I started the book quite a while ago but had to shelve it because I didn’t want my father to read it. In order to tell the story, I inevitably revealed the workings of some of his tricks and illusions. He would have been upset so I just couldn’t see it through.

Katy Grabel – 31 May 2025

The Back Flap

The Magician’s Daughter-A Memoir is a coming-of-age story set within the motion and light of a traveling magic show. Fourteen-year-old Katy is the daughter of Lee Grabel, a former professional magician stuck behind a desk in the suburbs who yearns to rekindle the past fame of his old magic show. When he decides to hit the road again in a grand bid to be a Las Vegas headliner, Katy has her chance for the spotlight she yearns for as his stage assistant. With a truck full of wonderments, the Grabel family and their crew go on tour across the western states, where trouble quickly ensues along with the increasing unhappiness of her mother -The Beautiful Helene-who is disenchanted with the magic show even as she runs it with military precision from her table stage right. Setting up, performing, and packing out of town after town, tensions mount, and betrayal is in the air.

Through error and misstep, Katy struggles to free herself from the show’s intoxicating spotlight. Meanwhile, the Grabels and their crew are getting closer to their booking at the Las Vegas Convention Center, where the show’s ultimate fate will be determined.

About the book

What is the book about?

The Magician’s Daughter: A Memoir is about touring in my father’s big illusion show as an assistant when I was fourteen. He wanted to be a Las Vegas headliner, and he hoped that tour would be a spring board to better bookings, in particular a run at a casino. So my memoir is about the pull of our big dreams, and what they ask of us. While my mother was ambivalent about making it to Las Vegas, I was my father’s biggest ally. We both had a craving for grandeur that did not serve us well.

When did you start writing the book?

I started the book quite a while ago but had to shelve it because I didn’t want my father to read it.  In order to tell the story, I inevitably revealed the workings of some of his tricks and illusions. He would have been upset so I just couldn’t see it through. He also had painted a very flattering image of his career in professional magic to fellow magicians. Money and accolades appeared to have followed him everywhere. Of course, the family knew otherwise.  Telling the real story would have embarrassed him to his friends.  Holding off on publication was a very personal choice.  After he died in 2015, personal setbacks still prevented me from completing the book.  Only a little while ago did it all come together.

How long did it take you to write it?

Because it was a true story, I felt beholden to include all events, and so I struggled a lot with how to get it all in. Then I learned that writing about our lives is like choosing one piece of a pie.  The story would have been less focused if I included everything. So I only choose experiences and scenes compatible to the theme of the book or that moved the story along.  For example: In the first grade I accidently fell from a stage and broke my arm during my father’s show. In some drafts I included it, in others I left it out. I couldn’t decide. Finally, I realized it just didn’t fit into the context of what I wanted to say.  It colored my first experience of the magic show with error and injury that was out of sync with what I wanted the magic show to represent to me. I also wanted young Katy to experience the magic show for the first time when she was fourteen without any history so it would be fresh and exciting. We are complicated people hewn from many experiences, and I never felt like I was crossing the line by omitting that experience.

I also struggled with letting go of writing I loved. No writer should fall in love with their words. I’d get attached to what I wrote, and then when it came time to stretch and bend the story, I couldn’t. So if a beloved piece of writing doesn’t make it into a new draft, we must remember we will write something beautiful again.

We all know how important it is for writers to read. Are there any particular authors that have influenced how you write and, if so, how have they influenced you?

No surprise Donna Tartt is such a big inspiration. I had paper clips all over my favorite pages of The Goldfinch. She so perfectly captures people and scenes. Sometimes, one sentence mesmerized me, and I’d read it over and over. Then there is Virginia Woolf for the sing-song quality of her prose. By my desk I keep an old hardbound copy of Mrs. Dalloway. If I am feeling particularly dry and literal, I read it out loud to inspire more poetry in my writing. Lit by Mary Karr taught me the power of a character’s motives and desires to drive a story.

About Writing

Do you have a writing process? If so can you please describe it?

