Veronica Taylor – to write is to honor

Growing up in a small town in the 1970’s, I lived down a lonely road with sporadic lighting and few houses. Not surprisingly, silence all around, I had an active imagination that would someday
take me down the path to writing. But not then, then it was the reason I imagined outside my window: a screeching owl, talons extended, or fog rolling in, its creatures crawling on the kitchen
floor as my heart thumped, my parents snored, and my brother mumbled in his sleep.

But each morning, fears vanquished as mom and I watched the TV soaps. And for a moment, the TV actors’ fantasy world was my own. I was rich, wore beautiful clothing, and had the man of my little girl’s heart. But soon as the TV shut off, I was outside our tiny, purple and white trailer–my brother and I pedaling our Hot Wheels, Big Wheels around the yard. Years later, I had a young toddler and my imagination seemed oddly revived. But when my daughter was around nine, I wished what I’d experienced was fantasy as mom’s health quickly began deteriorating. Desperate to ease the worry, I began to journal. I wrote of the dread I felt, after years of worrying, and finally admitted to myself…my mom was going to die. After mom’s death, I started a blog and my writing journey began. How my fingers flew as the memories came: trips with mom and dad. Long stretches of road. And something that involved a green tent, a Doritos bag and a worm infestation.

As time passed, I realized that blogging had eased the pain and that I wanted to write other things. So I wrote and sold a few short stories. And in time, I wrote a filmmaker’s scripts for the
Doritos: Crash the Super Bowl competition. Unfortunately, he could not get the funding to make three scripts for the competition but I realized I was hooked on creating and the possibility that something I wrote might one day be seen in some visual format. Around this time I wrote a short screenplay and entered it into a competition. The producer went with someone else only because he needed a more anti-hero type of writer. I was so stoked. I wrote several shorts and then branched out into features. When my first feature was optioned by a producer, I could not stop smiling. After four years, he went on to do other things but my love for screenwriting has never waned. Eleven years since I first started writing, I’ll be the first to admit scribbling a story and some characters’ dark journey is part hard work, luck, creative writing and getting it before someone that sees its potential. I’ll admit the journey’s been frustrating, but getting my first screenplay optioned, being offered the chance to write for TV, placing in the top 100, the top 42%, having a film on MyVidster, and a short currently being edited by producers is strong motivation. Will I ever stop imagining? No. As long as I can imagine, I can write. As long as I can write, my screenplays, comic scripts or game scripts could make it to the big screen or some other awesome venue. Anyone thinking collaboration or wanting to talk projects can find me on Twitter @Come_Autumn and by email at:ronica@northstate.net.