStory

"Yet who would have thought the old man
to have had so much blood in him?"
-Act 5, scene 1, Macbeth

Said by Lady M, in a sleepwalking episode. As she and the king come to terms with what they've done, sleep evades her.

They both need a nap and a hug.

#ShakespeareSunday #Macbeth #SpoookySeason

🐸

“Iambic Pentameter” Was Not On The List of Essential Criteria in This Job Posting “Follow me, I’ll show you the printer room,” she says, her smile friendly, her tone polite.

I wrote something. It’s weird. Hopefully at least a little funny.

“Iambic Pentameter” Was Not On The List of Essential Criteria in This Job Posting, a short story about a rather odd workplace.

#IambicPentameter #ThingsTheMoonToldMe

Ever been on a not-date that’s obviously a date? Gavin and Mel have, too. Come be a fly on the wall for their totally-not-a-date. #WIPSnips #AfterTheEnd 🍁☕️📖

A deep purple background, with a crescent moon in the lower right corner. In cream coloured sans serif font, the quote from the short story When the Moon is Heaviest: “It’s going to be okay, you know. Where you see the moon, there is always hope. And I should know, I’m an expert. When is the moon heaviest? When it’s full. -Luna” A tear wets my cheek, hot and uninvited. Hope. A foreign concept in these gloomy days. We go outside for a walk, feeling lonely but never alone.

Today’s #WIPSnips word is “outside”. This is a piece of a short story WIP, working title When the Moon is Heaviest.

#ShortStory #CanadaWrites #WriteSky #AmWriting #FromLuna

Feeling very much not okay in the world today. Anyone feel up to sharing something good?

I can share something good: I saw a monarch butterfly in the wild. It was pretty 🦋

#screamintothevoid #fuuuuuuuu-

How could you resist? Lovely! It makes me nostalgic for the time I spent in Edinburgh in 2016. What a beautiful city!

This is well and truly worth the read. #WaitForIt

#ADHD in real-time: using an electric toothbrush that vibrates every 30 seconds to tell me when to change quadrants, forgetting where I started and which direction I'm going.

#neurodivergence

You had me in the first half 😂

That writing doesn't have to be one big chunk to be useful. I now keep a notebook that I think of as "The Composter" wher I stash lines, paragraphs, half-baked plots. Sometimes bits need to ripen or find their friends before they make sense. #LateNightWrite

The House Ran Away

My house ran away
In a strange turning of the tables
Abandoned its contents
Left from the stables

My house ran away
What the actual fuck?
Where do we go now?
I am no longer stuck

#PoetSky #WriterSky #WordSky #HashtagSky #Comedy
2/2

Sometimes you write beautiful, sweeping prose that brings a scene to life or gives voice to the unspoken.

And sometimes you write this.

#PoetSky #WriterSky #WordSky #HashtagSky #Comedy #Maybe 1/2

Crowley most definitely would with Aziraphale, you nailed the vibe 😂😈

Thank you Nikki! I would love to send you my query materials, please send me a link 💕

Thanks so much! I'm nearing the end of writing and plan to query over the fall. I'll keep this in mind as I approach the later stages! 💕

A mock movie poster for a novel titled _After the End_ by Kate Hardie. The top of the poster features autumn maple leaves and mock award badges reading “Best Debut Novel” and “Most Original Meet-Cute”. The central tagline says, “In the shadow of grief, love turns transformative.” Below, two people sit at a counter, holding rustic ceramic mugs, hands reaching for each other. The tender moment suggests intimacy and connection. The bottom includes satirical blurbs like “A triumph” —your mom, probably, and “Radiant” —me. The poster ends with “Querying Fall 2025”.

#PosterPit
#W #Q #R #C #A

🍁 After the End

A novel about grief, French toast, slow-burn healing, and intimacy that sneaks up on you, latte in hand.

Written by Kate Hardie, who is me.

In the meantime, please enjoy this totally legit movie poster.

#AmWriting

We can hope, at least. Amen.

two men in suits are dancing in a hallway with the words hear us out above them ALT: two men in suits are dancing in a hallway with the words hear us out above them

Reminds me of the Sushi Gloryhole Lonely Island song from SNL "hear us out, don't leave, where you going?"

Stuff my kids said:

2yo: my book!

4yo: that was MY book when I was a kid and now it's his.

2yo: my book!

Me: when you were a kid? You're not a kid now?

4yo: no, I'm a big boy.

#KidLogic

Toddler quote for today:

Give the 2 year old a bowl of cheerios, which he usually loves.

Him: cheerios! No! Heart cheerios!

Me: heart cheerios?

Him: hot cheerios!

Me: hot cheerios?

Him: yes! Hot cheerios!

He was demanding the cheerios from the hot car. 31 C today.

#NoDude #ToddlerLogic

My sincerest apologies to anyone who had to share air with my Birkenstocks yesterday. They have since been exorcised. #oopsies #sorry

Somehow my slow-burn romance novel doesn’t contain the word “cheat” even one time. I suppose that bodes well for my lead couple, though.

#WIPSnips #WritingPrompts #Q #AfterTheEnd #R #SlowBurn #Romance #Fiction

I love your updates from Ukraine. Stay safe! 💛💙

Purposely write something really bad and schlocky to get it out of my system!

It gets something moving and usually makes me laugh, so it's a double win 😂