Sandra Tayler

Sandra Tayler (born 1973) is an American short story and children's book writer and blogger. She edits, formats, and publishes her husband Howard Tayler's Schlock Mercenary comic compilations and related works. She has published science fiction and fantasy short stories, essays on parenting and mental illness, and has presented at conventions on writing and geek parenting.

Sandra Tayler
BornSandra Owens
1973
OccupationEditor, writer, publisher
LanguageEnglish
NationalityAmerican
Period2008–present
GenreChildren's books, fantasy, science fiction
SubjectMental illness
Years active2008 - present
SpouseHoward Tayler (1993–present)
RelativesNancy Fulda (sister)
Website
onecobble.com

Her blog, One Cobble at a Time, received an award in 2009 from the Association for Mormon Letters.

Biography

Sandra Owens was born 1973.[1] She married Howard Tayler in 1993[2] and they are the parents of four children.[3] The writer Nancy Fulda is her sister.[4]

Career

Tayler began blogging to "rediscover who I was when I wasn't Mom." Her blog entries received the Association for Mormon Letters award for online writing in 2009.[5] She published selections from her 2011 blog entries in a compilation entitled Cobble Stones: Year 2011.[6]

Her fantasy short story, "Immigrant", was published in Ages of Wonder, an anthology from Daw Books edited by Julie E. Czerneda and Rob St. Martin. She edited the 2009 roleplaying game book, XDM: X-Treme Dungeon Mastery, written by Tracy and Curtis Hickman and illustrated by her husband, Howard.

Sandra felt inspired to write Hold on To Your Horses and The Strength of Wild Horses to help her daughter "visualize and control her impulsive ideas."[7][8] Roger Sutton, editor-in-chief of The Horn Book, said Strength was "purposive but lightened with humor."[9] Two of Tayler's essays have been featured on The Mighty, a website that spotlights experiences with mental health issues.[10]

Tayler has presented at many conventions. She moderated a panel on geeky parenting at the 2014 Salt Lake Comic Con.[11] She was a panelist at the 2016 Salt Lake ComiCon FanXperience about how to share and moderate media consumption.[12] At the Gen Con Writer's Symposium in 2016, she presented on self-publishing, writing author bios, how to avoid writer's block, and how to support a creative lifestyle.[13] In a presentation at Life, the Universe, & Everything in 2013, she recommended setting aside a physical space for creative work and working in small bits of time as they become available.[14]

Schlock Mercenary

Tayler directs the publication of her husband Howard Tayler's Schlock Mercenary comic compilations, completing editing, layout, and design.[15][16]

She was the primary editor and a contributor to Planet Mercenary, a tabletop RPG set in the Schlock Mercenary universe.[17] She completed the formatting and design for Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries, which was available in two editions to Kickstarer backers: a "defaced" version with comments written by characters and a "pristine" version without handwritten comments.[18] Tayler formatted the notes in the "defaced" edition using handwritten notes.[19]

Works

Books
  • Hold on to Your Horses (2008, The Tayler Corporation)
  • Cobble Stones (2012, Hypernode Press)
  • The Strength of Wild Horses (2014, Hypernode Press)

Short fiction works
  • "Immigrant" in Ages of Wonder edited by Julie E. Czerneda and Rob St. Martin (2009, Daw Books, ISBN 978-0-7564-0543-4)[20]
  • "Bethan's Garden" in The Mind of the Beholder (2012, AnthologyBuilder, ISBN 9781475296204)
  • "The Road Not Taken" in 2012 Mormon Lit Blitz (2012, online only)[21]

Roleplaying games

Essays
  • "The Non-Fictional Sense of Wonder" in Locus Roundtable (2011, online only)[22]
  • "Married to Depression" in Altered Perceptions edited by Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, and Robison Wells (2014, Fearful Symmetry)[23]
  • "When Mental Illness Is in Disguise" on The Mighty.com (2016, online only)[24]
  • "When You’re the Wife of a Man With Depression" on The Mighty.com (2016, online only)[25]

Awards and recognition
Year Organization Award title,
Category		 Work Result Refs
2009 Association for Mormon Letters Award for Online Writing One Cobble at a Time website Won [5]
gollark: Right now it's NEAR-USELESS for anything but creating conformity and being expensive daycare.
gollark: And teach sanely.
gollark: We should make school allow people to choose subjects they are actually interested in.
gollark: Oh, one of the extremely complex quantum thingies, of course.
gollark: What's a TQFT and shut up gnobody.

References
  1. Tayler, Sandra. "Birthday-- The day after". One Cobble at a Time. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  2. Tayler, Sandra; Call, Anglea (2008). Hold on To Your Horses (PDF). The Tayler Corporation.
  3. Tayler, Sandra. "Halloween". One Cobble at a Time. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  4. Fulda, Nancy. "Hold on to Your Horses by Sandra Tayler". Nancy Fulda: The Author's Official Website. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  5. "AML Awards 2008 – 2009". Association for Mormon Letters. Archived from the original on January 6, 2017. Retrieved January 6, 2017.
  6. Tayler, Sandra. "Cobble Stones 2011 by Sandra Tayler paperback". schlockmercenary.com. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
  7. Hines, Jim. "Sandra Tayler Talks About The Strength of Wild Horses". Jim C. Hines. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  8. Tayler, Sandra. "Books that can help ADD kids and their parents". One Cobble at a Time. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  9. Sutton, Roger. "Selfie Sweepstakes Reviews: The Strength of Wild Horses". The Horn Book. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  10. "Sandra Tayler – The Mighty Contributor". The Mighty. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  11. Johnson, Chandra (September 12, 2014). "Why costumes are no longer just for Halloween". DeseretNews.com.
  12. Ramirez, Alexandria (July 5, 2016). "How 'geeky families' can love tech but also set limits". DeseretNews.com. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  13. "2016 GenCon Symposium Schedule v2.3" (PDF). GenCon. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 5, 2017. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  14. Tayler, Sandra. "Structuring Life to Make Room for Creativity". One Cobble at a Time. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
  15. Bliss, Rodney M (December 15, 2015). "The Power Behind The Schlock Mercenary Throne: An Interview With Sandra Tayler". Rodney M Bliss. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  16. Tayler, Sandra. "About Sandra Tayler". One Cobble at a Time.
  17. Tayler, Sandra. "Books". One Cobble at a Time.
  18. Tayler, Sandra. "Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries". One Cobble at a Time.
  19. Tayler, Sandra. "When a Project Doesn't Work". One Cobble at a Time. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  20. "Publication: Ages of Wonder". Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  21. Tayler, Sandra (February 20, 2012). "Day Five: Sandra Tayler: The Road Not Taken". Mormon Lit Blitz. Archived from the original on January 5, 2017. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  22. Tayler, Sandra (October 6, 2011). "Sandra Tayler–The Non-Fictional Sense of Wonder". Locus Online. Archived from the original on January 5, 2017. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  23. "Publication: Altered Perceptions". Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  24. "When Mental Illness Is in Disguise". TheMighty.com. February 1, 2016. Archived from the original on February 4, 2017. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  25. "When You're the Wife of a Man With Depression". TheMighty.com. January 21, 2016. Archived from the original on February 4, 2017. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
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