A Bookish Life In AK

Drew Taylor’s release of her newest book, “Reverie”was yesterday, June 17. I got the chance to read it as an advance reader and then interview her for this book.

Review: This book hit me at a perfect moment. I was needing a good escape and “Reverie” provided that. Esme is a high school English teacher who is recovering from an accident on her solo honeymoon trip to Bora Bora. She has lost three years of memories. She decides to listen to the prompting to write a book and make herself the main character. Her male main character “talks” to her and I loved that. While writing, she gets a an offer from a publishing company to publish her book when it’s done. When she meets up with the publisher, she notices that he looks almost exactly like her main character, down to the tattoo. Could he be her main character? Could her book be actual memories? Esme ends up on an adventure to find her true life main character and recover her memories. This book hit on some really difficult subjects, trust, betrayal, lust and trauma. Drew didn’t shy away from dealing with these subjects in a Biblical way, she faced them head on as she has done in previous books. I think my favorite thing about the whole book is how Esme grows and learns to trust God again and his timing. And all the twists!! This book had me on the edge so many times in great ways. While Christian and closed door, there are adult topics, so, personally, I wouldn’t give it to anyone under 18, but I have recommended it to all my adult daughters and their friends.

Now, on to the interview. I want to thank Drew for taking the time so close to her release to answer the questions I sent her. I really enjoyed ready through her answers. They really give a great insight to her writing and her faith.

1) Can you tell us a little about yourself and your journey to becoming a Christian fiction author? Hi, I’m Drew Taylor! I just moved back to South Mississippi (my home state) after living and teaching in Alaska for the past three years. I’m certified to teach 7th- 12th grade history and English, and I’m going to be working on a Spanish endorsement as soon as I finish my Master of Arts in Literature. Outside of education, I’m a daughter, a sister, and a friend. As a single woman in her late twenties, I’m living life to bring glory and honor to God through the relationships already established in my life. As far as authoring goes, I’m a chick-lit author, and I write stories from a Biblical worldview. I’ve been writing with publishing intentions since 2020 when I had nothing else to do for work, but I set aside the dystopian I was working on at the time and started drafting The Politics of Christmas (my debut) because the world was a bit insane at the moment. I wanted to write a love story that felt like the 90s rom-coms we all love, but with openly Christian characters. I had seen closed-door rom-coms hitting the market, but I hadn’t seen a lot of them featuring Christian characters. So… I wrote it 🙂 And now it’s optioned for film! I never thought I would continue to write for publication with the first book, but now, I don’t think I can ever stop. God has been so good to me throughout this journey, and I can’t wait to see what the years to come hold as I venture into other genres and grittier stories.

2) Your latest book, “Reverie”, has such an intriguing premise! What inspired thestory, and how did you come up with the concept?

Ah, Reverie. I love this book so much! My mama was visiting me in Alaska back in December, and we were talking stories and such. I was reading a book that featured an amnesiac FMC, and I was looooving the story. I had told my mama that I wouldn’t ever write that trope, however, because I didn’t think I could do anything original with it. But I guess that small thought triggered my creative brain to think of exactly how to make it original, and a wonderful story began to brew. I started talking about the plot with my mama, and she was like, “Drew, that could totally be a movie one day. It’s very original.” That really encouraged me to continue thinking about the story. So, I started drafting it. Along the way, I invited Samantha Olgesby and Latisha Sexton into the process, and the two of them hyped up this book and helped me think through plot holes I’d written myself into. The simple fix? Make it a novel within a novel. That change came toward the end of drafting, and I am FOREVER GRATEFUL I took that direction. It made the book as mystical and magical as I wanted it to be. Simply put, I came up with the story because I low-key challenged myself to make the amnesiac trope original, haha. How is it original? Well, you’ll have to read the book to find out!

3) Faith plays a central role in your writing. How do you weave biblical truths into your stories while still keeping the plot engaging for readers?This is kind of hard for me to answer because it comes naturally for me. Contrary to many Christian authors, I don’t seek to include faith in my stories because I know it will come out however it needs to. There is only one story that I’ve written that I began with a faith theme, and that was The Designated Date. I wrote that book with a specific audience and theme in mind, but other than that, the faith themes and plot lines develop as my characters do. I constantly pray and ask the Lord to do what He will with my stories, and I write what I feel led to write. The rest comes out as He intends it to, I presume. Outside of that, I’ve started saying that writing is worship. Even if I’m not intentionally thinking about faith and God when I sit down to write, He always comes to mind as I’m drafting. Whether He plants a seed of thought, plows me down with conviction, or reveals a different angle of a subject, I always leave writing sessions with some answers, many questions, and thankfulness for writing as a way to worship God.

4)Who are some of your literary influences, and how have they shaped your writing style or the themes you explore in your books?

Time for honesty: Starting out, I had mainly read YA market fiction. Twilight, Divergent, Maze Runner, Uglies, Hunger Games, etc. Though I was a voracious reader growing up and throughout high school, my reading waned during college simply because I had a lotof other things I had to read (nonfiction political theory and such haha). However, when I graduated in 2019, I started reading for fun again. This time, I picked up some classical works in the midst of reading market fiction. I also read Harry Potter for the first time during this season, ha! Then, I discovered closed-door romances (not necessarily faith-filled) and other Christian authors (primarily YA, but openly put faith themes into their stories, such as Nadine Brandes, Tabitha Caplinger, Sara Ella, Kara Swanson, etc.) I think reading a variety of genres, age levels, and faith content has been the biggest teacher, and therefore, the biggest influence on my writing. Starting out, I wanted to write like the hot, indie rom-com authors that were on the verge of exploding within the book world, but now, I strictly write for my voice. But one thing that has always remained the same is that if I’m writing contemporary, there is NO WAY I could exclude God from the narrative. As a Christian, that just doesn’t make sense.

