Vicki M. Taylor, Author

Interview Questions & Answers

Interview Courtesy of Tom E. Sechrist, Jr. http://www2.1starnet.com/tsechrist/default

TS: Vicki, how long have you been writing?

VMT: Gosh, for as long as I can remember. I love to write. I especially like the process of writing. Thinking of some topic or idea, then the fever of having to get it all out before I forget it or lose interest in it.

TS: What inspired you to begin writing?

VMT: I guess back when I was in grade school. I liked to "make up" stories and characters and write about them. But, they were all very personal to me and I never shared them with anyone. Even now, it's been difficult to share my stories. But, when I went to school to study computer programming, I realized I had a new avenue for my writing. I could write "technically" and feed my desire to write as well as make a living.

TS: Tell us a little about your writing consultant firm.

VMT: Taylor'd Consulting, Inc. was a dream of mine about ten years ago. I had been working as a technical writer for about five years and I got my first "supervisor" position. It was then that the germination of an idea started. I wanted to have my own company. It stayed an idea and a dream for the next ten years. I worked my way through the technical writer positions until I got to the point where I would go into a company, create a documentation department for them, hire a manager to run it, then move on. I was a horrible workaholic.

Almost four years ago, at my last management position, I had an "episode" that I can only describe as a heart attack. My doctor diagnosed me with Graves' Disease (which is an autoimmune disorder) and I ended up on bed rest for six months. That diagnosis changed my life. My dream of owning my own company became a reality. While I was forced to stay in bed and not work for six months, my mind went to work. Three months after the doctor cleared me to go back to work, Taylor'd Consulting, Inc. was born.

I document user software systems, policies and procedures, and equipment for companies that don't employ full-time technical writers. Many of my clients are out of state and I've never met them face to face. We communicate over telephone, e-mail, and fax.

My clients range from the Food Service industry, to Law Groups, to insurance companies, to software product developers, to securities trading firms to the routing and machining industry. When I pick up the phone, I never know what new industry I'm going to get to explore.

TS: Tell me a little bit about your writing. What is your primary genre and what about it intrigues you enough to write books in it?

VMT: I guess you can say my primary genre is "Women's Fiction." That's the best way I can describe it. I write stories that have very strong female protagonists. Why do I write these stories? Because I want to be a strong female protagonist! The characters I create encounter events in their lives and successfully overcome them. They encounter murder, mayhem, crime, bad relationships, you name it and they live through it.

TS: What other genres do you write in and what, if any, titles have you written in it?

VMT: I've dabbled a bit in the speculative fiction genre for a short story, called "Catch of the Season." It came to me when I was watching a Red Lobster commercial. I thought, gee, what if all those TV waves we're bouncing out into space ends up being picked up by a species that looks like lobsters? That commercial would really make them angry. And, well the story grew from there.

I also write some mystery and some humor. I like to write personal essays, but, well they're so personal that the only people who "get" them are me and whoever else lived through the situation. <grin>

TS: What is your motivation? What stirs the "urge" to write?

VMT: My motivation is my muse. My muse is a fickle creature that loves to torture me. It is ravenous and never satisfied. The need to write is as basic in me as the need to breath. I have to write.

TS: Who are your literary "heroes"? What about their writing makes them stand out in your mind?

VMT: Stephen King. His ability to use the reader's imagination is awesome. He writes stories that get the reader involved to the point that you can never really remember if he described a horror in his book to a degree of detail or if you only imagined most of the details. For example, his story "The Mist" never really goes into much detail about what is in the mist, but his use of each character and their fears gets your imagination going. His stories have a way of staying with you and popping back into your mind at the darndest times; like when the morning fog covers the ground and you can't see through it while you're driving. A little voice beckons to you to turn around, don't drive through it; remember what happened to the bag boy, turn around!

TS: Do you ever suffer from "writer's block" and if you do, what do you find usually helps to break it?

VMT: I'm not sure if I've ever suffered from writer's block. I have suffered from writing so much that I have to stop. When I'm working on a contract for my technical writing company, I may get to the point where I don't feel like writing another darn thing just because I've been writing all day. But, I open my e-mail, start reading and responding, and before you know it, I've opened up Word to jot down some ideas and then the writing starts to flow.
So, to make a long answer longer, I distract myself and let the writing sneak back up on me.

TS: Do you have any books in traditional in-print publication and if so, what are the titles?

VMT: FOREVER UNTIL WE MEET is out in trade paperback. Booklocker published it and released it November, 2001. It got great reviews.

I also have some really boring stuff printed from my tech writing days.

TS: How many books have you written?

VMT: Fiction or Nonfiction? We won't count the technical manuals and stuff I wrote for other companies. Fiction? I've written three full novels.

