Today we’d like to introduce you to Tonya Kappes

Hi Tonya, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.

Thank you so much for having me! I’m excited to be here and talk to your readers of CANVAS REBEL

I’m the most unlikely person to ever become a writer, much less a published author. I grew up in a small rural town in Kentucky and as you can see from one of my report cards that I didn’t even turn in book reports. I joke that if it wasn’t a party invitation- I wasn’t reading it. If it wasn’t a party invitation from me- I wasn’t writing anything. Plus I’m a huge extrovert. Unusual for writers.

But I grew up and graduated from the University of Kentucky in education. After that I did what most people my age at that time did and met a man, moved off to his town and got married. We had one son and before long I found myself in a divorce.

In the state of Kentucky everything in a divorce is spilt equally and that meant my son was going to be going to his dad’s. That left me broken. I’d mentioned how I was a huge extrovert but this took me under. I went to my Dr and asked for medication for the depression I was feeling. She refused saying I needed a habit. To spare your readers of all the things I tried to no avail, I finally decided to go back to college, which I was able to do on the days and nights my son was at his father’s, and get a therapist degree.

That’s what changed my life! By this time I was in my thirties and the young women in college were much younger than me. I met one young woman who invited me to her book club. Remember I do not read because it’s not fun for me.

I politely declined her offer but she followed up with ‘we have wine and chocolate.’ I asked her what time I should be there.

Just going gave me a way to get out of my house and not be so depressed when my son was at his dad’s. Don’t get me wrong, I still didn’t read the book. Nor did I buy them. I went for the wine and chocolate.

And of course the friendship.

About six months later when my son was gone but going to be home that night, I found myself sad. I had actually bought the book the book club had picked and it was sitting on a table next to my bed. I gave it a few side eye glances before I finally picked it up.

I cracked the spine.

This was around noon and I started to read the book. It was a romantic comedy. I heard a knock at the door and looked at my clock. It was seven at night.

It was my son coming home.

I had sat there for seven hours and read this book without realizing time had just flown by because I had gotten so invested in the story.

I escaped. The book helped me escape.

Fast forward years later, remarried and now four boys later, still in book club, it was my night to host my friends. I had gone to the book store and picked out four books to introduce to them the next book for reading. My husband’s eyes were as big as saucers when I came home with four books.

He reminded me how we have four growing boys, two dogs, a cat and we had a lot of mouths to feed. I ignored him and caught him looking at one of the books. When he noticed me watching him, he looked up and said to me, “you can tell a story better than this.”

I laughed.

I had book club with my friends and as always we started to catch up with everyone before it was over. I found myself telling yet another funny story to them about something in my past.
One of them said, “Tonya, you should write a book!”

Now…that’s two people in a few hours who mentioned writing a book.

After my friends left, I ended up going upstairs to wake up my husband because it was after midnight at this point and I asked him if he thought I could help someone escape if I wrote a book just like books had done for me. He responded ‘yes. Go to bed.’

The next day two of my boys played pee-wee football and you couldn’t leave them in case they got hurt or just needed you. Before practice I went by the store and bought a pad of paper and an ink pen and sat at their practice under an oak tree where I started my first novel.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?

My books are known for their southern charm and humor. It has influenced my writing.
Growing up in rural Kentucky you have a lot of fun and whacky folks. We had an eighty year old woman moonshiner who supplied everyone with potent drink. You know she found her way into my books. I also grew up with so many southern phrases that is a language in its own. Those also find their way into my writing.

I get a lot of messages saying I have spelling mistakes in my works, but they are not. They are spelled they way we say them. For example one of my characters might say ‘git over here.’ They are saying get over here, but in Kentucky it sounds like git.

Also I describe a lot of southern rich foods as well as the small and very cute towns. These two items alone in my books are characters on their own outside of the talking characters.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?

The “Camper & Criminals” series has become quite popular. I had no idea this was going to take off like it did. You asked me about my past and growing up in the south, well we had a Winnebago.
My parents would pack me and my sister up in that thing and drive us to the forest where there are streams and lakes for a long weekend.

I loved it. I loved getting to know the other kids in the campgrounds, running around in our bare feet, wading in the streams, campfires stories the adults would tell, the twangy music and it was a way of life for me.

I always remembered looking out into the woods and being a little creeped out. Scared.

When I decided to start a new series I knew I wanted it to be set in a campground but not real sure what I’d call it. My cover artist has a pre-made book cover event every year and she had three pre-made covers with campers on them. Immediately I knew they had to be mine because it fit the story in my head. Also during that time the Bernie Madolf case was going on in New York City.

I didn’t care so much about him but I wondered what on earth happened to his wife?

That’s when I knew Mae West’s history and how I bet his wife wanted to just strangle him. I put Mae in that world as her backstory and continue to play the what if game. What if she had no idea she wasn’t really financially broke and there was a campground in her name, she couldn’t keep her fancy car but there was a run down campervan she could drive to the campground because she wants her life back and she’s got it in her mind that she’s going to sell that campground, make millions and get her life back.

As we know, the campground isn’t worth a penny and I needed to get her husband who was now in prison there so he could show up dead. What better way than have him escape and when the FBI come to find her at the campground because they feel like she is hiding him, the husband bubbles up to the top making Mae the number on suspect.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://tonyakappes.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tonyakappesbooks/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authortonyakappes/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TonyaKappes
• Other: https://www.patreon.com/Tonyakappesbooks

Image Credits

TONYA KAPPES