Unstoppable a Conversation with Kate Danaher Parks

This is Kate Danaher's first novel. She's been a member of Bonita Bay Club for over 18 years. She holds a Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Delaware and is a former professor of English at Rosemont College, Pennsylvania. She is an Irish storyteller, fiddler, and a founder and emeritus board member of the Irish Heritage Theater in Philadelphia. She also performed with and served on the board of the Delaware Shakespeare Festival. Under the name Danaher and Cloud, she and her music partner, Amy Cloud Chambers, produced four Americana albums: Portraits, Late Bloomers, The Holiday Album, and the multi-award-winning album for kids, Just Kiddin'. All available on popular streaming services. 

Victoria Woodhull helped shape women’s rights in America, yet most of us never learn her name or we only hear the rumors. We talk with Bonita Bay Club member Kate Danaher Parks (pen name Kate Danaher), the debut author of Unstoppable: The Victoria Woodhull Story, a new historical fiction novel publishing in June that aims to put truth back where myth has taken over. Kate shares why Woodhull’s fight was bigger than “the vote” and how a falling out with better-known leaders helped push her out of the mainstream narrative. 

We get specific about what surprised Kate most during her research: how often sensational claims get repeated as fact, and how hard it can be to correct the record once a story becomes convenient. With support from longtime Woodhull researcher Mary L. Shearer (VictoriaWoodhull.com), Kate revisits the “free love” label, the misunderstandings around Woodhull’s personal life, and the real stakes of advocating for social freedom in the 1860s and 1870s. If you’re searching for women’s history, women’s suffrage, feminist pioneers, or the untold story of Victoria Woodhull, this conversation is a smart starting point. 

We also pull back the curtain on craft and process: why Kate wrote the screenplay first, what screenwriting forces you to cut, and how the novel finally gave her room to make Woodhull feel human and relatable. Kate shares the COVID-era routine that kept her drafting, what it took to deliver a full manuscript, and why “clear” beats “perfect” on the page. You’ll also hear about her community storytelling, from tournament articles to Irish music and live events, plus what’s next with the sequel volumes Shattered and Victorious. 

Subscribe for more member stories, share this with a friend who loves historical fiction and women’s rights history, and leave a review so more listeners can find the show. What part of Victoria Woodhull’s story do you think deserves the spotlight now?

Transcript

Welcome And New Book Reveal

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Hello, Benita Bay Club. Here we are once again in a podcast for you. And today we are introducing Kate Danaher. That's her pen name, but most of you might know her by Kate Parks. So it's Kate Danaher Parks. She's been a member here at Benita Bay Club for over 18 years. Welcome, Kate. Thank you. Nice to be here. Thank you. Well, today we're introducing Kate because she has written a wonderful book. She's the author, and it's going to be published soon. Yes. June June. Yeah, yeah. And it's called Unstoppable, the Victoria Woodhull Story. Okay,

Early Books That Shaped Kate

SPEAKER_00 0:41

we're going to start with some questions because I know you've had a very interesting career path. And you were a teacher, you're a writer, you're a screenwriter, and now you've published a book. So you're an author. How fascinating is that. What first sparked your love for storytelling?

SPEAKER_01 0:59

I think I loved books ever since I was little. The first one I remember reading was Little Women. And then I love Nancy Drew. I read every one of those. I love the Black Stallion books. And I used to live along Cobbs Creek Parkway in Philadelphia. I'd ride my bike down to the library a mile or two down. And I can still remember the inside of that library. It was just a fun thing to do. I just love stories.

SPEAKER_00 1:20

That's wonderful.

SPEAKER_01 1:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:22

As an English professor, did you always know you wanted to write professionally?

SPEAKER_01 1:26

Not really until I got the idea after teaching Rosemont College, is where my main career was. I taught English and writing. And I had the idea to write a murder mystery based on my experiences at Rosemont. No, I loved it there. I really did love it. But there were some uh interesting situations. And I thought, well, if this went to its extreme, you know. And so I did do that. In fact, I have drafts of that. But you probably had a wild imagination. Yes, yeah. Right. But then I never did get to finish it's hard with teaching and writing at the same time, you know.