TS: How many of those have been published?
VMT: One as of November, 2001. FOREVER UNTIL WE MEET was published by Booklocker. NOT WITHOUT ANNA is on an agent's desk, and the rest are still on my desk. I attempted e-publishing at first, with FOREVER UNTIL WE MEET, but it didn't pan out. Too many e-publishing companies and not enough revenue, I guess.

TS: What drew you to publish in the e-book format?

VMT: I thought I could reach a larger audience.

TS: What are some of your promotional strategies for your books? What methods have worked very well for you and which ones have been, well, a waste of time?

VMT: Word of mouth seems to be the best. Getting involved with other groups really works. I'm very active in the Short Mystery Fiction Society and another group called The Write List. i also belong to a great group of writers on a list caled CHICKLIT. And, I'm the Vice President for the Florida Writer's Association. I give workshops and speak to groups.

I have a presence on the Internet. I research every day for new places to promote my book.

I attend book signings, I give out free stuff like magnets, postcards, bookmarks, etc. I send out press releases and ask for reviews of my book.

TS: It has been said that e-books are the way the publishing industry is going; that paperback books will be a thing of the past. Do you agree with that?

VMT: No, not really. Not for me anyway. There's just something about holding a book in your hands that brings back so many memories. Books may become "retro" for the most part, but I don't think they'll go away completely -- YET.

However, there is a whole new generation that is growing up who may never open a "real" book. A friend of mine has small children who very well may end up going to a school where they are using computer screens instead of books because it may be cheaper for the schools to provide. Instead of replacing lost books or using outdated, expensive books, the school can put each student in front of a computer monitor with the most current information at their fingertips for less money.

TS: Where do you see the e-book industry going? What will be its niche in the overall publishing scheme?

VMT: I think that after all of us baby boomers are gone and they've loosened our death grip on our paperbacks, you'll see more people embracing the electronic format. Ok, maybe it'll take the generation after us before everyone moves to electronic format. The e-book industry has nowhere to go except up. It's such a new market in the broad scheme of things that we've barely explored the "tip of the iceberg" so to speak.

Already, e-book readers and e-books are being revered for improving the health of students who have to carry a dozen books in their backpack. Books in electronic format have opened an entire new world for the visually impaired that has previously relied on companies to translate books into Braille.

Have you ever seen a Braille book? For every one page of small text, you are looking at several large pages of Braille on thicker paper. The character impressions on the page have to be large enough for the reader to scroll their fingertips across. As well as additional information we as sighted people take for granted. Things we see with our eyes like columns in a newspaper, lists, capitalization, italics, punctuation must all be described in Braille to the non-visual person. It's very expensive to translate into Braille. Reading on the screen is much easier because of the leaps in technology with accessibility software such as screen readers. Just think of that entire market opening up!

TS: Do you own any of the hand-held e-book readers and is so, which one(s)?

VMT: No, I don't. However, if I did, I'd either get the Hiebook or a Palm.

TS: What, to you, are their advantages and drawbacks?

VMT: Of e-book readers? Well, of course, like any new product, there are going to be tussles among the developers to say they have the "standard" format. So, we have various formats of e-readers being used right now that aren't compatible with every publishing format. I'm sure that will change, just like the PCs did.

TS: It has been said that an e-book isn't really a 'published' book, that e-book authors aren't really 'published' authors. What is your response to those kinds of comments?

VMT: Bull-cockey, as my mother would say. Electronic format is now an acceptable publishing format. If you can sell the rights, you're published.

TS: What would be your advice to any new, unknown, unpublished author who wants to become published?

VMT: First - read everything you can get your hands on in the genre you want to write. If you're crossing genres, read them all. Second - write, and write, and write. Write every day. Third - don't quit.

If you truly want to be a writer, if you have the desire, the yearning, and the wherewithal, you'll be a writer. If you're persistent and willing to accept criticism, you can get published. Learn from the editors. But, like everything else, don't drastically change your story just because someone tells you that the niche market is cowboys and babies, or psycho clown killers, or life after death avenging angels. Fads come and go, but good stories will always be there. Write a good story.

TS: As with every author I interview, Vicki, here's your opportunity to indulge in some self-promotion. What would you like to say to our readers about your books?

VMT: My stories don't always have a "and they lived happily ever after" ending. My stories are real. My characters could be your aunt, your sister, your mother, or your daughter. They could be you. I try to develop my characters as real as possible so that readers can truly identify with them.

I want my readers to feel what my characters feel. I want them to cry when my characters cry. Laugh when they laugh. The best compliment I could ever get on my books would be for a reader to tell me they know the person in the story; that she lives down the street, or it's her sister-in-law, or whoever. I want my readers to think I've stolen their diary and read it, because I know them that well.