When and how did you know you wanted to be a writer?
This journey to becoming a published author has been a long and winding road, one with lots of stops along the way and many detours. (Just like the road trip in The Key to Circus-Mom Highway!)
Writing was not a childhood dream. When I was in elementary school I wanted to be either an archaeologist, a horse trainer, or Secretary of State (it’s true!) Then when I was 12, I saw my friend Jill perform in a dinner theatre production of The Sound of Music, and I was sold on that. From that moment forward I pursued dancing/singing/acting as a career. That’s what I majored in at Northwestern University, not writing. Acting was the path I stayed on until I was in my mid-30s. I was fortunate to work consistently in the theatre, in commercials, and after college, when I lived in LA and NYC, on television (most notably 7 years on As the World Turns).
Then I got tired of the entertainment industry and left it to spend the next decade running personal/spiritual growth retreats around the country. When I burnt out doing that, I turned toward creative/artistic pursuits again, and that included writing this time around. I wanted to be more involved in the process of world-building than I got to do as an actress. I started by writing some spec scripts (TV pilots). I did that in collaboration with some other people, including one with my son’s stepmom, but when my dad urged me to try writing solo, that’s when I started writing novels. It is, by far, my favorite medium to write in now. There’s so much freedom in writing novels!
Did you have any influencing writers growing up?
I was a prolific reader growing up due to the fact that my mom read to my little brother and me every day when we were young. Reading was important in our family. And there were some pretty advanced books for little kids, a lot of classics, and a book on Greek Mythology. So I started reading pretty advanced books on my own, like Jane Eyre in the 3rd grade. That book made a big impression on me. So did Jane Goodall’s book In the Shadow of Man in the 5th grade. Honestly, there were so many authors in so many genres that it would be hard to narrow it down.
When I was in my 20s and found the books of Carl Hiaasen with all of his hilarious characters, and after that David Sedaris with his offbeat way of perceiving the world, and those authors really connected with my sense of humor. So they would definitely be influences for me later on when I began writing. It’s also why there’s so much offbeat humor in my novel The Key to Circus-Mom Highway, even with the serious themes it contains. I’d call Anne Lamott an influence as well.
Are any of your characters based on people in real life?
No. Though there are elements of multiple people that I used for the trio of siblings, there’s not enough of any one person to say that any one character is based on someone in real life.
The closest any particular character comes to a real person would be the juke joint owner, though there are things about that character that deviate from the real-life person who ran the juke joint I visited when I did the road trip that’s in the book (before he died). So that character is “inspired by” and “an homage to” a real person, but not actually the real person.
Where do you draw your book inspirations from?
Literally, everywhere! I’m constantly texting myself notes about something I just saw, or a line I just heard someone say, or something that happened to me, or something that I read somewhere.
Do you use have a basic outline when starting a new story or do you let the characters lead the way?
Aside from the general idea of what the book is about, I let the characters lead the way 100%! Which means the themes sometimes shift and change and evolve. It’s way more fun for me that way.
I find that I’m constantly surprised at how the story unfolds in the same way that I hope the readers are surprised when they read it. Because I feel like the lines come from the characters and not me, when I’ve had a break from working on it and go back to reread everything there are constantly things that I didn’t remember having written that make me laugh or tear-up all over again. I love that!
When you are picturing the characters in your book, do you have a cheater photo for inspiration?
I actually try to picture the actor/actress that I think would be great in the movie version, which helps me define the character’s voice.
When I began writing The Key to Circus-Mom Highway, I was picturing a raven-haired Reese Witherspoon as Jesse, Leslie Mann as Jennifer, and Jack would’ve been Robert Downey Jr if RDjr had been 20 years younger. Eventually, I put Clayne Crawford in that character.
But as the book evolved, I suddenly started thinking a different cast would be perfect–Maggie Gyllenhaal as Jesse, Jake Gyllenhaal as Jack, and Judy Greer as Jennifer. That would be a dream cast!
Many people read as a form of escape and relaxation. What is your favorite way to sit back and relax?
Reading, of course, but also watching a movie or streaming a fave TV show.