SPEAKER_00 2:01

So what kind of books or writers influenced you in your early years?

SPEAKER_01 2:05

Yes, like I mentioned, little women and Nancy Drew. And then when I got to high school, I had such very good English teachers. The sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary were so good at English. We would have classes and they would say, All right, you don't have to memorize this stuff. I let's read this book and I want to know what you think about it. I mean, they were very independent women. So we read all kinds of books, talked about them. It was wonderful. And then college, of course, then I was very interested in Ireland, so I wanted to read all the Irish writers. My father was born there, so I'm I love James Joyce. Just love writers.

SPEAKER_00 2:38

So what particular moment when you realize, what moment came and you say, okay, I really do have a book in me?

SPEAKER_01 2:44

Aside

From Teaching To Screenwriting

SPEAKER_01 2:45

from the murder mystery, which I maybe I'll get back to that. I had written screenplays. I wrote about a chess teacher and wrote wrote a couple screenplays with a writing partner, and then we said, we should do another project. And his wife said, Why don't you write about Victoria Woodhull? I'm like, What? Victoria Woodhull, who's that? But anyway, we wrote many versions of the screenplay, entered competitions, won awards. But when COVID hit is when I thought, I should turn the screenplay into a novel. That's what I should do. That I would like better. Because the producer lady had a serious accident and this and that. She was a small producer and she'd hoped to kind of get some traction, you know. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:22

So usually a screenplay is written after the book, correct? But you did it the opposite. You wrote a screenplay first and then the book.

SPEAKER_01 3:29

And then the book, yes. I'm happy with novel writing. And someone may pick it up and write a screenplay about it, and that would be fine. And that's actually what my publisher wants to do. That's his specialty, to take books that he thinks have potential for film or TV and try to market them to Hollywood and wherever else. Especially if you like Netflix or Apple TV.

SPEAKER_00 3:52

Yeah, all those kinds of things that have different series.

SPEAKER_01 3:55

He's very good. His name's Ken Achety, and his company is Story Merchant Books.

SPEAKER_00 4:00

Okay. So

Why Victoria Woodhull Matters Now

SPEAKER_00 4:01

for everybody who's listening today and maybe never heard of who Victoria Woodhull is, why is her story so important today?

SPEAKER_01 4:09

She just worked so hard for women. Some of the rights that we have that we take for granted. She was one of the pioneers. She was right there along with Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. And she was kind of written out of Susan B. Anthony's history of women's rights because they had a falling out. Basically, because Susan was the vote, the vote, the vote, the vote, nothing but the vote. And Victoria was trying to get more, more social freedom, more ability to do what you wanted, not have people tell you what to do, more options for women in work and in marriage relations and everything else. And because of that, people associated her with, well, she wanted free love, they said. Well, what she meant by that was just the freedom to love who you wanted to love. And if you fell out of love with that person, you didn't have to stay in the world. What year are we talking about? 1860s, 70s. And so then people say, Oh, she's a free lover. Well, Susan B. Anthony said, This is mucking up the waters. We can't have this. It's the vote, the vote, the vote. So there was a falling out there, but she was right there with Katie Stanton and Susan and all those pioneer.

SPEAKER_00 5:14

So Victoria was way ahead of her time. Yes. Correct? Yes. What aspect of her life surprised you the most during your research?

SPEAKER_01 5:23

All this that was said about her, that she was a free lover and she was too permissive, and she did actually end up having her first husband live with her when she was married to a second husband, and that was absolutely shocking back then. Wow. That kind of thing. And so people said, She's a loose woman, her family was thrown out of a house. It was probably a brothel, you know what I mean? Like, and so all these myths developed about her and her family, rumors, you know. What was surprising to find out is so many of them that are written about and considered truth in so many books that are considered histories. So many of those myths, they're just not true.

SPEAKER_00 6:06

Right.

SPEAKER_01 6:07

So I had a very, very good person who worked with me, Mary L. Shearer. She has a website called Victoriawoodhull.com, and she has studied Victoria for 50 years. She just knows everything about her. So I'll say, What about this?

