Dashboard Literary Agents Success Story Interviews Kacie B. Keegan

Success Story Interview - Kacie B. Keegan

An Interview with Kacie B. Keegan (KLButcher on QT) upon receiving an offer of representation from agent Hannah Schofield of Luigi Bonomi Associates Ltd.

12/19/2025

QT: Can you tell us a little bit about the book for which you've found representation? What inspired you to write it?: Kacie B. Keegan:
HOT YOUNG WIDOW is a novel about starting over and living the life you’ve dreamed – even if it means you have to unravel your old life to do it. Remy Mack is a thirty-six-year-young widow and program manager at Youngsland Manor Retirement Village in Lake Genny, Wisconsin. She’s been stuck since her husband's death four years ago. Enter handsome Jack Sullivan. Dodging an unfortunate work incident that jeopardizes his hard-earned title of Chief Financial Officer, he’s suddenly on a forced summer “vacation.” With no work to distract him, he quickly finds himself drowning in small-town gossip, nosy neighbors, and lakes. When he gets conned into volunteering at his grandma’s retirement village, he finds one perk: Remy. When sparks fly and Remy tries to resist Jack’s charms, Remy's octogenarian overlords find their new favorite activity: matchmaking.

When I was in my early 20s, I lost a long-term romantic partner, and I’m now happily married. I really wanted to write a book about grief and romantic loss that showed someone starting over. Grief is a heavy thing, and moving on romantically comes with all sorts of complicated feelings, but I wanted to show people another life is possible. I know because I lived it.
QT: How long have you been writing?: Kacie B. Keegan:
I’ve been writing in some capacity since high school. I’ve always been a big reader and found myself wanting to dabble in various kinds of writing throughout my life. I’ve maintained personal blogs, written for newspapers, drafted short stories and poems, and in my full-time day job, I write podcasts, exhibit text, walking tours, and publications in academic and non-academic publications. But I got serious about writing novel-length fiction in 2021.
QT: How long have you been working on this book?: Kacie B. Keegan:
I started HOT YOUNG WIDOW in November of 2024 by scribbling down scene ideas and character details. But I got serious about it in January of 2025.
QT: Was there ever a time you felt like giving up, and what helped you to stay on course?: Kacie B. Keegan:
YES. This is my third time in the query trenches! Almost every rejection stung. On my worst days, the whole process made me think “Is my writing bad? Why am I wasting my time on this? Maybe I should just give up.” But everyone says writing is a perseverance game, and it’s true. You just have to keep trying. Every time it didn’t work out, I decided to get more serious about my craft and it eventually paid off.
QT: Is this your first book?: Kacie B. Keegan:
No! This is technically the 6th full-length novel I’ve written and the third book I’ve queried.
QT: Do you have any formal writing training?: Kacie B. Keegan:
Nope. I have a degree in Art History and Public History. Both fields require some comfortability with writing (especially academically) but I have no fiction writing training. The first novel I wrote is a total mess because I had no idea what I was doing (but I had fun doing it!)
QT: Do you follow a writing routine or schedule?: Kacie B. Keegan:
I tried to. I don’t believe you need to write every day. In fact, I tried and it didn’t work for me at all. The schedule that worked for me is writing 4-5 days a week (usually M-F), for at least 1 hour. I don’t write on the weekends and give myself time to read and enjoy time with friends and family.
QT: How many times did you re-write/edit your book?: Kacie B. Keegan:
I submitted Draft 4 to my agent when I was querying. Draft 1 was the initial draft. Draft 2 I took one month away from the book so I could get fresh eyes and then I edited it into the second draft. Draft 3 was for my betas. Draft 4 took all those notes. (I am now on draft 5 with my agent!)
QT: Did you have beta readers for your book?: Kacie B. Keegan:
Yes! I had 12 beta readers. Their comments were critical to my success. Now that I’m editing with my agent, I’ve found that a lot of the beta reader notes I ignored I am now implementing at the request of my agent.
QT: Did you outline your book, or do you write from the hip?: Kacie B. Keegan:
I’m somewhere between a pantser and a plotter. I need some semblance of plot but if I have too much I feel stifled. I do what author Mary Adkins calls “headlight plotting” so I plot the next few chapters/scenes i.e. what you can see with your headlights on a dark road at night. This usually gives me a loose plan while still allowing flexibility.
QT: How long have you been querying for this book? Other books?: Kacie B. Keegan:
I started querying this book in August. I signed with my agent in November.
QT: About how many query letters did you send out for this book?: Kacie B. Keegan:
I sent out 91 query letters.
QT: Did you tailor each query to the specific agent, and if so, how?: Kacie B. Keegan:
I did when it felt natural. Sometimes agents would say something vague like “I’m looking for upmarket romance” and in those cases, it felt weird to personalize because it was so vague. But the agent I ended up signing with asked for something specific so I included it like this, “Because of your love of yearning a la Carley Fortune, I hope you will enjoy my debut novel, HOT YOUNG WIDOW.”
QT: What advice would you give other writers seeking agents?: Kacie B. Keegan:
Be prepared — know your book, have the cleanest draft ready, know the agents/agencies, have the best letter, the best opening pages. Play the game — follow the rules of the querying process, sell your book like a marketer would, think like publishing is a business (because it is!) Keep going — keep writing, keep querying, keep trying even when you fail. I received over 140 query rejections before I got an agent. Publishing is an exercise in perseverance.

Success Story Interview - Kacie B. Keegan

Query Letter: