I have been writing in some form or another my entire life. I started out with homemade greeting cards and really bad poetry. I had a fan club type newsletter as teenager that I formatted on a manual typewritter and legal paper. Copies were made at the local bank and then those were sold for the handsome sum of ten cents each. It covered the cost of paper and copying but that was it. It was fun though gathering the information and publishing it myself. I did an interview in the fifth grade for a social studies class assignment and I was hooked on studying people and history.  I started interviewing people for no reason at all other than because I thought they would be interesting and I was usually right.  I wish I still had those interviews; they would make great characters. Figuring out I was not meant to write music, my English/music teacher allowed me to delve into another form of fine arts when we were given an assignment to write a musical composition. Bless his heart. I wrote a play and although it wasn't graded with the full grade as the musical compositions, he did give it a pretty good score. Thank you Mr. Copeland.  The same teacher read us The Odessey every Friday in English class and it gave me a reason for going to school on Fridays. I read The Iliad on my own over the summer.  It inspired me to collect antique school books and older story books.  I wish I still had those now too.

I read pretty much any time I wasn't outside playing, walking, biking, etc. I read young adult novels, The Hardy Boys mysteries, Nancy Drew, Sherlock Holms,  and anything I could get my hands on by Emily Loring. The other girls were having their "trashy" romance novels confiscated at school, but I got to keep my books; they were considered "clean and wholesome". I love a good mystery or suspense novel. I have always had an affinity for mysteries and light romance, or a good comedy. My favorite television programs were usually mysteries or crime/police dramas, and good comedies (as opposed to something that is just stupid- it needs to be genuinely funny),  I have never been a fan of horror or gorry movies, violence just for the sake of it does not make a good read (or movie) to me, nor does gratuitous sex.

Once I got married and had a family of my own I read to them before they were even old enough to know what a book was. They got the Hardy Boys too, but they also got a lot Mark Twain and adventure novels too numerous to count or remember. I had boys, by the way. Between my first born and second (five years) I studied with the Institute of Children's Literature. Even though I did end up going in a different direction, the lessons are pretty much universal to all genres.

Mostly I have been a stay at home mom on a farm, but I have had a few outside jobs here and there, especially after we moved to Wisconsin and the boys were older. I did stay home and homeschool the youngest for a few years; the oldest wanted nothing to do with staying home for school. I have worked in factories making wheel covers, windows, and clothing, been a gas station attendant, grocery store clerk, and a convenience store clerk. That is where I worked when I wrote Murder So Convenient.  A serial killer is going after convenient store clerks. You bet I have been asked a lot of questions regarding the wisdom of writing such a book at the time. I scared myself a time or two!  I also began more freelance writing at that time and eventually left my weekend only job at the convenience store.

Aside from fiction writing and non fiction freelance writing, I now work as an office assistant, a job I enjoy very much so far. I don't see myself ever giving up writing regardless of what other employment I might have. It's in my blood as much a part of me as my hair or eyes.

Back in 2003 Publish America turned loose my novel Murder So Convenient on the world. It took three years to write it due to the time constraints. My family and friends were almost as excited as I was. They still are, bless their hearts. 

Thank you for allowing me to tell you my story and I hope you enjoy my books and articles.

To contact Eliza Lynn Taylor drop her a line here: elizalynn@elizalynntaylor.com                                          

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