By Diana Wallis Taylor
Fifteen years ago, I had not even written my first novel. What I had worked on was an Easter musical. Now I’d written a lot of poetry, and published a book of poetry, “Wings of the Wind” but not songs. As a poet, I had no problem writing the words. Then the Lord gave me melodies to the words I had written. Singing the songs into a tape recorder, it took a talented musical friend and me two years to complete the project. She wrote the prelude, orchestration for nine instruments, and music for all 13 songs. It was a labor of love. Our churches were small and neither of us knew how to market it. The musical languished as I became more involved in writing books.
I wrote three contemporary Christian novels, but one day, reading the Gospel of John, I was drawn to the story of the Samaritan woman who met Jesus at the well. Having gone through some difficult times, a divorce, wrong relationships, I felt an empathy for her. I tentatively took the first chapter of Journey to the Well to my critique group, and they all agreed that I wrote differently when I wrote Biblical fiction. I loved the research as it took me into studying the life and times of women in the Bible and studying the Scriptures in a deeper way. I wanted my readers to feel they were there, living in those times, and identifying with my characters. Publishing the first book was not easy. I haunted numerous Christian writer’s conferences, buttonholing editors, and finally God opened the door to finding an agent who believed in me and the story. I had self-published, but my agent prevailed and at last Revel picked up my book. I wrote four Biblical novels for them, and then five more for Whitaker House. Both publishers and respective editors were wonderful to work with and I am grateful for that experience.
When the Biblical Fiction market closed for me, I prayed about another creative avenue. One morning, in the wee hours, where I usually find inspiration for a troublesome portion of a book, some words began running through my head. I sensed the Lord was giving me a song. It had been a while, but I got a blank music notebook and jotted the words and used quarter notes to remember the melody. For you songwriters out there, this may not sound like anything unusual, but please understand, I do NOT read or write music. I can plunk out notes on the piano. The song was about Jesus riding into Jerusalem; “The Rocks Cried Out”. Since that morning, the Lord has given me seven more songs. The student referred to me several years ago by a music professor at Point Loma Nazarene University to help edit the Easter musical, graduated and is now in Boston. He magically turns my chicken scratches to finished sheet music and puts them up on SMP Sheet Music. When we pray and ask for God’s leading, you may be surprised where that takes you!
Have I stopped writing books? Absolutely not! I have a proposal out for two other books, a fun story about a widow who runs a bed and breakfast called The House of Little Doors, and also for my biography, A Shadow Following, growing up with a grandmother who belonged to a cult, and a mother, divorced and lonely, looking for things to fulfill her life. She found answers in the occult, and unfortunately, they involved me.
Author of 14 books, Diana Wallis Taylor has been writing in numerous ways since the age of 12. She taught school for over 20 years, owned two bookshop/coffeehouses, and retired as Director of Conference Services for a private Christian university. She lives in San Diego, California.