Meet Kelly Taylor

Kelly Taylor is a senior at Chapman University in Orange, CA, and the Far Western Region Student Representative of Sigma Tau Delta. She is currently pursuing a BFA in Creative Writing and a BA in History as well as an accelerated MA in War, Diplomacy, & Society. She works as a freelance editor for Future House Publishing and spends most of her time researching odd topics as a basis for her many story ideas.

1. I chose to become a Creative Writing Major because I knew I’d never be happy doing anything else.
2. My favorite part of being a Creative Writing major is getting to experiment with so many different genres and styles, both when writing my own stories and while reading those of my peers. I feel like I’m getting a sneak preview of the coming literary gene.
3. The last book I read was Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro.
4. My favorite book is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. There’s just nothing else like it.
5. A book character I identify with is Pamela Dawes from Leigh Bardugo‘s Ninth House.
6. The last book I bought was Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, but I have not yet read it.
7. My favorite book to series adaptation is: Answering this might be treason.
8. I’m both a writer and a reader.
9. My favorite style of writing is fiction.
10. My go-to children’s book is The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner.
11. My favorite childhood memory is visiting my grandparents in Northern California (between Weed and Yreka). Every summer we got to spend time at some cabins my great-grandparents built in the mountains. No cell service. Just naps in the long grass and giant tire swings.

    

12. Growing up, I was sure I would be a novelist. I came to career day in the fifth grade dressed as one before I even really knew what it meant.
13. My first job was tutoring middle schoolers in math. I’d never be able to do it again.
14. My dream job is: I’m still discovering what exactly my dream job may be. Something that allows time for writing on the side.
15. I like to spend my free time training to run further than a 5k with limited success.
16. The destination at the top of my travel bucket list is Paris.
17. The literary place I’d most like to visit is Diagon Alley (and not just the one at Universal).
18. If I could move anywhere in the world, I’d live near a really large library, hopefully with an excellent coffee shop down the block.
19. If I was stranded on a desert island, the three things I would bring with me are water, water, and more water.
20. The one song I could listen to on repeat is the Placebo remake of “Running up that Hill.”
21. The best gift I ever received was a Furby named Laubert who is also an ornament who is also reading a book.
22. The best gift I’ve ever given is a Care Bears T-shirt that has grumpy bear making it rain little hearts.
23. If you find me in the kitchen, I’m typically whipping up a mess.
24. If I could try any food from a book or series, it would be Sally Jackson’s blue cookies from Percy Jackson.
25. The author (dead or alive) I’d most like to spend a day with is Suzanne Collins.