Or going to my art studio to work on my mixed-media art.
Or planning a wandering day to go out and do photography.
I’ll also sometimes color one of the drawings in one of the 3 women’s coloring books I created. Coloring is an amazing way to relax.
Or I might take a walk in the woods nearby. There’s nothing more soothing/calming than spending time out in nature. It’s been scientifically proven to lower blood pressure, lower cortisol levels, etc.
Who are your favorite current authors to read?
I always love anything by Carl Hiaasen, Anne Lamott, or David Sedaris. But recently I also discovered The Thursday Murder Club series by Richard Osman. Hilarious! I just wish there were more than 3! And I’ve been reading the Agatha Raisin cozy mystery series by M.C. Beaton. I love a good cozy mystery.
What are your favorite books by others?
Oh, my gosh, there are WAY too many to list.
Though one little book that was incredibly influential for me (assigned reading by my college acting teacher) was Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke (specifically the M.D. Herter Norton translation from 1962! Other translations I’ve read aren’t nearly as good.)
Also, Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son’s First Year by Anne Lamott.
Do the locations in the stories have any meaning to you?
I’m assuming you mean the locations in my novel? Yes! I’m often asked if I’ve been to all of the places the siblings go on the road trip in the book. When I was writing the first draft of the novel, I had not been to (most of) the locations in it, but I’ve been to them now.
In my book, there are specific stops my trio of siblings has to make, as dictated by their now-deceased birth mom. She wanted her kids to know why she made the choices in life that she made – why she had abandoned them as infants. I did all of the online research that I could in choosing the routes and locations, then I fleshed out the story details until I had an ending, and I completed the first draft. Then I actually went on the road trip to collect all of the sensory details that made the locations come alive.
My adult son and I did the first road trip together, driving (and eating our way) through the loop of towns in southern Louisiana. We ate po’ boys, alligator stew, boudin balls, grits, and crawfish etouffee. We stayed on a houseboat in the Atchafalaya swamp, stayed at a honkey tonk where the live music rattled the walls, did a swamp tour with a grizzled 9-fingered tour guide (he lost a finger feeding a gator), and I took reference photos and made detailed notes of the things we saw in the area. My trio of siblings doesn’t actually do that full loop, but… their first stop is in Thibodeaux, Louisiana, and the sisters do go to New Orleans to collect the brother they just found out about. The reason we did that full loop is because there are towns and details of the area that come into play during the flashbacks of the young mom’s life.
The second part of the road trip I did with my mom. We went to Alabama and listened to live music in one of the last authentic juke joints in the U.S. And we drove on the back roads in southern Georgia where the trio is forced to make a detour. I wanted to know if the places I had chosen virtually actually worked in real life. They did. But I discovered even more than I was hoping for. There were new stops that were added once I had driven the roads in person. Towns that hadn’t been on my radar initially (like Plains, Georgia) when I was just focused on the logistical details became wonderful new scenes in the book when I got home.
Before my road trip, I hadn’t yet settled on the specific coastal island off of Savannah where the mom’s final home was to be located. It wasn’t set until we actually reached Savannah. In between exploring Bonaventure Cemetery, and taking a haunted tour in a renovated hearse, and exploring historical sites and shops like the siblings do in the book, we also explored the coastal islands and I chose the final location.
I can’t stress enough how important it was in the writing of this road trip to have actually made the trip myself. There were so many details, large and small – sights, sounds, tastes, etc – that were added to the second draft of the story once I had lived them. This is when the locations in the book came to life because those locations had come to life within me after having been there. Could I have written the book without having done the trip? Sure. But would it have been as good? No, I think not.
And the locations also have added special meaning to me because of the memories I now have from those trips with my mom and my son. 😊
Do you write in single or multiple POV?
Multiple. Though much of the book is from Jesse’s POV, there are moments where it’s from others’ POV (like checking in with Jennifer’s husband Sean a couple of times while the siblings are on the road.)
What do you find to be your best research tool?
My brain. I was about to say Google/the internet, and while I do think that’s key, I think you need to know how to search.
