Writer of the Month!

We are delighted to have local author, Emily Taylor as our first writer of the month for February! We asked Emily some questions about her journey as an author living in Western Australia and she shared some of her experiences as a lover of all things creative.

Emily is a writer by night and an English teacher by day. She lives in South Perth on Whadjuk Noongar Country, with her two cats and husband.

"Since I learned to write, I have written; I have never stopped. Words to me are the original magic, and they are what I love to play with, as often as I can."

When asked what inspired her to write, she stated that she was not sure. "All I know is that I have a need to write - a compulsion. As a child I would come home from school, sit at our one family computer (in the days before laptops) and write whatever came to mind. Short stories, scenes, whatever it was that day - like I was a vessel and the stories came from somewhere else, and I needed to capture them as quickly as possible. I still feel that way."

"All of life inspires me to write; the pain and beauty of everything that colours the miracle of human existence."

We asked her to describe her style to which she replied, "I am still finding what my style is. That is going to be a years-long quest, I think, to find my voice. "

"With poetry, I think I become fascinated with words that move me - words like remedy, plague, crave, blood, moon, stars... words that give me images and emotions so strong I need to convey how they make me feel. Stylistically, these sorts of words have become motifs in my writing. I also don't like things perfectly rhyming, so sometimes this comes through, too. Biblical imagery also really inspires me - redemption, longing, healing - those are themes I explore."

Her poems, Green Eyes and, There is only one way to love were published with us earlier this month. We asked her to explain the meaning behind both works, "Green eyes is about someone who makes me feel safe."

"There is only one way to love speaks to the power of adoration: how it can compel you to destroy whatever hurts that someone special, praise whatever is good in them, and try to heal whatever ails them."

To read her poems published with us click here

Finally, we asked Emily to give some advice to young writers, she stated that,

"I wasted a lot of time thinking about the 'end product' - the final finished, edited, 'perfect' piece (and therefore became too overwhelmed to do anything) rather than focussing on what got me there: slowly developing my skills by writing constantly, slowly increasing my word count each day by just showing up and writing imperfectly."

"Focus on the steps rather than the whole journey, and you will get there quicker than you think. And don't be a perfectionist!

On behalf of all of us at Pen & Sword we would like to thank Emily for sharing her experiences and works with us.

If you are interested in becoming writer of the month for April, please contact us via our social media or email us.