November's Novella

Welcome back to Taylor Talks!

I don't think that I've posted at all this month, but there hasn't been much time for blogging because I've been extremely busy working on a novella!

Alright, so for those of you who may not know, a novella is like a shorter version of a novel. Usually between a quarter and a half of the length of a novel (though I could be slightly off on that), a novella is longer than a short story would be.

I've been working on this novella for quite a while. Actually, it started out as a short story that I wrote for a creative writing class in college. The story had always stuck with me, and I just felt like I could add more to it. I didn't think that I could turn it into a full-length novel, but there was definitely more to the story than the 6,000 words that the original short story contained.

This month, something just clicked. Every free moment that I've had, I've been working on this story. I've re-read the pieces of the original short story and decided how I wanted to change things. Certain pieces of the plot line have stayed the same, and I just elaborated and gave more detail to make the story longer. Other plot points have changed to better the story, and I'm really happy with the result.

I'm now at over 22,000 words, most of which were written this month alone. To put that in perspective, the novel that I wrote came in at about 79,000 words, and that took over two years. I think that my writing skills have definitely been improving, and it's been nice to work on something YA again, instead of just working on children's books (though I do have two of those in the works too right now). This novella is almost complete though, and I can't wait to start reading it over again to edit and revise. I may actually be able to publish it before the end of the year!

A lot has happened since the last time I posted though. I turned 23 (whoa) at the beginning of the month, and my little sisters turned 7 (the same day, in case you forgot about our triple birthdays). I've been doing a lot of training at work over the past few weeks, which has been awesome. I've gotten to know some pretty nice new Cast Members and have had a fun time working with them. With the holiday season quickly approaching, we've been much busier at work, but it's been fun too. I'd much rather be busy than be standing around bored during the day!

Speaking of work, this Thursday is my one year anniversary with the company! December 1, 2015 was the day that I began my training, and now here I am, almost celebrating a whole year working for the Mouse. It's an absolutely amazing feeling, and I cannot wait to receive the one year pin for my name tag! I feel like I've accomplished so much in this past year, and time has just flown by! I think that I actually only work a half day on Thursday, so I'm hoping to go into the Park after work and get a picture with the boss himself, Mickey Mouse, to celebrate the big milestone! That would be fantastic!

Today is Small Business Saturday, so don't forget that this means that you should support writers as well... I'm really happy with the response I've received for my newer book, "I Am Not A Circle," and I've even had a few new sales for my first book, "A Christmas For Toys," this month. Please don't forget that you can support my writing by sharing the link to my Amazon page with your friends and family; selling copies of my books is an important part of becoming an author, but I'd appreciate the support in just sharing the books and getting my name out there. Remember, it's completely free to share a link online, so it's really easy to help out a young author. This small act of kindness would go a long way in helping me jump start my career.

I hope everyone enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends. This time of year makes me miss all of my loved ones back in New York, and it has been really nice to connect with a lot of friends online over the past two days to catch up a little. It's easy to forget about making time to write to each other because we all lead such busy lives, but good friends are worth making time for.

​I'd greatly appreciate it if you would share this blog with friends and family through your favorite social media sites. If you're sharing on Twitter, don't forget to tag me (@TayTayK02) and use the hashtag #TaylorTalks. Please don't forget to like and share my Facebook author page and follow me on Instagram as well!
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Thanks!
Taylor

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