Wendy Wheeler Miscellaneous Interests

Here's the page for all those interests I couldn't squeeze into anywhere else!

High Tech in Austin, Texas

My day job is in Austin, Texas in the Marketing Communications Department for the Financial Services Group of CSC, one of the largest IT services companies in the world. Thanks in part to teaching myself html and making an electronic portfolio page, from 1997 through 2003, I built the Marketing Department for Austin-based PlanView, Inc., a high-end project management software company.

Austin is such a great town--lots of art and theater, writers and performers all around, tons of live music, with lakes and rivers and the hill country all around. Plus, it's the most liberal town in Texas, maybe in the southwest USA.

Game Design -- A New Skill

Jennifer Evans and I had an idea for a collectible card game--like Magic: The Gathering and oh-so-many others. What we made was pretty cool! Our prototype was in redesign twice for Wizards of the Coast in Seattle, the multi-million dollar game company who produced Magic. Instead, they released the Pokemon card games. (Is there any money in that?:)

We hope to get back to promoting our card game again someday. Many thanks to the game-playing folks of Austin, Texas who game tested for us and were very vocal about what they liked and what else they wanted to see! They've signed non-disclosure agreements so you can't pump them for information, but warm wishes especially to: Fred Askew, Bill Call, Robert Gatliff, Jim Gould, Marty Hoff, Clayton Hunter, Jay Lake, Robert Lawrence, Stephen McNally, Eric McVicker, Jeff Shaevel, Kevin Triplett, and Russ Williams. And to folks who discussed generalities with us: Don Webb and Allen Varney.

WebComix!

My erstwhile Austin friend, Russ Williams, became fascinated with on-line comics and created his own wacky and ecletic site, www.koFightClub.com for a couple of years. I made a few guest strips to keep his content fresh when he traveled sometimes. These things are conceived, written, drawn and produced by me--and are about how funny (ha-ha AND strange) web comix artists and gamers seem to be.

Comix 1

For the whole "True Life vs Web Comix" Strip #1, click here.

Comix 2

For the whole "True Life vs Web Comix" Strip #2, click here.

Comix 3

For the whole "Hair-Raising Tales of RussCon," click here.

Comix 4

For the whole "Math Geek Joke," click here.

Myths and Archetypes

I'm a sometime member of the Jung Society of Austin, a student of Joseph Campbell Mythology, and a regular attendee of the Mythic Journeys Conference held in Atlanta every other year on the anniversary of Campbell's birthday. I also use the structures of myths in my own fiction and screenwriting, and have been lucky enough to workshop with Chris Vogler, author of The Writers Journey. As a kid I read every myth or legend of every culture I could find, which probably accounts for much of my writing style now.

Metaphysics!

Yep, I'm a meditator. I believe in energy fields, applied kineseology, reincarnation, aromatherapy, Feng Shui. I've been doing dream analysis with an Edgar Cayce ARE study group for over 20 years, and the insights and strengthening of my intuition have been POWERFUL! I go to at least a couple of New Age workshops a year, because I always learn cool things.

Okay, yes. I have a hard time with some of the woo-woo New Age theories, too. Still, your reality is your reality and that's totally okay in my book! We all have a spiritual dimension to us that is grander and more connected than the puny ego selves we have here on earth. And the Law of Grace supercedes the Law of Karma. Meaning: Just accept your forgiveness and get over how badass you are.

World Travel

London and South England, May 2000. Me sitting and wishing (hence, the closed eyes) on the "Wishing Rock" at Avebury in southern England. The standing stones in this tiny Wiltshire village are sooooo incredible and powerful. What a cool place Glastonbury is! J4 and I had an amazing 3.5 days there staying in a beautiful and funky B&B on the path to the Tor.

Paris, November 2000. This picture of me on the Champs Elysee, the famous main street in Paris, was taken at night. It's pretty dark, but you can still see the Arch of Triumph behind us. This trip was also for business, so those are my European co-workers bowing before me. I traveled alone, but I had a good time, spoke French okay, saw tons of gorgeous art, ate great food, and did the Paris thing!

Germany and Poland 2010. Got to visit friends with the American embassy in Berlin. Wow, such history and culture there! And Bob worked right where the Berlin wall used to be! Then old friend Russ and I traveled by train to Wroclaw, Poland, to visit his home where he now lives with his fiancee Anna. This is me in the rynek ("town square") which is three blocks from their funky, tiny apartment. Lots of cool stuff to see and do.

Chichen Itza 2005. A friend and I took a cruise to Mexico and the Caribbean. Only they decided not to take us to Honduras or Belize at the last minutes. Awful Norweigan Cruiselines! But they did get us to Progresso so we could investigate the Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza. You could totally climb the Pyramid of the Sun while we were there, so that's my tired and happy ass climbing up.

Oahu 2009. Aloha! I got to attend the Hawaii Writers Conference and Retreat, the last year they offered it. My hotel was right on Waikiki Beach with a partial view of the ocean. I really loved the history and natural beauty of Oahu; took several tours when my workshops gave me a break. Here I'm sitting by a double waterfall with lavendar around me and a petroglyph in front of me. More photos and details of travels are found on my LiveJournal blog.

Photography

Black & White Photography Here's a photo I took of some kids at Extend-A-Care. It won a Silver Award in the United Way National Photo Contest! I enjoy photography, but don't get to do it much anymore...
Another Black & White Photo This photo, despite the weathered look of the wood, was taken at an amusement park in San Marcos, TX! It won me a 1st prize in a local contest (in which I won 3rd prize also--must've been a slow year). It's mostly a study in textures.

My Babies

My furry, whiskered "children"
Like so many writers, I am the proud "parent" of kitty cats--two handsome and high-prrrsonality ones. Mojo is the red tabby, female Manx -- a spooky smart female "stubbie" (i.e., nubbin of a tail). Tucker Smallwood is a 25-pound, neutered-male tuxedo cat who loves people and other animals. Tucker loves parties at the Henhouse but Mojo is big on hiding beneath furniture.