SPEAKER_00 6:20

Well, yeah, it's so interesting to me because before I spoke to you, I really never heard of Victoria Woodhull. I know. And now I find this very fascinating myself. And I can't wait to read your book.

SPEAKER_01 6:31

Well, because of all the myths and the prostitute questions and which there's never ever any evidence of that. But she was difficult to put into high school history books. You know, we're like, well, what do we say about this lady? Nobody really knew what the truth was. So I'm hoping that my book is a is a starter on that.

SPEAKER_00 6:48

Yeah. Let's talk

Myths, Research, And “Unstoppable”

SPEAKER_00 6:49

about the title a little bit because it is very powerful, unstoppable. Yeah. What does that word mean to you in the context of Victoria's life?

SPEAKER_01 6:57

Well, when she decided that she was going to face what she needed to face, because she had an alcoholic husband, she was married at 15. She had a very disabled child. She needed more freedom. She couldn't be trapped in an alcoholic marriage. And she started fighting for women's rights in 1855, like the year that child was born. She's like, We need a little room here. And so she was unstoppable. She thought, I am not giving up on this. And her mother would say, Oh, you don't do this, but she's like, No, I'm I'm doing it. You know? So, how did you approach bringing Victoria to life in a relatable way? I knew certain facts, and then I thought, okay, you could write facts and then history, and then it's a series of facts, but how do you bring her to life? And that's where the imagination comes in because okay, she married an alcoholic husband who actually was sneaking out to brothels the first week they were married. Maybe the first second, no, first night I have it in the book. Might be second night. Early on, she finds him in a house of ill repute, goes looking for him. So then I think, what does it feel like? Do you just go home and they made up that night and they say, Oh, it's okay. What would it have been like? How would she feel as a 15-year-old in a new city? Because they moved from her small town of Homer, Ohio, to Cleveland.

SPEAKER_00 8:12

So you tried stepping into her shoes. Yes. What would it be like? So let's talk a little bit about your writing process. What did

Writing During COVID And Deadline Pressure

SPEAKER_00 8:19

your writing routines look like while working on this book?

SPEAKER_01 8:22

When I started during COVID, this friend of mine, Mary Rose Callahan, who lives in Ireland, she said, I'm starting a book. You should start a book too. Write it for young adults or something. Let's do a chapter a day. So that's how we did it. I'd say, All right, do a chapter. She do a chapter. We exchange chapters with each other. So that's how I did it. Was there a time during this whole process that you felt stuck or challenged? Oh yeah. I was totally challenged when I had gotten a few chapters in what I thought was better shape after I wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote twice what I needed. I thought, okay, I'm going to pare it down. I had like two or three chapters. I thought, well, these are pared down pretty well. And I asked the publisher, would you like to look at a few chapters? And then he said, Uh, no, send me the whole manuscript. So then I was challenged. I was like, oh dear. And so then I was working 10, 12 hours a day. One time it was like two and a half weeks. I don't think I got out of the chair. Or I'd wake up in the middle of the night thinking of a chapter and I'd just get up at four o'clock and start writing. And so this whole process, how long did it take you to write the book? I've been at it since, well, but started in 2020, right? Five or six years now.

SPEAKER_00 9:28

Okay. So did your background in teaching English help shape your writing style?

SPEAKER_01 9:33

Oh, yes, definitely. Because I'm always trying to think how to make this clear. Think of your audience. Who are you trying to appeal to? Right. And keep it clear. Even when I wrote my dissertation, I was like, oh gosh, a dissertation. And my professor said, it doesn't have to be brilliant. It just has to be clear. So I think, okay, that I can do. And then when you do that, then it shapes itself into something. Yeah. You're not trying to set the world on fire with every sentence or whatever. Right. So if Victoria Woodhull could read your book today, what do you hope she would say about it? Oh, I hope she would say, thank you, Kate. Oh my God, I've been waiting for this a long time. She died in 1927. She died in England. And the year after she died, a biography was written about her full of myths. Her daughter and her niece were gonna sue. They were talked out of that. They thought it would bring more controversy. Then they wanted to buy the manuscript from her because they knew it would be all wrong. Emily Sachs, she called it the terrible siren. So that should tell you something. Wow. She wanted to write about a wild woman. So anything that fit that theme, she put it in. Anything that didn't, she left it out. And we know this because my historian friend has gone and looked at the notes in the libraries. And you could say, Oh, she never said this about her. She didn't say this about her.

