Area Author Seeks to Encourage Others Through Inspirational Poetry

Local poet Joy S. Taylor hopes to encourage and uplift with the release of her second book, Finding Brighter Days. The author takes readers through days of loss, change, questioning, love and certainty she has experienced personally.

Originally from Colorado, Taylor has been a resident of Florissant since 1983. Taylor said she became a writer about 11 years ago.

Although her background is in accounting, Taylor said she felt compelled to begin writing. The impetus came from a challenging personal experience.

“I was in a difficult marriage, and poetry became a cathartic way to deal with issues,” she said.

The poet said she started slowly creating verses and kept writing until she had built up a collection of poetry. Her first book of poems, Findings: My Journey to Joy, was released in 2007.

“I tried a lot of different styles: iambic pentameter, sonnet, as many as I could with the first book. But I fell into free verse,” she said of her writing style.

Even though she has compiled two books, poetry was not something Taylor has always written, or even enjoyed.

“Actually, I hated poetry in high school,” the writer said with a chuckle.

However, the poet said it was the events in her marriage that caused the creativity to spring forth from inside her.

“Sometimes with emotions, the words just kind of flow,” Taylor said of the time.

In addition to finding a creative outlet, Taylor said the rough period also helped her gain a deeper relationship with her family. Taylor is the mother of five children and is a grandmother to six grandchildren.

The wordsmith said she is grateful that she has a supportive family and close friends who help in several ways, from a willingness to help proofread drafts to providing moral support to keep her going.

In turn, the author has used her personal experiences to help others. She leads a DivorceCare support group and is the training coach for Celebrate Recovery at First Christian Church of Florissant. Taylor said she is scheduled to do a poetry workshop in the fall of 2012, and led a workshop on the effects of divorce for Harvester Christian Church's Daybreak Women's conference.

In addition to her accomplishments in writing, Taylor also founded an encouragement ministry, Joy in Verse Ministry. The ministry aims at sharing encouraging messages to radio listeners through Taylor’s poetry, coupled with Bible verses.

“It all kind of derives from as I was putting together the book, I just got prompted to start making encouragement verses,” she said.

Taylor said she has a producer she works with who lays down music under the spoken words. The finished product is a two-minute vignette, which plays on daily on KJSL Truthtalk 630 AM.

Taylor’s books can be purchased locally at The Chappel House, online through Amazon, and on her publisher’s website.

For more information about Joy S. Taylor, reach her by phone at 314-398-2054 or find her on Facebook.