“Process” is a big word; it implies to me global over-reaching strategies for writing a book. I don’t know if I have a “process.” I do know that I keep massaging the material. This means re-writing and re-thinking descriptions, scenes and ideas so that it feels like I’m absorbing the story on a cellular level. Then I can write about it in a deeply visceral organic way. If I feel blocked, I work on another part of the story – any place where I feel energy and excitement.  And the rest will take care of itself. I used to tell myself, “I’m going to work on this today,” and then make myself poke at the keyboard for hours. Sometimes I do have to work through an impasse, and other times I just need to shift into something else.

Once I am deeply into a story, the pieces start to fit together. “Oh, this can go there, and that, here.” That only happens after a few months of intense writing. It’s a great feeling for a book to finally come together. After I completed my memoir, I compared it to swimming across a big ocean. Sometimes I didn’t know where I was and I couldn’t see land. Sometimes my only lifeboat was a piece of paper taped on the wall with a little writing tip on it.  It was dark but I just kept swimming.

Do you outline? If so, do you do so extensively or just chapter headings and a couple of sentences?

I do everything – chapters headings, outlines, lists, paragraph headings – anything to help me keep track of where I am in the story. The Magician’s Daughter: A Memoir was a mess until I started using Scrivener software which allowed me to include notes in the margin of each chapter. With these notes I was able to follow the story line in an easy way. At one crucial point in writing, I sat on the floor with notecards detailing important elements of the book and moved them around in a different order. Removing myself from my desk to play with the cards, allowed me to think about the book in a new way.

About Publishing

Did you submit your work to Agents?

One of my editors encouraged me to find a traditional publisher. The general advice is to send ninety queries to agents, and I made it to twenty-five. I got real discouraged. I wasn’t a celebrity. I didn’t have a big social media following. My book wasn’t part of a trilogy. And stage magic wasn’t exactly trending in pop culture. I wasn’t who they were looking for and that was okay. I was relieved to finally stop.

What made you decide to go Indie, whether self-publishing or with an indie publisher? Was it a particular event or a gradual process?

When I began looking I was cautious as some indie publishers take advantage of authors. When I attended the San Miguel Writer’s Conference in Mexico and met Judyth Hill of Wild Rising Press she was so excited about my book, I knew it was a good match. In that first meeting with Judyth and Mary Meade, book designer, the energy was welcoming, supportive and the publication of my book felt truly collaborative. It wasn’t just about money to Judyth and Mary.  It was about their love of words and creating really beautiful books, so unlike the traditional publishers who see authors as revenue streams. They were refreshing and heart-centered, and that was all that mattered.

Did you get your book cover professionally done or did you do it yourself?

I played around with a lot of different cover ideas. Then I started looking at images that were for sale in some of the photo stock websites. I purchased the floating lady in the red skirt from Getty Images. I gave it to my friend John La Sala who is a graphic designer and he did the rest. He placed a greyish-white background behind the skirt, choose the font and the design. In just a few hours, I had my book cover.

Any advice that you would like to give to other newbies considering becoming Indie authors?

For those who have always dreamed of being a published author, then for sure, go for it. And this is a great time to do it. Many avenues are available for writers to get their work out there.

About You

Where do you live now?

San Miguel de Allende in Mexico, and Taos in New Mexico. I fled California to Taos about twenty-five years ago and have a great community there.  I was looking for a bit of adventure, and now spend winters in San Miguel de Allende. Both places are a wonderful mix. I am blessed to be able to do both.

What would you like readers to know about you?

I have been a lover of acoustic music my whole life but I didn’t start seriously playing guitar until late in life. And what a delight to be writing and singing my own songs.  Always believe that life can deliver unexpected and wonderful surprises.

What are you working on now?

To finally see my memoir published feels like the ending of a big life chapter. I am so ready. Now there is everything that happened after the magic show.  What a story is that!

End of Interview:

For more about Katy Gravel, visit her website.

Get your copy of The Magicians Daughter from Amazon US or Amazon UK.