SPEAKER_00 10:55

You know, if it fit the thing, she would say things and she would be proud that finally the truth is coming out.

SPEAKER_01 11:00

Yeah, because she said, I hope someday time will tell the true story. So there are some books that have a lot of truth in them, but not enough. And it needs to be looked at again. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 11:13

So

Screenplay Constraints Versus Novel Freedom

SPEAKER_00 11:14

you started writing screenplays first, or you wrote the screenplay first.

SPEAKER_01 11:18

Yes. So how does the writing for a film differ from writing the book? Oh, the film is so hard. You think, oh, screenplay, that's not so bad. It kind of looks like the writing's only in the middle of the page and there's a character and they say this, but oh my gosh, trying to condense it and to pick a scene that reveals what you need to reveal. I always felt, even when I would finish and version after version, I still don't have Victoria down. I still don't. So the novel gave me a lot more freedom. To tell her story. Yeah, to tell the story. Yeah. Because there's so many characters that influence her. And then people say, you have to take these characters out. With the screenwriting partner that I had when I went to California, the producer that wanted to do it, we rewrote it. And she'd say, Take this out. That's too much. And then she'd read more about Victoria Woodhull. And then she'd say, You need to put that back in. Oh, okay. What do you want me to cut? A screenplay, you're limited to 120 pages, 130 max, and you're only writing in the middle of the page. I don't know if you've ever seen the it looks like a menu, you know, it doesn't look like it. So you're very limited. The only way to do it would be a series. And we had started that. Then she had the accident and things got put on hold. And she always says, I will get back to it, so we'll see. But anyway, I love writing the novel.

SPEAKER_00 12:30

And when you do write, do you visualize scene cinematically? Yeah, I do. Because I used to act too. I'm sure a lot of our members don't know that.

SPEAKER_01 12:39

Well, they see me on the court. They go, Yeah, yeah, yeah. She's like that. So I do. I picture her, you know, what would she do? Would she touch her head like when she walks into the church and she has no covering on her head? You know, I picture, I picture that scene, yeah, visually. That's fun to do. It's hard when you've never been to a town, though. Every city that I have to write about that I have not been able to visit, I read all kinds of books about that town, but what it was like back then and looking at old maps and all kinds of things, as I said. Sounds like a lot of work. Yeah, it was, but it was fun. It was fun. Yeah, because my my historian friend I'd say, Oh, I wish I had a map of Homer. Oh, got one. Here you go. You know, next thing it'd be in my email. I'm like, oh, okay, thanks. That's wonderful.

Telling Tournament Stories At Bonita Bay

SPEAKER_00 13:21

Well, we'll talk a little bit because this is when I really got to know you more. When we were working with the Fine Mark Women's Pro Tennis Championship. Yes. And you have written quite a few articles in the brochure that I create. So how did you start writing for did Paula get a hold of you to start writing some articles?

SPEAKER_01 13:41

Lanny Little, who's a fabulous writer, he decided to move over to security. I guess he wanted the excitement of, you know, possible intruders or I don't know what. He wrote great articles and she'd asked me to write something. And I wrote under Lanny when he was in charge of it. And I wrote an article. I forget what my first one was. So then when Lani switched committees, Paula said, Well, would you like to write the articles? And I'm like, uh what? You know, that was the year.

SPEAKER_00 14:11

And you've done a fabulous job.

SPEAKER_01 14:13

Oh, thank you. Yeah. That was the year I did the heart of the tournament, the eyes of the tournament, the sound of the tournament, the wings. I did this whole series about people that made the tournament what it is. Then I got hooked on it because it was so much fun meeting the people, getting to know Jeff Thompson and Brett and the photographers. And we need to write an article about you and you too. So we, you know, every year we try to pick a different aspect to highlight people that do different things.

SPEAKER_00 14:39

And then you've gotten some other members who have helped you write some of the articles, right? You brought them on board. Yes. Yeah. I keep looking around and I see a likely suspect.

