Check Out Kathleen Baldwin’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kathleen Baldwin.

Hi Kathleen, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
It’s a long and winding road, no wait – that’s a Beatles song. Yet, it perfectly describes my journey to this spot. I’m a writer, and I suppose I’ve always been a writer even though I never intended to make it my career. I thought I wanted to be a heart surgeon, except my teachers and my mother saw something else in my future. Mama never allowed coloring books, paint-by-number, or much television in the house. Books. We had books and paint and nature, and our imaginations. Every night she read to us until the lights went on in Jerome. Jerome was, at that time, a little mining-ghost town on the mountain, and our house looked up at it from Cottonwood, Arizona.

When those tiny lights flickered on, my brother and I would beg for one more chapter of Heidi, Black Beauty, the Amazing Mrs. Pollifax, or whatever the story du jour was that night. Many of my stories are set in historical Britain, and people ask if I’m British. No. Yet, in a way, I grew up in a hundred places – on the foggy cobbled streets of London with Oliver Twist and Black Beauty, as well as the beautiful alps with Heidi. One of the ironic twists in my life was that, although my parents moved many times before I graduated from high school, English teachers kept excusing me from English. They sent me to the library to read and write. During my sophomore year, I argued with my teacher, explaining that I’d needed to stay in class and learn some grammar. But no, she sent me over to creative writing and the next semester on to Old English literature. “If you need help with grammar, come by after school, and I’ll help.” That was never going to happen because my mother had died the year before, and I had two younger brothers to care for after school. I muddled through. Consequently, grammar is still vexatious for me. Back to Heidi and her mountains… I fell in love with mountains because of that fictitious girl. All those adventure books mama read to us made me fall in love with the wild outdoors.

Back in the day, I taught rock climbing in the Rockies, was part of a mountain rescue team, survival camped in the desert, was stalked by a mountain lion, and lost an argument with a rattlesnake. If you need to know how to build a snow cave. I’m your girl. I spent way too long in college and never became a doctor, but I fell in love at least a dozen times and married my very own hero. We’ve raised four free-spirited courageous children. I still sneak out to go whitewater rafting or hiking whenever possible. One look at Yosemite Valley and I start crying for joy. Books. I enjoy writing adventurous historical heroines. I’ve penned several award-winning, bestselling, sweet Regency Romances that were originally published by Kensington. They include MISTAKEN KISS, a Holt Medallion Finalist, LADY FIASCO, which Cataromance readers voted best Regency of 2004. A SCHOOL FOR UNUSUAL GIRLS, a Junior Library Guild selection, is the first book in my Alternate History Regency series for Young Adults. Kansas State NEA Reading Circle gave it a starred review in their “Best of the Best” for High Schools. Scholastic licensed the series for their school book fairs. NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW called it “enticing from the first sentence.” Ian Bryce, producer of Spiderman, Transformers, Saving Private Ryan, and other blockbuster films, optioned the series for film. It’s now under option with another producer, the outstanding Beverley Gordon of Brown Bag Films.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Getting to this point in my writing career, I ran into numerous setbacks, rejections, and hurtles. But rock climbers take a fall and keep going. That’s the challenge of living an adventurous life. I believe my total rejection pile would now number somewhere above two hundred. Rejection is part of the writing world. Jack London, the author of Call of the Wild, sustained more than 600 rejections. Louie L’ Amour garnered 200 plus. Agatha Christie received so many rejections on her first novel she put it aside, and it has never been published. Dr. Seuss experienced numerous rejections and was told his books were “too different from other juvenile literature.” Yet, he became the 9th best-selling fiction author of all time. Rejection makes me study the craft harder and write with more commitment. I want to be ever-learning and writing better and better stories.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m thrilled that film-makers and producers are interested in my work. We’ve had more than eight option requests on my latest series. That is exciting, but what amazes me is that more than 600,000 copies of my books are in the hands of readers. I never imagined my stories would reach that many people. I love getting letters from readers that tell me they are reading my books and sharing them with their daughters and grandmothers. That sends my heart soaring.

We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
Whenever you voice an opinion, you take a risk. While on a panel at a large book festival, I was publicly lambasted by a very famous author, who shall remain nameless, for writing “feisty, strong-willed historical heroines.” She argued that it was historically inaccurate. Women were meek and subservient to the male-dominated cultures of the past. She viewed women as having been victimized by historical cultures. I know many women suffered in past cultures. They still suffer. But I do not view women as victims. I can show example after example of real women who triumphed over evil – feisty girls and spirited women. I wrote an article about real historical heroines on my website: https://kathleenbaldwin.com/tor-blog-feisty-females-of-historical-fiction/ My own grandmothers, and their mothers before them, were feisty women. My great-grandmother was the first female on the radio in Arizona with her inspirational morning hour. This is the same woman, some years earlier, packed her children and her belongings into a covered wagon and followed my great grandfather to the wild Arizona frontier. All of my grandmothers were women to be reckoned with. I cannot bring myself to see women as victims simply because they were born female. The women I grew up with were spunky, brave, and dangerous.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://kathleenbaldwin.com/tor-blog-feisty-females-of-historical-fiction/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/kathleen.baldwin/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KathleenBaldwinAuthor
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/KatBaldwin
• Other: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/168324.Kathleen_Baldwin