Meet Thomas Taylor | Author, Artist, Poet, and Photographer.

We had the good fortune of connecting with Thomas Taylor and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Thomas, how has your work-life balance changed over time?
A lot of people believe those of us in the creative industry can just conceive, invent, execute, and produce in our spare time. That really isn’t true for me. I don’t see my creative endeavors as a hobby. I see them as a job.

And there are deadlines that need to be met at work and in my private life, and then there are the curve balls life throws at you.

Just to provide an example: As I write this, I have some editing to get done on some stories for an upcoming anthology; I have a fifty foot long stone wall that needs to be finished before the rain comes in later this week; and the HVAC system just let me know in its own not so subtle way that it needs me to call a repairman to come out and feed it some coolant

This all comes three days after my wife, (Elyse Bruce), and I got back from Chattanooga, where we met up with a popular national TV personality and his wife. Said TV personality floated the idea of a collaborative literary effort between himself and Elyse. [Like me, she’s an author, artist, poet, and photographer. Unlike me, she is also a singer, songwriter, and musician.] This all comes two days after I was asked to do this interview, and one day after I agreed to do it.

Tomorrow, my wife and I will drive to Gatlinburg where we will pick up a concrete pagoda from a statuary for one of our garden projects.

Later next week, I may install the piece.

And so it goes…

To stay on track, I keep my nose to the grindstone.

The one factor that can throw a wrench into the works is that my contracted work, whether it is painting (acrylic on canvas), or writing, or photography, or poetry, is subjective and interpretive. So when I am working on contract for a client, there may be quite a few revisions made at their request. In retrospect, however, it is that way in any job. Such would be the case if I were, say, an architect. From what I understand, architects and their clients review blueprints over and over again, and hammer everything out before building commences. Most of the time, I actually like these delays and/or reversals, because they have caused me to become more flexible and versatile.

I believe that my flexibility and my versatility illustrates one of the crucial aspects of balancing one’s life: Developing the ability to adapt to change quickly, and accepting change once it happens.

So, yes, my work life balance changes constantly, but, constantly, I adapt.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I grew up when there was no Internet, and we didn’t have a TV in every room like many families do today. Each night I’d come in after playing outside and there was always an hour or two before bedtime that was considered “family time.” That was when everyone stayed together in the living room.

Dad would read the paper, and mom would watch TV. If I didn’t like what was on TV, I would write stories, or sketch, on pieces of scrap paper. This was when I honed my skills at drawing trees and buildings, and it’s when I began to write lengthy stories. When I got older, I would write stories by hand in my room, and sketch much more elaborate drawings. By college, I was dabbling in acrylic on canvas, and – I was told by my professors- my writing was very advanced.

Though I started out painting in a more traditional style, I wanted to express myself in my own way, so I invented my own style. I call it “Precise Impressionism”. What that means to me is capturing a scene with core colors, crisp lines, and very few nuances. Whether it is a freight train or a fir tree, it can be reduced to a few essential shapes and colors, while still being very enticing and expressive.

As for my writing, whenever I read anything written by other writers, I think to myself, “How could this author have made the story better?” Then I apply that idea to my own writing. I write, set it aside, and then come back and say “How can I make this story better?” This may mean adding even more action to an action-packed sequence, or adding some more emotive lines to something that is already emotive. It can also mean excising anything that I feel detracts from what I write.

I must be doing something right in both areas, because I have been commissioned to do commercial art and the royalties continue to come in from sales of the seventeen books I’ve put out.

The thing I think people need to remember about any endeavor is that there is talent, there is skill, and there is knowledge, but success won’t arrive without the application of all three, and the willingness to recognize that there is always someone out there who is competing with you. So take what you’ve been given, learn the skills to make your talent shine, acquire the knowledge necessary to to build on both talent and skills, and keep plugging along.

And make sure you’re humble as you go about your business.

When I die, while there is the possibility that I would be known as a great artist, a great writer, a great poet, and a great photographer, it would mean more to me if people thought of me as a humble person.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Like Dolly Parton I have a coat of many colors, except the colors on my jacket are from patches I have collected on my travels.

Tennessee is a state that is rich in history. That means any good trip begins in Nashville and goes all over the state from there, and a week long trip is not nearly enough time to see all there is to see or do all there is to do . Though I might start with the Grand Ole Opry, I’m more of a history buff as are a lot of my friends, and so we would probably go to see the Tennessee State Capitol, President Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage, the Tennessee State Museum, and Stones River Battlefield. From there it would be on to Memphis to see Graceland, and to Chattanooga to see Chickamauga and Chattanooga Military Park. Next it would be Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and then back to Nashville, stopping at State Parks along the way.

To me, it’s more about the journey. And when you do a trip that is mostly rooted in history, you can travel through time as well as space. Tennessee was the last state to leave the union during the Civil War years and the first to rejoin it. There was once a part of Tennessee that wanted to form its own state and call itself “Franklin.” Knoxville claims to be the cradle of country music, but the County Music Hall of Fame and Museum is located in Nashville.

As to where I would take someone to eat, that is a matter of … taste, so I will leave that up in the air. But suffice it to say that steak and potatoes would be on the menu wherever we go.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
There are two people I would like to dedicate a shout-out to.

The first is to an English teacher I had in high school, although she is not alive to read this. She died seven years after I graduated.

Ms. Dobbins probably was the single most influential person in my life up until that point with regard to my writing. She was a “hard” grader, but she was fair. Not everyone liked her, because she took off points for shoddy spelling, grotty grammar, poor punctuation, defective diction, and awful alliteration. (So if you see any of that in this interview, the fault is entirely mine, not hers.)

But she also read the best examples of essays and creative works by students to the class. Doing this week after week meant we saw the fruits of these standards increase. It meant those of us whose essays were read received the admiration of our peers. It caused us to develop confidence in our writing. It encouraged us to want to write more, and to write better.

My work was read aloud to the class just about every week, and I received an award at the end of the semester for my efforts. Ms. Dobbins did not dole out these awards to many people, nor did she give them out very often. Maybe one or two students a semester out of all of the classes she taught.

Though I had enjoyed English, rhetoric, and literature, before that particular semester, it was her class that caused me to want to become an English teacher, and to major in English when I went to university. I did take all my teaching classes, and I graduated with a B.A. in English before going on to major in English in graduate school.

Before I had graduated with my degree, I had already published two short stories in a literary and little magazine.

So thanks Ms. Dobbins, for influencing me to succeed. I’ve since found out she served on a National Education Association committee and chalked up many other notable achievements. Many other students spoke highly of her after her death. While it is true that any teacher can be credited with having a positive influence on kids, it seems some teachers really shine.

Ms. Dobbins was one of them.

The second person I’d like to give a shout-out to is my wife, Elyse Bruce.

She pushed me to expand my horizons. Without her, I never would have co-written a series of podcasts which have been downloaded by thousands of listeners. I never would have done radio intros and outros. I never would have co-written three different songs which have gotten airplay.

Prior to doing all of that, I was working a regular job and only doing writing and artwork.

Elyse and I walk through life side by side, hand in hand, and face challenges together. Through her gentle encouragement, I have become a better man.

Website: https://thomasdtaylor.wordpress.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Author-Thomas-D-Taylor-Fan-Page-Official-271277696233883

Other: https://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Taylor/e/B005LLGQU6

Image Credits
Christmas Tree painting © Thomas D. Taylor 2020. All other images Copyright Elyse Bruce 2023.