SPEAKER_01 14:49

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, because it it is nicer instead of having to write five articles yourself, you spread them out a little. Mary Rothfuss is helping me, and one of my teammates now is going to write for me, too. Oh yes.

SPEAKER_00 15:01

Wonderful. Yes. You're starting the process of uh Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:05

Why start the year before getting everybody on board? Yeah, to see possibilities for articles. And oh, how about this? Because we could do that. You can kind of make connections with people before they hop off to the following year. You know, I met Anna Rogers, right? Yeah. Her mother and her aunt, and I got their their phone numbers because we might do an article about what it's like being a tennis player on tour. What's that like?

SPEAKER_00 15:29

And yeah, those are all interesting stories. And a lot of our members, I hope they've some of them have picked up the brochure because there's a lot of good stories in there. And the book is on the BBC Usta.net where that brochure they can read some of the articles on there.

SPEAKER_01 15:48

I did a fun one this year about just fun tennis. It actually wasn't even about the tournament, but all the people that play fun tennis because so many of them help with the tournament. And it's just nice. I was on a fun theme this this season.

SPEAKER_00 16:00

Yeah. Great stories. Okay, let's do a little bit of your personal reflection. What

Finishing The Book And Next Volumes

SPEAKER_00 16:05

has publishing this book meant to you personally?

SPEAKER_01 16:08

Well, it's always nice to finish a project. I think no matter what you start, you always say, Ah, I wish I had finished that. So the fact that I finished it, yeah, that's exciting. Because I always regret not getting that murder mystery done. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:22

Well, you might finish it. You might have to give that some thought. So what advice would you give someone who dreams of writing their own books? Just do it. Just start. Just start a little at a time. But isn't that the hardest part? Is just starting. Uh-huh. It is. And I've read that everywhere. It's just you have to start writing.

SPEAKER_01 16:41

Yeah. Don't critique yourself. There's plenty of time to edit. Just write down whatever comes to you and it'll take shape. It's like Play-Doh or something. You start out with one thing and it turns into something else. Yes, yeah. What's next for you? Another book? Another screenplay? Well, yeah, the next one is going to be volumes two and three of this story, because this story, Unstoppable, only takes her up to right around the the time of the election. And then she was jailed on election day. And so I don't want to tell you any more about the end, but it ends around that time. Okay. Then it's what she deals with after that. So the next book is going to be called Shattered because she does go through a lot. This book is a 20-year period from like 12 to 32. I start when she's an adolescent up till that moment that she's involved in the politics and the elite world of New York city finances and everything else. And then, yeah, shattered. And then after that, it's going to be victorious. That will be the third volume. This one's red. And Mary, my historian friend, she said, Well, the next one could be blue, like the dark night of the soul. And then the third one could be purple because you have red and blue make purple. Victorious. So look for the colors. They'll look pretty on a shelf as a collection. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:05

Oh, it sounds like it'd be a great series. Okay. So let's go. A little light question here for you.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

What's your favorite place to write? Oh, my chairs. I have one here in Florida and I have one up in New York, and they're high back and they're so comfortable. Oh, I can't wait to get in my chair sometimes. I like writing.

SPEAKER_00 18:22

So you look forward to it. You look forward to just sitting down and beginning. Yeah. It's relaxing to you? Yeah. You find it relaxing?

SPEAKER_01 18:28

Yeah, I do. Again, the thing though is you don't go to bed and look at a blank page the next day. You should have a germ of an idea, like maybe I'll do this next. That's how I ended up with twice what I needed. Yeah, maybe I'll do this next. And so you have you have a line or a half of a line written. And when you sit down the next day, you're not like staring, like, where do I go now? You already have something. And you might not use it later, but so what? Even if you get it. You're going to have a lot more material. Yes. You might get a little germ out of that. Oh, I'll just take this and get rid of that.

SPEAKER_00 18:59

Right, yeah. Right. And maybe some of that extra stuff might help you on your second book. Right. You never know. You never know.

SPEAKER_01 19:04

Could be a flashback or something.

SPEAKER_00 19:06

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 19:07

Even things you cut. Nothing's ever wasted. I say that, but I'm like, oh my God, why did I have to write this much? Well, our next conversation next time.