5)Writing Christian fiction often means addressing deep, sometimes difficult, topics like suffering, grace, or redemption. What’s been one of the most challenging themes you’ve tackled in your work, and why? How do you stay spiritually grounded while balancing the demands of being an author and meeting deadlines?Writing the themes within The Designated Date was the most challenging. As I’ve previously stated, I wrote that book starting with this theme: sexual immorality among Christians. It branched out into anxiety, loss of identity, and depression, as it so often does with Christians who are living a life of sexual immorality. The journey the FMC, Lucy, goes on is reflective of my own emotional and spiritual journey, so while it was extremely hard to write at times, it also flowed out of me, and I found a lot of healing within the pages of the novel. I think in the CF world, many authors are scared to touch that topic in a contemporary setting because it’s so taboo to talk about. Well, I want to change that. So many Christians are subject to sexual temptations, and more and more women are falling victim to the sexual freedom narrative. It’s a hard pill to swallow, so instead of reading a nonfiction book about it (though you should), women can read a fictional story and find answers and healing through something that doesn’t feel as personal to them. Overall, I hope TDD points them back to Jesus and the Bible. As far as staying spiritually grounded, I think a lot of it comes from the fact that writing is a form of worship. When I sit down at my computer and my fingers begin to fly, I can feel God there with me, speaking into my heart and teaching me. For a while, it was the only way I could talk to God (again, read TDD to find out more about my year and a half battle with depression), but now, on the other side of that dark time, I read the Word of God, pray, journal, and spend quality time with quality friends who point me back to Jesus. Deadlines… psh. I’m indie for a reason! I make my own deadlines lol.

6) Your characters often go through significant spiritual journeys. Can you share a little about the protagonist in “Reverie” and their personal growth throughout the story? I had no idea what kind of journey Esme would go on when I started writing her story. I knew she would face identity challenges while dealing with frustration at God, simply because she was an amnesiac. I’ve never lost my memories, but I can imagine the complicated emotions that would arise—and the talks I would have with God—because of it! Throughout all my stories, characters usually struggle with lust in some way (because it’s natural for us to struggle with that), so I assumed it would pop up in this one as well. What I didn’t expect was the extent that particular theme came out. Esme, from the beginning, felt like a more innocent character than some of my previous ones, so I was shocked when she felt the lust struggle. This led to the discussion that attraction is okay and lust is not. Esme underwent a journey to decipher where her limit was when it came to attraction/flirting and such. This was a slightly different angle than my previous books have taken, so I was intrigued with the theme and eventually ran with it.

7) For aspiring Christian fiction writers out there, what advice would you give them on how to begin their writing journey?

Other Christians will be your worst critics. Go ahead and armor up, because what God calls you to write may not be what others want to hear. I get more bad reviews from other Christians than I do from secular readers, and I wasn’t prepared for that when I started this journey. As far as the actual writing process, invite God into every writing session. Build relationships and open yourself up to constructive critique from trusted people. At the end of the day, write what God calls you to, even if other people don’t get it or understand it. God will bring your readers to you! Stay faithful to Him first and foremost.

8) Do you have a favorite Bible verse or passage that inspires your writing or your life in general? How does it relate to your current work?

I always think of Esther 4:14, “you were born for such a time as this,” because I tend to write edgier books with themes of sexual immorality. Many women struggle with sexual immorality but don’t feel comfortable talking about it. Fiction gives them a way to feel seen, heard, and understood, and hopefully, it will prompt them to talk to someone IRL. That verse, however, is specific to Esther and her story, so I am careful not to apply it tomy life—only the idea of it. Therefore, I’ve recently leaned into Psalm 96:3: “Publish hisglorious deeds among the nations. Tell everyone about the amazing things he does” (NLT). The Lord has done mighty things in my life, and I want to talk about them through my fictional works—the good, the bad, and the miraculous!

9) What’s next for you? Can readers look forward to any upcoming projects or new books?I am taking a break from publishing for the rest of the year 🙂 BUT. I will be writing. I want tofinish Chasing Kensie, a standalone Winter Solstice romance. I plan to write book two inDaydreams & Disasters, and I will be working on a non-magical dark academia fantasy! I plan towrite, to rest, to spend lost time with family and friends, and to refill my tank after lots of publishing the past three years!

I hope this interview blesses you as much as it did me. I love Drew’s writing. I do agree that “Reverie” would make a great movie!! She writes real people with real problems and real solutions. If you want to read more from her, you can find her on Instagram under @authordrewtaylor and at her website drewtaylorwrites.com

Next blog will have an interview from Carly L. Carlson, the author of “These Wild Dreams of Ours.” I am also reaching out to some Christian Fantasy and Sci-Fi authors and am getting some great feedback and books to review so stay tuned. Blessing and Prayers to you all ❤