Kathy L Wheeler

Several come to mind. I had an unusual childhood, as probably most people did. My parents divorced when I was 8, and I was an awful stepchild to my stepfather. But there was a situation, turning point, you might say, when we were visiting my great grandparents in Marble Falls, Texas. I was twelve. I have two younger sisters and there were some other kids there too for some reason. In any event, one of my sisters (the younger one, most likely), complained to my mother about something. My mother started to get onto me, but my stepdad saw the whole thing, jumped up and said, "Come on, Kathy."
We had a Volkswagen camper and he drove us to Austin. I looked up and said, "Are we going to the capitol?"
"If we can find a place to park," he said.
I pointed to a space on the street. "What about that?"
"I'm not sure we can fit."
"Yes, we can. We can." We did. It was the first thing we'd ever done together. It was a life-changing event for both of us. For the first time in my life, I felt as if someone was looking out for me.
In the end, he eventually adopted my sisters and I and his two sons came to live with us when I turned 16. I'm still close to them to this day. He and my mother divorced two years later (when I was 18). On a side note, my mother's been married six times. 🙂

I started reading avidly at the age of nine. Betsy and Tacey books. They were just fun and it was not long after my mother and my real dad divorced, so they were definitely an escape. I later moved on to Nancy Drew, Trixie Beldon, Victoria Holt, Mary Stewart, and Phillipa Carr.

There was a particular book by Victoria Holt that still sticks in my mind to this day with its shocking ending. The Shivering Sands. Needless to say, I have quite the collection of books.

I find it amazing. I would say "Hamilton" has had the biggest impact. It's brought history front and center to, not just kids, but everyone. But I have another story regarding theater. I held Broadway season tickets in Oklahoma City for 15 years. Sometimes I would buy tickets in Dallas or Tulsa and make the drive to see or re-see shows. One year, my daughter and I drove down to Dallas to see Wicked for the first time. It was October and the opening day of the Texas State Fair. The theater was packed. (on a side note, I did some local theater in OKC and learned of a new host of shows from the kids I was working with in a production of The Sound of Music. But I digress...) We were sitting in the mezzanine section, left side, row F. The lights went down and the music cued up and the audience when wild, screaming like they were at a rock concert! The whole audience were kids out of school for fall break. I'd never seen anything like it. Of course, my daughter and I LOVED the show and have seen it since, seven times.
We drove home after the show and my husband asked me, "How was it?" Something he never did.
I said, "Oh, my God. I can't believe how good it was."
He stopped what he was doing and looked at me. "It's not better than Phantom?" He sounded scared. Because, you see, that was our first show, and at our wedding, we sang "All I Ask of You" to each other.
I put an inch of space between my thumb and index finger and said, "it's this close."
"Noooooo." Was his response.

I wrote a contemporary romance called Quotable and there are lots of quotes in that book. Some great ones. A couple come to mind. For example: Long on Hair, short on brains; and, The more I get to know men the more I love my dog; and, People have the right to be stupid, some just abuse it; and my favorite was from my husband: "So what you're saying is, it's a bi-lateral miscommunication." 😊 Yes, it's in the book.

So "Maybe It's You" is the book after Quotable. I suppose most of its planning was done in my head as I was writing Quotable. It was a natural continuation. I could hardly get through the edits of Quotable because Maybe It's You kept demanding my attention until I just stopped what I was doing and wrote out the first 3500 words so that I could get back to Quotable. It was the craziest thing and one of the fastest books that came out of me, ever.

Originally, the Rebel Lords of London series was to be three books: The Earl's Error, The Marquis's Misstep, and The Viscount's Vendetta. Then I saw something on Entangled where you could submit a full lengthen novel and novella that were somehow connected, that's where the idea came for The 7th Son. Then my friend Amanda McCabe approached me last year about doing a book of Christmas stories. She made the suggestion of taking a character from one of my Rebel Lord of London stories. I was working on Vendetta at the time and had the perfect character, Felicity. But the true idea from that story came from the title: Lady Felicity's Feud with Christmas. Of course, it didn't stop there. Now I'm writing The Duke's Detour. I can't tell you if that will be the end of it, because it is soooooo much fun.

I don't really watch or write horror, but I will say the movie Get Out was fantastic.

For me, suspense and danger just help move a story along. You do have to have a solid reason for the mystery element. It does have to be foreshadowed or it won't work.

Everyone's process is different. I got started by seeing a prompt on Google that said "What if Cinderella's slipper fit one of her evil stepsisters?" I thought, I love Cinderella, I can write that. And I did. And the sisters' stories, and the evil stepsisters. In fact, all four stories and a bonus side story are included in a box set in KU, or wide, individually. Despite them being my first books, they are doing pretty well. There is no hard and fast rule. Well, there's one: You have to write the story. Then take workshops, get other writers' opinions and listen open-mindedly to their advice. That cost nothing and can be extremely valuable.

Join writer groups. You will meet people who will ask you to join their cross-marketing efforts. Promote other writers' books. If you see them on Twitter or Facebook, share them. Follow them on bookbub and you will get follows back. There is no one thing, unless you have a lot of money. Or, are a celebrity. They seem to shoot straight to the top.

I have strong opinions regarding music! I can't listen to music when I'm writing because I have a vocal music minor and get too distracted, however, my favorites, if you haven't figured it out so far are from Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, and Hamilton. But to narrow things down a bit: I love from Phantom :Think of Me; Wicked, For Good and As Long as You're Mine; Burn from Hamilton; and some of my absolute favorite music is from the original Broadway production of Jekyll and Hyde: Someone Like You, Once Upon a Dream, It's a Dangerous Game, Sympathy-Tenderness, Take Me as I Am. This soundtrack is my absolute favorite.

Susan Elizabeth Phillips, This Heart of Mine. This story is heart wrenching. And so funny. I've read it thirteen times. I am a huge sports fan and the hero is a quarterback in the NFL. It's an amazing book. As I mentioned before, The Shivering Sands by Victoria Holt because of its shocking ending. There are so many others, I can't hardly list.

Currently, I'm working on The Duke's Detour for the Rebel Lords of London. I'll also be doing another book with my friend Amanda McCabe in a new Regency Christmas series.

My experience with AllAuthor has been great so far. It was recommended to me by Anna Campbell and I'm thrilled she said something. I hope to be with them for many years to come. Thank you so much for this opportunity to share things I love most: Writing and Musical Theater. 🙂