NAWW Member of the Week

I am the featured member in this week's National Association of Women Writers newsletter.
http://naww.org/generic105.html

If for some reason the link doesn't work, here is the full interview.

 
NAWW MEMBER OF THE WEEK
Getting To Know Your NetworkThis Week: L. Marcelline S. Taylor

Q: When did you realize you wanted to be a writer?
A: When I was 7, I wanted to be a poet. I wrote a poem about my newborn cousin, it was cute and it rhymed. But eventually I realized that not all writers were poets and I could be, well, a writer. My maternal grandfather was a writer and so he inspired me. I was often told that I had the knack for writing, so for me, it was something I could do and something I certainly enjoyed doing. I wrote articles for magazines and employed my writing skills in various jobs I had like teaching and working at a radio station; but it wasn’t until I moved to the US from the Philippines (four years ago) that I realized I could actually make a living out of something I loved--writing!Q: How and when did you make this dream a reality?A: My first article was published when I was 13. It was an article about MTV (it had just come on the air then) for a youth supplement in a women’s magazine. I simply wrote the editor a cover letter and said I was a 13-year-old writer and I enclosed my manuscript.

Q: What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned so far in your writing career?
A: Don’t be afraid of revision--after you’ve given birth to a page, an essay or even a book--step back, breathe, read it over, edit, revise, read it again and smile.

Q: What are you working on right now?
A: I am busy promoting my book “Missing Mangoes” and I am also conducting writing workshops for teens. I’ve got new book ideas in development, and I continue to write freelance and pitch new markets. Plus, I am getting our NAWW chapter off the ground.

Q: What excites or ignites your soul?
A: The words of my son--he’s three and I think he’s a sage. We should really listen to our kids. And yes, hearing ideas from young people, like my writing students, ignites my soul too. It may be a cliché but the world looks so hopeful in the eyes of a child.