My Writing Space—Rebecca Taylor

For some writers, the place they go to in order to create is sacred to them. Maybe it’s a private office, maybe it’s a favorite coffee shop, or even propped up in bed. Wherever their space, it NEEDS to be that space, the same space—ALWAYS.

I get that.  Working in psychology, I know how powerful setting events can be with regards to prompting behaviors.

For me, I have always been able to read pretty much anywhere and under almost any conditions. Growing up in a chaotic household and now having one of my own, I have become something of a master at ‘tuning-out’ the external world.

Fortunately, I can usually do the same thing with my writing.

I do have a loft-space office in our home, but I will tell you that there is no door and it is used for pretty much everything except writing. I do revise there because the monitor screen is bigger and it’s easier to work on multiple documents at once.

But as far as the initial writing, I do it everywhere:

My backyard

In the car (when husband is driving)

Various coffee shops and restaurants

In my family room (sometimes during commercials when I’m watching a show)

In bed

In the bath (paper and pen propped on the side of the tub)

Airplanes and airports

Once, in line at Six Flags (paper and pen during a 60min line!)

On a bench at Six Flags while my kids are riding a rollercoaster I won’t

At the pool

At the beach

On the bus commuting to work

Etc, etc

I have two kids (11 and almost 10), I work full time as a school psychologist, and I am hell bent on creating a successful writing career. (as I personally define it J ) My life is busy, and fast, and highly prone to colossal interruptions.

And I love ALL of it.

I take my laptop (MacBookAir so it’s small) and a pen and notebook with me everywhere so that if and when a ‘writing-time opportunity’ presents itself, I’m prepared to take advantage.

It’s not a method that would work for everyone—but if it didn’t work for me, I probably wouldn’t ever write at all.

Tuesday Teaser: ASCENDANT by Rebecca Taylor

For my “teaser” post, I thought I would share the selection from ASCENDANT that I recently read at the Colorado Book Award Finalist Reading. The winners will be announced at 2 p.m. on Friday, June 13, 2014, at the Hotel Jerome, 330 E Main St, Aspen, CO 81611—Wish me luck!! This scene is from chapter eight and Charlotte is just getting ready to meet her uncle for the first time:

I followed Emerick down a dimly lit hall connecting the study to his private offices. The narrow hall was lined with oil portraits illuminated with individual brass art lamps. A few of the portraits I recognized right away: Einstein, Beethoven, and George Washington, an odd portrait to be hanging in an English gentleman’s home. Others I recognized when I caught sight of their nameplates: Emerson, Thoreau, and Henry Ford. Hanging just outside his office door was a strange portrait that caught my attention more than any of the others. A man sat on a throne with his face obscured by a dramatic mask, half comic, half tragic. The nameplate read Sir Francis Bacon aka Shake-Sphere. 

  

I stopped and starred at the portrait. “Mr. Wriothesley?”

Emerick was just opening the door. He stopped and turned, “Yes?”

I pointed to the nameplate, “What does this mean?”

He looked to the plate and then back to me. “What does it mean to you?” Emerick gazed at me. Like in the morning room the day before, his expression was confusing—his mouth was smiling but his eyes were scrutinizing. Measuring me. Teachers had the same look when they were waiting for you to disappoint them with the wrong answer.

It didn’t mean anything especially to me, but it had struck me. The aka Shake-Sphere reminded me of Shakespeare. And anything even remotely related to Shakespeare grabbed my attention.

“Um…” being asked outright, I felt foolish for the association I had made. I shook my head and shrugged. “I guess it just made me think of William Shakespeare. I’m sure that’s not what it meant.”

He stared a moment longer before turning on his heels. “I am sure you are correct either way.” He entered the office ahead of me.

He didn’t answer my question. Either he thought I was too stupid or, like most adults, he was trying to inspire me to figure it out for myself. Nearly every time I had tried to get an easy answer from my mother she would reply, Knowledge is sweeter found than given Charlotte. From spelling words to math facts she would answer, Knowledge is sweeter found than given Charlotte. And then I would stomp off to either the computer or the reference section of her private library depending on what I needed. Even though I had come to automatically expect it, my mother’s stock answer to my every question always irritated me to no end. It seemed such a normal way to be with your mother, irritated with her for not giving you what you want when you want it.

I wish I had known I would lose her.

I glanced at the portrait once more and memorized the inscription on the brass plate. Francis Bacon aka Shake-Sphere. Emerick Wriothesley didn’t know me. If he thought I was even remotely like his own son he might be surprised to know I wasn’t stupid or lazy. I would figure out for myself what it meant.

