Vicki M Taylor

Category: Uncategorized

  • Conflict: The Spark That Ignites Compelling Fiction

    Conflict is the beating heart of effective storytelling. When characters face challenges, make difficult choices, and overcome obstacles, readers become emotionally invested in their journey. A story without conflict is like a flame without oxygen—it simply cannot sustain itself. Here’s why conflict is essential to creating fiction that resonates and captivates readers. The Fundamental Need…

  • What Calls You to Write? Exploring Your Creative Impulse

    Writing is one of humanity’s most intimate forms of expression. Behind every writer lies a unique story of how they found their way to the page. As you develop your own writing practice, taking time to reflect on your personal “why” can deepen your connection to your craft and sustain you through challenges. The Genesis…

  • Autobiography Title

    You’re writing your autobiography. What’s your opening sentence? I entered life backwards, which is how I seemed to manage to get through the rest of my life.

  • The Writer’s Mirror: Reflections on Writing Through Trauma

    PTSD and Me Some days, the words flow like water from a broken dam. My fingers can barely keep pace with the memories surging onto the page. Other days, they come in droplets, each one heavy with the weight of things I’d rather forget. Writing about trauma isn’t just telling a story – it’s reliving…

  • Finding Balance in Life’s Rollercoaster

    Life isn’t meant to be a straight line. Like a rollercoaster, it takes us through exhilarating highs and challenging lows, each turn shaping who we become. While we often hear about the importance of living a “balanced life,” perhaps true balance isn’t about maintaining perfect equilibrium, but rather about how we navigate these inevitable fluctuations.…

  • Raining Iguanas

    The Sunshine State’s Weather Whiplash Florida residents experienced a dramatic temperature swing this January, as balmy 80-degree days plummeted to near-freezing conditions within hours. This sudden shift forced Floridians to swap shorts and sandals for winter coats and sparked concerns about the state’s vulnerable crops and wildlife. The temperature drop hit agricultural regions particularly hard.…

  • New Year Reflections: Two Weeks Into 2025

    The champagne bottles from New Year’s Eve have long since been recycled, the confetti swept away, and we’re deep enough into January that writing “2025” no longer feels strange. It’s that perfect moment to take stock of our resolutions – those ambitious promises we made to ourselves as the clock struck midnight. The Resolution Reality…

  • Reflections on 2024 as 2025 Begins

    Tomorrow you’re opening a brand new book with 365 blank pages. What do you want to put in that book? What are you going to name it? Maybe you will put in advertising plans for your current book(s)? Maybe an announcement for a new book? Possibly you will actually start writing a new book? Is…

  • Finding Time to Write: Overcoming Your Inner Critic

    Ideas flow like water. Some of us catch them with a cup, others with a sieve. Hey, I like that. I’ll have to write that one down. Anyway, back to discussing finding time to write and sticking to it. A writer friend I know said that we all have a story inside of us. Those…

  • 1961 – I entered the world backwards

    Share what you know about the year you were born. It was in 1961, bitter cold in November. My mother, already in labor for 48 hours, lay on the damp dirt floor of the ill-kept cabin, fatigued from labor, wounded from the beating she received before her husband left her to die, deep in the…