Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a lifelong compulsive reader, a lawyer, a mother of two grown daughters, a largely dormant photographer, and of course an author. My literary ambitions date from at least age eight, when I began a series of very short illustrated “books” about a black stallion named Collybird. (I deduce that I had, by this time, read Walter Farley’s The Black Stallion series.) My mother typed up at least some of them, with the title page listing me as author and illustrator and herself as “publisher.” I attempted my first novel at age ten, which amounted to 200 penciled pages of a very strange narrative involving a boy and a dragon. (The dragon’s role in the boy’s life went through several highly unlikely transformations.) My mother, praised be she, typed the whole 200 pages and bound several copies.
After a decades-long fallow period, I wrote the very rough draft of my first more conventional novel during National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo) in 2010 and published it in 2011. I’m now at eleven novels and counting, which range from science fiction to historical romance to (one) afterlife fantasy. I’ve also written and published short stories connected to two of those novels, as well as one nonfiction book about American law and legal practice and one picture book (described below).
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book, coming out July 23, 2021, is my first picture book! Delightfully illustrated by Siski Kalla, You Can’t Kiss A Bubble uses a mix of fanciful and more realistic settings to explore what one can’t and can do with something so transitory as a bubble. I don’t remember where the idea for this particular book came from, but I started writing my first picture book in 1991, sitting on our front deck and enjoying the oak trees and their crop of acorns. I was pregnant with our older daughter at the time, and the book became “Mommy Calls Me Acorn.” That book and quite a few others await future publication.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’m not sure whether relying on NaNoWriMo for my novels’ rough drafts counts as unusual, given how many other authors and would-be authors take part in it every November, but it’s certainly far from a universal approach. During November, I run to and from my computer pretty much all day, every day, writing anything from a short snippet to a whole days’ quota of words.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Too many to remember! nor can I be sure how directly or indirectly various authors and books influenced me, but the authors include Mary Doria Russell (in particular her book The Sparrow and its sequel Children of God); Lois McMaster Bujold; Ursula K. LeGuin; C.S. Lewis; Jane Austen; Edward Eager; Grace Burrowes; George Eliot; Caroline Cooney (YA author); Naomi Novik; Dorothy Sayers.
What are you working on now?
I’m preoccupied with releasing three quite different books in one month: What Shows the Heart (historical romance), You Can’t Kiss A Bubble, and the updated and slightly retitled nonfiction book, Closest to the Fire: A Guide to American Law and Lawyers. I’m also at the exciting first-illustrations stage with my second picture book, When It’s Winter, and just beginning to think about what to write during NaNoWriMo 2021.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
This is a continual challenge. For each book, I seek out book bloggers who may be interested in reviewing or otherwise promoting that sort of book. I have a Facebook author page, an author Twitter account, a blog I tend to neglect between book releases (Looking Around, at http://looking-around.blogspot.com/), and a website whose special features (e.g. Reviews, Excerpts, Deleted Scenes) also could use more attention. I run Amazon Marketing ads for one or two books at a time.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t take anyone’s advice as gospel! 🙂 Seriously, advice is not one-size-fits-all. Many authors share the process that has worked for them, but it may not be the right one for you.
If you tend to start things without finishing them, particularly if what stops you is your own inner editor carping at you, I highly recommend NaNoWriMo (see above). Its pace requires you to brick up your inner editor in a handy closet and just WRITE. Many participants use “lousy first drafts” as a mantra.
If and when you get to the point of contemplating publication, don’t rule out self-publishing (aka indie authorship). It’s come a very long way from the days when buying a barn/garage full of often overpriced books for thousands of dollars and trying to peddle them was the only option. Follow sites/accounts like Writer Beware for info on scam publishers, aka vanity presses. Research and consider the pros and cons of traditional publishing, which are much different than they were decades ago. And have an actual lawyer, preferably one with intellectual property (IP) experience, go over any agency or publishing contract. An investment in an hour or two of legal fees (get an estimate first) can save you a great deal of money, heartburn, heartache, and control over your future career.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Some or all of what I just gave!
What are you reading now?
I’ve just started The Matrimonial Advertisement by Mimi Matthews. Before that, I gobbled down a wonderful fanfic for Lois McMaster Bujold’s Wide Green World series, Giving Ground: Another Step in the Wide Green World, by Bracketyjack (on Archive of Our Own). I also read and enjoyed Becky Chambers’ latest SF book, A Psalm for the Wild-Built.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Sooner or later, I’ll write another book in my Cowbird Creek historical romance series. I have an itch to return to science fiction, but probably not in any of my previous series or subgenres. And I’d like to bring more of my long-buried picture books into the light.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
NOOOOO! How about 3 or 4 boxes? . . .
The actual answer would vary from hour to hour, but at the moment, I’d bring Lois McMaster Bujold’s Miles in Love (three novels, but one big book!); My One and Only Duke by Grace Burrowes; Busman’s Honeymoon by Dorothy Sayers; and His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik.
Author Websites and Profiles
Karen A. Wyle Website
Karen A. Wyle Amazon Profile
Karen A. Wyle Author Profile on Smashwords
Karen A. Wyle’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
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