About Rebecca Taylor:

Rebecca Taylor is the young adult author of ASCENDANT, a recently selected finalist for the 2014 Colorado Book Award. The second book in the Ascendant series, MIDHEAVEN, will release in 2014 and her standalone novel, THE EXQUISITE AND IMMACULATE GRACE OF CARMEN ESPINOZA, will be available in 2014. You can find more information about her work at: 

Website | Blog | Twitter | Goodreads | Facebook | Wattpad  

Has Rebecca Taylor ever had a character do a 180 on her?

I’ve never really had a character change SO MUCH by the end of the first draft that it creates a continuity problem. I mean, we want our characters to change and grow, of course, as our story progresses—that’s character development—but have I had one of them change so much that they have actually become someone else??

Hmm. In my original conception of ASCENDANT, in the thinking and mulling stage before I realized it was a YA story, my main character was a college student working on her Ph.D who was delving into the mysteries of alchemy. So yes, I have had a character change, but because I’m a “mostly plotter” I usually have a pretty solid plan in place before I start writing.

That college student never even took a breath in the first draft!

On a more recent project, THE EXQUISITE AND IMMACULATE GRACE OF CARMEN ESPINOZA, I did cut a superfluous character altogether. In chapter two, I had my main character, Carmen, falling for and starting to date a guy—but it did nothing for moving the plot forward.

Her thoughts, feelings, and actions with this character did reveal Carmen’s inner insecurities, but there was a much easier, and less time consuming way to do that without the need for this tertiary boyfriend character going nowhere. To confuse matters more, when she meets her “guide” in the desert, the guide looks just like the guy she was falling for and she ends up calling him the same name.

WHAT?!?

Hello, editing required!

So yes, I have chopped out entire people from my books and left them writhing on the cutting room floor. I can always tell I’ve made a good choice when it pleases me to see them gone and I end up with a much cleaner, more direct and enjoyable plot.

Maybe I should post some of those deleted “boyfriend” scenes on my blog.

How Rebecca Taylor’s Ascendant found a publisher

I am writing this blog post from my hotel room in Bologna Italy!

I have ALWAYS wanted to start a blog post with those words!

I’m here for the Bologna Children’s Book Fair on behalf of the literary agency I work for and in case you are wondering—how the heck does she get to go?? One of my jobs at the Nelson Agency is working to connect with foreign publishers in the Asian territories on titles the agency represents.

So—VERY EXCITING. I will be posting pictures and blogging more about my experience on my personal blog if you want to check it out. www.rebeccataylorbooks.com 

Anyway—this post is not supposed to be about the amazingness that is Bologna but the amazingness of connecting with a publisher that wants to publish your book. I like to say I took the long way around to hook up with Crescent Moon Press—two bottles of whiskey for the way. (For some reason the CUPS song is stuck in my head—traveling, jetlag, and the excitement of being in an amazing city does funny things to the brain.)

In November of 2010, I got the agent call. Emma had read Ascendant, loved it, and wanted to represent me. I was shocked, amazed, sooooo happy—finally EVERYTHING was happening. Right??

Well, turns out that getting an agent who loves your work is a brilliant step towards that writing career you’ve always dreamed of, but it’s only one step in the middle of many.

Many, many, many steps.

But in November of 2010, I was blissfully ignorant of just how steep the rest of the hike up Publishing Mountain was, so when Emma sent me the email in January of 2011 that said, “…your book is out on submission!” I was pretty positive I would be signing on the dotted line with a publisher within weeks. At most a couple of months, it can take some time, I reasoned—but definitely before summer of 2011. Yes, by June 2011 my book and I will have been brought into the warm protective folds of a publishing family.

I could weep for that ignorance.

And that’s not to say that it doesn’t happen, exactly that way, for some writers and some books—it just didn’t happen that way for me.

In a drawer in my office I have all my old day planners for the last five years or so. That planner from 2011 has a long list of publishers and the editors I was on submission to that year. While it’s true, I came acquisition-table-close with a couple of them, I ultimately never received an offer. In January of 2012, I bought a new planner and by June of that same year, the painful realization that I needed to let go had set it.

Except…for better or for worse, I couldn’t let go. Somewhere along the way I had started researching small presses and began to broaden my publishing horizons. Maybe the big six (because they were still the big six back then) didn’t want my book, but I suddenly realized there were other alternatives.

I sent Ascendant to Crescent Moon Press on a bright and sunny Monday in June, 2012. One week later, they told me they wanted to publish Ascendant AND the second book in that series, Midheaven.

Six big doors had slammed shut—but a window of opportunity had opened and—you better believe it—I shimmied through it.

Ascendant released the following year, June of 2013, and Midheaven (currently in the editing process) is scheduled to come out later this year.

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