When you hit a wall with one search phrase or on one website, you have to rethink how to come up with a slightly altered search so that you get different answers to the same question, over and over again.
You have to be able to figure out how to use the tool you’re using in a different way. So that requires a facile mind.
Do you write under a pen name? Also, do you write under more than one name?
No, not at this point.
What genre do you write and why is this your preference?
So far, I’ve been writing contemporary women’s fiction. I didn’t specifically set out to write women’s fiction, I just set out to write fun contemporary fiction. But because 2 of my 3 siblings are women, and Jesse takes the lead in the story as a strong woman who faces challenges and grows as a person along the way, it qualifies as women’s fiction (though to be clear, men have enjoyed the book as well).
The book I’m writing now is going that same route. I just focus on writing a funny fictional novel with emotional depth, but I think because I had so many years in the entertainment industry where the number of great female roles is so much lower than great male roles, especially roles over the age of 35, that I want to focus on creating those great female characters in my work.
Tell me something about yourself outside of writing. Jobs, accomplishments, family, quirky trait...what led to you being you?
Here are a bunch of random facts about me. We moved around a lot when I was growing up, so I was always “the new kid” and was very shy. I’m the oldest of 2 kids, but my younger brother died in 2019. I went to Northwestern University outside of Chicago and loved it. Many of my good friends to this day are people I went to college with. I have one 28-year-old son, Dashiell Zane Taylor, who’s a very talented rapper/singer who has had songs released through Empire Records. (He also has a genius-level IQ. Seriously.)
I’m an award-winning mixed-media artist. My photography recently appeared at the Soho Photo Gallery in NYC. I also created a line of women's coloring books (The Color of Joy, Dancing with Life, and Wonderland), and I’m the co-creator of The Creative Prosperity PlayDeck, an inspirational card deck about implementing your creative energy in all aspects of your life. And this debut novel has won a Literary Titan Gold Book Award.
I've been skydiving, paragliding, bungee jumping, ziplining through a rainforest, and scuba diving with stingrays. I have an extensive PEZ dispenser collection because I’m drawn to all-things-whimsical. I played Connor Walsh on “As the World Turns” for seven years. I’ve been in the Oval Office at the White House after hours. I’m related to the Hatfields of the infamous Hatfield/McCoy feud. And my comedic rap music video message to my rapper son, "Fine, I’ll Write My Own Damn Song" won awards in the festival circuit. You can watch it on YouTube now – https://youtu.be/7Xe3nuVDkC4.
What advice would you give to an aspiring writer?
Don’t let anyone make you feel like you don’t have enough experience, or you don’t have an interesting enough story to tell, or you aren’t capable of doing it. You do and you are. A hundred people could tell the same basic story, but they will be completely different because we each have a unique perspective of the world, one that no other person will ever have. So figure out what makes you you, and write your story from that place. You do have a story in you, maybe hundreds of them, and you do have a unique voice in which to tell it.
If you get to a place in your work where you don’t know exactly how to write what you want to write, or you don’t know what the proper formatting is, or you don’t know much about a particular subject, or you know nothing about the ins and outs of book marketing (I could keep going), research it. And be creative in your search terms if you don’t find what you're looking for on the first search.
There are times you will get frustrated and discouraged. We all do. But keep going. If you need to take breaks periodically to step away from your writing and do something completely unrelated, do it. If you have writer’s block, go to a busy public place and watch people. You’ll come back to your writing with fresh eyes and renewed enthusiasm. Then keep going once again.
Take any criticism with a grain of salt. If multiple people are giving the same feedback, there might be something constructive in there for you to incorporate when you revise. But don’t be too swayed by one person’s opinion. Opinions are just opinions. Hold steady in your vision and keep moving forward.
And in the meantime, keep reading other people’s books. There’s nothing like a great book to inspire you! And they all started just like yours–as a blank page.
How do you deal and process negative book reviews?
It’s tough, right?! You pour your heart and soul into your writing, so it’s hard to let a bad review roll off your back like water off a duck, and yet that’s what you have to do. One bad review is like when food is stuck between two back teeth and you can’t get it out and you don’t have dental floss. Persistently annoying. And if you’re an indie author, you already face an uphill battle promoting your book and trying to generate sales. So a bad review isn’t just disappointing; it actually lowers your overall rating on bookseller sites if you don’t have a lot of reviews yet. That sucks.
