School Visits and Speaking
Phyllis is prepared to talk to kids or adults about:
Where to get your story ideas
She’ll tell you where she got hers, and make suggestions
Story-writing basics
How to put together a basic story. What do you need to remember to include?
Editing basics
What do you need to check for, after you’ve written your first draft?
How to move toward publication
Your tale is written and you’ve polished it. What are the next steps you need to take?
Short bio: Phyllis Wheeler set a goal at age 13 to write a children’s book, a journey with lots of detours that has taken many years. She’s written for daily newspapers, worked on airplanes as a mechanical engineer, and raised four children, doing some homeschooling along the way. She also spent five years publishing and editing other people’s books. She has lived in a variety of places including the South and the Northeast, but for much of her adult life has called St. Louis home. You can sign up for her occasional newsletter at PhyllisWheeler.com
High-resolution photo is at far right / bottom.
Long bio: Author Phyllis Wheeler has done a little bit of many things. After studying English in college she worked for five years as a newspaper reporter. Then she went back to school and became a mechanical engineer working in aerospace for seven years.
During her next career as a homeschool teacher, she created and self-published a computer-programming curriculum (focusing on fun projects for kids) that won first-place awards. She picked up her childhood goal of writing a children’s book and moved into the publishing world. With a friend she operated a small press for five years, winning several awards. Most recently she’s been working hard on her own writing. Her middle-grade novel is slated for publication in 2021 with Elk Lake Publishing. She lives in St. Louis with her husband, keeping tabs occasionally on their four grown children.