Author Spotlight: Skye Taylor

Today’s author spotlight features Skye Taylor, an author, mother, grandmother, and former Peace Corps Volunteer (2002-2004,) loves history, adventure, travel, the ocean, books and chocolate. She’s currently editing book 5 in her Tide’s Way series and is beginning a new mystery series.

Tell us about your latest novel.

When Dani Amico falls into an abandoned cellar hole and wakes up in another century, she has to decide whether to stay and save Iain MacKail from the fate she knows is coming or run away before she falls in love in love with him and gets hurt trying to change history.

Iain MacKail has already put his liberty on the line for a cause, now he has to decide how much more he’s willing to sacrifice, and the arrival of this bewitching woman from the future is making his life even more complicated. Falling in love with her is easy, understanding her is impossible. And what if she disappears as mysteriously as she came?

Where did the idea for your latest book come from?

Fascinated by the obscure history of the islands off the coast of Maine that dated before the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth, I sailed out to one I could see from my home (at the time) to explore. While standing on an ancient foundation stone, gazing back at the harbor and imagining it in the mid 1770s The stone wobbled and I jumped back, not wanting to fall into the hole. But on my sail back home, the thought came to me, “What if I had fallen into the old cellar hole, hit my head and regained consciousness with the sturdy beams of a very solid floor over my head?” And that’s how my story, Iain’s Plaid begins.

Visit skye-writer.com

Traditional, Small Press, or Self-publish? Why?

Currently I have books by two small presses. I write what I love and that doesn’t always fit in the big publishing house genre guidelines. I was fortunate to have Wings e-Press purchase my mainstream novel and Bell Bridge Books put out my contemporary romance series as well as my time travel/historical romance. At the time I was a little intimidated by going the self publishing route, I still am, and hoped that a small press would the right fit for me. I’ve since discovered that neither of these publishing houses does anything to help me market my work so in the future, I’m going to tackle that self-publishing challenge.

Who are some of your favorite authors?

Vince Flynn, David Baldacci, W.E.B. Griffin, Lee Child, Cheryl Reavis, and Heather Ashby

What makes a bad book? List a few you couldn’t finish.

For me, it’s characters the author doesn’t make me care about, or a plot so cliche or trite it’s irritating. Recently gave up on a romance called Trophy Husband because it just got so tedious about girls rules and nonsense. I did finish but wasn’t eager about doing so, And Then She Was Gone by Christopher Greyson. Here it was more about my lack of connection with the characters. For years I’ve loved W.E.B.Griffin’s books but no longer read them as the later books became tediously repetitive. As if the author just had to impart all the back story for every character that appeared in previous books even when that backstory didn’t impact the current one. And lastly, my most favorite book ever was Outlander (Before Starz made it into a TV series). I also enjoyed the second and third books. I was so committed to the characters I read 4 and 5, as well, but never bothered to finish A Breath of Snow and Ashes or An Echo In the Bone because Gabaldon has become so enamored of her research she feels she needs to share it all. I just want get to get to the point and tell the story of the characters I love, not spend 700 pages on something else.

What part of the writing process do you enjoy the most (or the least)?

I love the research, creating my characters and getting to know them and then, because for the most part, I’m a Pantser, I enjoy the writing because I’m as surprised and entertained as when I read a book I didn’t write. Editing and revisions not so much.

How do you deal with rejection?

Rejection is a given in this world of writing. Either get used to it or get out. By the time I’ve gotten a rejection, I am usually well into a new book so I put it in a file and forget it. If the book was something I felt especially strongly about, I’ll eventually go back and rework it and resubmit somewhere else.