Michael Arthur Taylor

I am a recently retired English teacher, who taught for 39 years on the college, high school, and middle school levels. I earned National Board Certification in 2002 in Early Adolescence/English Language Arts, am a Fellow with the Tampa Bay Area Writing Project, and have been a summer Fellow with the Poynter Institute Writers Camp.

I have self-published my memoir and the two volume series, Natalie, through Kindle Create and Kindle Direct Publishing. I encourage other neophyte writers to turn their memories into stories that can be shared in published works.

Growing Up Floridian is a personal memoir about a boy growing up in 1950's and 1960's Florida and learning life lessons in a rural Cracker-cowboy environment. Natural history enthusiasts, baby boomers, and readers of the memoir genre can read stories that offer connections to a simpler time and enjoy both an exploration of natural Florida and a working ranch. Individual chapters capture moments when a boy tries to understand parental decisions, encounters potentially deadly wildlife, and explores evocative moments that ensnared a youngster's imagination. Responding to the accidental death of a brother, his parents' divorce, and the turbulence of the 1960's combined to produce an individual who tried to understand life's rhythms by staying attuned to the natural world. The text presents an educational look at Floridian wildlife from the perspective of a youngster learning the cowboy way of handling the complexities life threw at him.

Natalie, my two volume series, captures my mother’s life and her response to the western cowboy culture that dominated television and movie theaters in the 1940’s, 1950’s, and 1960’s.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09HNDF93F?binding=paperback&ref=dbs_dp_rwt_sb_tpbk

Some of my poetic efforts can be found in Gateway Gulfport Poets, which was edited by Peter Hargitai.

https://www.amazon.com/GATEWAY-Gulfport-Edited-Peter-Hargitai/dp/8182537231