Hi Reader,

Welcome to the Meet the Author series! I am excited to feature interviews focusing on authors’ writing habits, their publishing experiences, and their advice for you!

We’re kicking things off with a conversation with Taylor Elyse Morrison, author of Inner Workout (affiliate link).

Taylor Elyse Morrison is a founder, facilitator, and coach who’s making well-being and personal development more accessible. Through her company, Inner Workout, and her book of the same name, Taylor supports people’s journey to know, care for, and become their full selves.

Inner Workout offers actionable self-care for everyone and is rich with prompts, inspiration, and strategies for making self-care and inner work part of your daily life.

​Learn more about Taylor, Inner Workout, and her upcoming app!​

How long was the process from “I have this book idea” to “I have a physical copy of my book in my hands”?

I started conversations with a publisher in September of 2020, and the book came out in March of 2023. A lot of that was the back and forth of getting the book deal. Publishing can move really slowly.

I had been talking about these concepts and speaking and writing about them for a couple of years, so I was synthesizing a lot of what I'd already done. The actual writing process itself was about six months, with some extra time for edits.

What were your writing habits during that time? How did you get the writing done?

I love this question because I got diagnosed with ADHD after I finished writing the book. Looking back now, some things make so much sense.

What worked well for me was creating a structure in which I could be flexible. One way I did that was by using Pomodoros. I swore by Pomodoros! When it came to being “butt in chair” and writing, sometimes starting was the hardest part.

It was also helpful to have a strong outline/structure for chapters. I don't normally outline, but for the book, what worked was saying, “Okay, this is how the book will look. There's a part one and part two, and all the chapters in part two will follow a similar structure.” Then, I could be creative within that structure. That approach made something that felt daunting seem a lot more tangible.

What other writing strategies did you find helpful? What did you try that didn’t work?

What worked was something about the “urgency” of Pomodoros. They work well with my brain because I'm like, “I’ve just gotta see how much I can do in 25 minutes. I don't have to do this for that long.”

There was also something helpful about knowing I had a deadline. I created this schedule with structure and flexibility—but it only had so much flexibility before I'd be in trouble.

What didn't work was me doing anything besides writing. Just procrastinating a ton. What didn't work was beating myself up. A lot of the things that didn't work were avoidance tactics. As long as I could start writing, even if I totally scrapped something, I was making forward progress. The problematic thing was that I was doing everything I could not to write.

When did you decide you wanted to write a book? How did that become Inner Workout?

I had kind of a backward experience. I've always known that I wanted to write a book. I think I wrote my first “book” when I was probably five years old—I basically plagiarized this other book! I've always liked expressing myself through writing.

I first got interested in writing a book in early 2020. I was like, “You know what? I'm gonna write a book proposal in one night and send it out.” It had some similar themes to what became Inner Workout. And I thought, if it's meant to be, it's meant to be, and if it's not, it's not.

It was meant to be, but it was not meant to be in that way. No one responded, but then, several months later, a publisher reached out to me because of a workbook I had created for Inner Workout.

What was it like to find a publisher? An agent?

The publisher contacted me directly, and then I told agents, “Hey, I have a publisher interested—is anyone interested in representing me?” It's a less common route to go, but it's not all that uncommon. So that's what I did.

Publishing in general is a lot. I feel grateful for having a publisher who didn't just care about the words but cared about how the book felt. One of the best pieces of feedback that I've gotten is that this book is beautiful. I appreciated having a publisher who wanted to make the book an experience.

That said, it's a hard time to be in publishing, and I think many people think that getting traditionally published is kind of a golden ticket. There's still so much on you as a writer.

You have Inner Workout, the business; you’re the co-founder of the Lifestyle Business League; you have a podcast, and you have an app coming out. How did writing the book look different from the writing that you do day-to-day in these other spaces?

I tend to write things that are pretty short, so the book felt different in that way. The structure helped because I could think, “Okay, I don't have to think about this as a huge book. I can think about it as this little part that’s several hundred words.”

It also felt heavier in some ways. I had to work through a lot of imposter syndrome. Like, “Who am I to write this book? Who am I to have this opportunity?”

I remember a specific time when a friend let me use some of his points so that I could take a writing weekend. It was supposed to be Friday through Sunday, but I spent most of Friday night deciding that I needed to create a new CMS [content management system] for my company. I could not write, and it was because of all those feelings.

How did you deal with that impostor syndrome to still get the writing done?

One piece of it is just having a good community around me. My friend gave me points so that I could take some time away. My husband was so supportive, and my friends were rooting for me. Having a community that could remind me that I had something to say and I deserve this opportunity helped.

It's also how I frame things. I believe that “expert” isn't necessarily something you call yourself. I can go back to things people said about how this work supported them and be like, “Oh, yeah, I'm writing this for you because something I did already helped you. I want to create something that you can return to.” Going back to what I call my warm fuzzies folder was helpful.

And then, I reminded myself that the first line of my book is, “This is not an aspirational wellness book. It can't be, because I'm writing it.” I'm like, “Oh, I've given away the secret. I'm not perfect at this. I do this work because I need it.” That felt freeing, too, that I wasn't pretending to be something I’m not.

What is your next project? You have an app coming out. Are there any other books on the horizon?

​The app is my biggest writing project right now. It's a lot of different types of writing. There are these mini-courses, Journeys, that are where I feel like I'm in my writing element. Short and sweet and practical things that are reflective. Then, some of it is like, “How do I write effective copy for an app so that you know what to click?” The app has been a fun writing challenge.

I've also been thinking a lot about the topics I'm interested in and this intersection between well-being and leadership. The well-being stuff comes through my work and Inner Workout, and I do a lot of facilitation, coaching, and working with organizations and business owners.

I keep coming back to the idea that well-being is a state that we aspire to through self-care, inner work, and community care. I see how this framework could be applied to how you lead a team, navigate your career, and evaluate your business. I can imagine a series of books on these topics, and I get excited!

It was an “aha!” moment for me because, as you mentioned, I do a lot in my career. Other people can see it as disparate, and I think part of that part of that is my neurodivergence: I make connections in ways that not everyone else does. But when I was sitting in bed last night, when I really should have been asleep, I was like, “Oh, there’s such a clear throughline!” Now, this might be a 10-year project, but you read it here first.

I'm also waiting to hear if I got accepted to a PhD program! So, there's likely a dissertation in my future in the next several years.

In addition to buying a copy of Inner Workout, what self-care advice would you give to another writer, especially someone still in the thick of a writing project?

One thing I like about Pomodoro is that, theoretically, you're supposed to take a break. Give yourself time to do something besides writing.

Leaning on community is huge. My husband's in the other room, and he's probably like, “Yeah, you still need to work on this, Taylor.” I can be so independent and want to hold everything myself.

When I feel most able to be creative, it’s because I know how supported I am. I either allow myself to be vulnerable about what's hard or allow myself to accept support and encouragement from other people.

Know that even though it feels like it's just you and your laptop, there are people who are there for you. Really lean on that.

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I was so delighted to learn from Taylor during the course of our conversation—I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!