Author Spotlight: Edna Taylor

Edna Taylor was born in the spring of 1951, fifth of eight children and fourth daughter of Mary Louise, nee DeCosta and Richard Alexander Taylor. Fortune Island, Bahamas is her birth place; a tiny but essential pivotal port, for Trans-Continental shipping between Europe and the Americas.

Her family boarded a slow mail boat called the Air Pheasant, in the summer of 1959 and sailed off to Nassau, the Capital of the Bahamas. There, she met her father’s huge family for the first time. It was also the first time she and her siblings had ever seen or ridden in a motor vehicle. They were very excited riding in the back of that green 1957 Ford Pickup truck which transported them to the new home her father had built on Market Street in The Grove.

She attended Southern Junior School and in 1964, A. F. Adderley High School. After a short stint at College of the Bahamas, she worked for the prestigious Bahamas Electricity Corporation.

In 1973, she left Nassau and moved to New York City. She got married and raised a family of three wonderful children: Ayana Brown, Laura Spence and David Spence. Here is where she began dabbling in writing her fast and furious thoughts, filling a void in her life. She received a well-written rejection letter from Scott Meredith Literary Agency, Inc. in response to her first manuscript. She cried a lot and stopped writing. But the moral here is: Rejection letters are not meant to keep a good gift down. And so, she writes.

 

Delilah: What is your first written piece you were proud of?

Ms. Edna: The first piece of writing that I was proud of is my first yet unpublished novel, For the Love of Jenny.

Delilah: At what age did you fall in love with writing?

Ms. Edna: Perhaps it began in my pre-teen years; I was always a storyteller. Writing came sometime in my early 30’s.

Delilah: What inspired you to write books?

Ms. Edna: I was inspired to write once I had no one to tell stories to.  I was haunted; there was so much bottled up inside me that I needed to express.  Once I finally recognized and accepted my gift of writing, I began penning my thoughts.  Only then, I could finally breathe again.  It was never about writing books, but a means of expressing the endless, beautiful thoughts that inundated my soul.  I think of it as a purging of my not-at-ease [dis-eased] mind.

Delilah: Do you have a tip for aspiring writers?

Ms. Edna: Write, if you want to live!

Delilah: Are you an avid reader?

Ms. Edna: I am not an avid reader, although I have enjoyed other authors, there’s no particular genre.  I have heard one has to read a lot in order to be a writer.  In order to utilize the extraordinary gift within me and write as Edna should, I do not wish to be overly influenced by others. I write from the heart, and it is felt deep down in my soul.  I wish to copy no one! 

Delilah: Which one of your books would be a good movie?

Ms. Edna: I’ve been told the Love Has No Color Trilogy would make a good movie/TV series.

Delilah: What other talents do you have besides writing?

Ms. Edna: The ability to appreciate from whence comes my gift and to laugh at self are rare talents.  It takes such talent just to survive in our world, is my opinion. 

Delilah: Do you have a favorite character from one of your books, and why?

Ms. Edna: In Love Has No Color, Basil Barden-Love is the perfect man! 

Independent women say he is controlling, yet they wish they had a helpful man.  To the appreciating woman who never expected such a caring man, he is a rare treasure.  To him, she is a vital part of himself!  He would do anything for her.

Delilah: Your newest book is based on a true story or fiction?

Ms. Edna: My newest book, The Passerby, as well as the other four, is solely fiction!

Delilah: Do you journal? If so, what’s your process..pen, pencil, journals or loose pages?

Ms. Edna: I have journaled in notebooks, on notepads, scribbled on calendars, loose-leaf paper and Post-Its, but hardly anything written that way gets into my manuscripts.   My process is sitting and writing my thoughts and watching my creation grow. 

Delilah: So tell us a little about The Passerby.

Ms. Edna: Fawn, the main character, doesn’t quite resemble her immediate family, and with good reason.  Six months after her birth, she became a Christmas gift to the people chosen by her mother to raise her. She brought little with her but immediately inherited the Wicken’s hearts.  As she grew in her parents’ love and care, Fawn did not always feel she belonged – thanks to the constant reminders by her siblings.  In her late teens, used as an object of revenge against her father by a former business partner, Fawn becomes depressed. Eventually, she strikes out on her own and takes a job at Delta Airlines. Here is where she begins to realize and accept her special gift.  She soon senses that someone was waiting for her to turn around.

Delilah-Where are your books purchased?

Ms. Edna: There are print-on-demand books available through www.ednataylorbooks.com, www.bookstandpublishing.com, www.amazon.com, and www.barnesandnoble.com, as well as numerous other online booksellers.  Ebooks:  Amazon Kindle, Barnes and Noble Nook and Apple iTunes (for Apple iPad).

Delilah: Do you have any other upcoming events or projects that you care to share?

Ms. Edna: I am presently working to republish my first three books: Love Has No Color Trilogy; I am also sprucing up a story from my slush pile called Someone of My Own.   The title of my next production is September’s Story.    

Learn more about Ms. Edna at www.ednataylorbooks.com

Interview  and photography by Delilah Peach Photography.