SPEAKER_00 19:16

We'll we'll see where that went.

SPEAKER_01 19:18

But I feel like it all gets used somewhere. It does. It does. It just helps you learn to write. Are you currently reading a book? I am currently reading the Margaret Fuller book. Finding Finding Margaret Fuller. Yes. Yes. That Nancy Dix gave it to me. She knows I like stories about women. And yeah, I like that. I'm in a book club here. We had read Becoming Madam Secretary this year. I like books like that. I think mine, if people were asking what it would be similar to, it would be similar to. I'm only in the beginning of finding Margaret Fuller, becoming Madam Secretary. I think my book is somewhat like that. Takes her through her life, what motivated her early on and where she takes that and what she does to strengthen her position as a woman in her world. Right.

SPEAKER_00 20:00

So what's one thing you think that members would be surprised to learn about you?

Crew Racing, Irish Fiddle, And Storytelling

SPEAKER_00 20:06

People who know you.

SPEAKER_01 20:07

Well, some people know I tell stories, Irish stories. I love to do that and act. But not too many people know that I used to row crew in one of those boats with eight people in it. Wow, that was Wow, that sounds amazing to do. I did it for five years, and then I got asked to be in a boat in the Masters National Race. I said, no way to the cocks. And she called me. I want you in my boat. And I thought, well, maybe I should. It's right near its driving distance. It goes around the country where the races are. And I was sitting there at the start waiting for the shotgun to go off to start the race. And I'm just saying, I will never do this again. Just get me through this race. Promise me. Like, just get me through it. Because it's very tough. Very intense, was it? Very intense. Yeah. Anyway, it was awesome, though. It was great. And we got second place. That's awesome. So that was fun. I had to be athletics and all.

SPEAKER_00 20:58

I know, because you're an avid tennis player. So you're always out there playing. Yeah, I love it. I didn't know actually, was not until we had this conversation that you told me you were an Irish fiddle player. Yes. Yeah. How fascinating. That's wonderful.

SPEAKER_01 21:11

I love fiddle. I learned in high school how to play. And I always wanted to learn Irish because I grew up in a very strong Irish American community. Right. There was always parties, always fiddle players and musicians playing and people dancing. And I met somebody from Germany and she came all the way to the Irish, the flaky old. I actually competed in the All Ireland Championships twice. I met her there and I said, Why do you come from Germany to hear this music? It's so good for the soul, she said. It is really the Irish music. You cannot keep your feet still. No, it's you know, so I love that. I used to do a one woman show. I play the fiddle and I tell stories. That's another story of how I tell Irish stories, but I'll be doing that next year for the community association in March, March 12th. It's a Friday. And then the month before that, February. 12th. I'll be doing the author series for this book. Yeah, I hope everybody signs up for that. It'd be fun. Yeah. Fun.

SPEAKER_00 22:07

Kate, what can I say? It's always a pleasure speaking with you. Every conversation I have, I enjoy. I'm glad that you came to our podcast today. Thank you for inviting me. It's so exciting. And I hope to have you back on. And I hope our members really get to know Kate Danaher Parks. And if they see her, just say hello. When I put it in the newsletter, we'll put a picture of you.

SPEAKER_01 22:29

Yes. And everybody tell your friends, spread the word. Yeah, I'm a debut author at my late stage of life here. And so I need readers and reviewers and all that. I don't have the the network.

SPEAKER_00 22:40

The network, yeah. So anybody who wants to read a wonderful story about Victoria Woodhull, the book is unstoppable. But I'm always interested in finding members who have interesting stories.

Share Member Stories And How To Reach Us

SPEAKER_00 22:52

So any member out there that would love to tell their story to me or to the membership, please contact Becky Salon at Becky S at BonitaBay Club.net and let us know. We'd love to have you on our podcast. It's always interesting to me. And I love to know our members because I know there's so many stories out there to tell. So thank you again, Kate. And you're welcome back anytime. Oh, thank you. Thank you for having me. It wasn't so bad as I thought. No, this is my first podcast, everybody.

SPEAKER_01 23:20

Okay. Thank you. Thank you.