While the vast majority of reviews of my book have been 4 or 5 stars, there was one truly negative review on NetGalley and reposted on Goodreads (this person hated pretty much everything about it and it was written in such a nasty way–though a few of the comments weren’t even accurate and made me go “did you even read this book??”) I needed “mental floss” to get it out of my head.
Ultimately, there’s not much you can do about it. Just don’t engage and keep moving forward. (See previous answer.) You have to remind yourself that not everyone is going to connect with your style of writing. This is true whether it’s me, or you, or John Grisham, or J.K. Rowling. I have a very specific sense of humor in the way I see the world, and I know that’s not going to connect with every reader. I just keep moving forward and don’t let one person’s opinion make me doubt my writing ability. I know my readers will find me.
What is the most difficult part of your writing process?
I don’t really find the process of writing to be the difficult part of creating a book. As an indie author, I find that the marketing and promotion of the finished book is the most difficult and overwhelming part.
What do you need in your writer’s space to keep you focused?
I don’t have one particular “writer’s space.” I tend to move around. Other than my computer and some ideas, there are days when it’s not difficult to focus at all.
But there are also times when writing at home is difficult because of the massive amount of chores that need to be done. On those days I might go to a more “neutral” space. I’ll either go and work at the library or I’ll go to a diner with my laptop. The indistinct chatter and clattering of dishes and silverware is all white noise to me that helps me focus.
What is your naughty indulgence as you are writing?
Too much coffee. Too much sugar.
If you could spend a day with another popular author, whom would you choose? And why?
This is pretty random, but I saw a joint interview online recently with Carl Hiaasen and John Grisham. They knew each other. And, honestly, the parts I enjoyed most in this interview were not the parts where the interviewer was asking each of them questions. It was when the two of them were talking and joking around with one another. And I thought to myself, “They’d be hilarious to hang out with, the two of them together!” (Though ask me tomorrow and I’ll have a different answer. Maybe it’ll be Tina Fey and Amy Poehler tomorrow. Yes, I’m pretty sure it will be.)
What is your schedule like when you are writing? Do you have a favorite writing snack or drink?
I don’t have a specific schedule. I tried a daily schedule once because it sounded like a good idea, but a set schedule just makes me rebel! Also no favorite writing snack or drink (other than coffee before 2pm).
Do you listen to music when you write – what kind of music is your favorite?
No, I can’t listen to music when I write because my brain just wants to follow the music. It’s distracting. I need it to be either quiet or noisy in a general hubbub kind of way.
When it comes to my favorite music (that I’m not listening to while I’m writing), it all depends on my mood. I love Rap/Hip Hop, I love stuff from the 70s, I love Blues, sometimes Classical, sometimes head-banging Rock. Not a big Country fan (although there are occasionally random songs…).
Have pets ever gotten in the way of your writing?
In general, no. But there are occasionally days when my dog is boring holes through me with her eyes, needing to out, and I really don’t want to stop because I’m in the flow of some idea. But she’s getting older and when she needs to go, she needs to go! (Am I right, ladies?! Lol) So I stop and walk her because walking her takes less time than having to clean up an accident on a rug inside! (Speaking of which… she’s just come over and is staring at me.)
What is your kryptonite as a writer? What totally puts you off your game?
If I’ve had an argument with someone I love, and it hasn’t been cleared up. It keeps rolling around in my head not leaving any space for much else.
Have you ever killed off a character that your readers loved?
N/A (The Key to Circus-Mom Highway is my first novel.)
How do you celebrate after typing THE END?
With a loud whoop and then I might put on an upbeat song and dance around for a few minutes. Then I set it aside and go work on another project for a while, maybe something visual like my mixed-media art or photography or drawing – or maybe I’ll go shopping or I’ll go for a hike –until I’m ready to come back a day or two later and re-read the entire thing from the beginning again.
I hope you enjoyed this interview!
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