An Interview with Terry Cozad Taylor
Terry Cozad Taylor is a raconteur and photographer who has gained local fame for his storytelling ability and his image-creating acumen. He grew up in an industrial suburb of Chicago, and has earned degrees in English and philosophy, journalism, and art. He spent the first two-thirds of his life doing public relations for universities; the final third he spent leading non-profit organizations in the field of spirituality. His work and his heart have taken him to thirty-seven countries and all fifty states. Terry is the author of A Spirituality for Brokenness (2009, Skylight Paths). He retired in 2015 and now devotes his energies to telling stories and making art.
What inspired you to start writing this book?
When I turned seventy-five in February of 2026, I took time to think about my creative life. For years I have worked in a number of media, but I asked myself, “What do you do best?” The answer was storytelling and photography. I decided to produce a book that comprised my favorite stories and my most vivid photographs.
That book is The Doorbell Chronicles: A Memoir in Tidbits and Snapshots.
In TDC, flash non-fiction meets memoir meets mystery … complemented by luscious photographs. The book features seventy-five short anecdotes (I call them ‘tidbits’) about events drawn from my life experiences. The tidbits are accompanied by seventy-five zen-like ‘snapshots,’ which I hope enhance the stories instead of illustrating them.
The tidbits address a full spectrum of topics: education and work, romance and marriage, as well as art, music, literature, and sports. In TDC you’ll read about success and failure — even a weather catastrophe.
The snapshots were taken at locations throughout the US and places scattered around the world. They include images of things and places we automatically see as beautiful — flowers and leaves, mountains and waterfalls — but also everyday objects that possess a beauty we tend to ignore: a ceiling and a doorway, brown eggs, and coffee beans.
The brevity of the stories is designed to fit the needs of readers who — due to demands on their time — like to read in what I call ‘gulps.’ The photos offer a visual respite to folks who are weary of staring at computer screens.
Tell us the story of your book’s current title. Was it easy to find, or did it take forever?
The title, The Doorbell Chronicles, comes from one of the ‘tidbits’ in my book. When I was five, my aunt baked the first cookies I ever tasted. I bit into one and was so happy I danced around her kitchen. She laughed and paid me a compliment I didn’t understand. She said I was a doorbell — at least, that’s what I heard. Six years later, I realized that she had actually said I was ‘adorable.’
Describe your dream book cover.
My dream book cover would feature a partially open door on the front of a Cape Cod house. Through that entranceway, the reader would glimpse a collage of photos from TDC.
If your book had a soundtrack, what are some songs that would be on it?
The soundtrack for The Doorbell Chronicles would feature songs that have been important to me at different stages of my life. The Little Drummer Boy when I was seven; Alice’s Restaurant when I was sixteen; River of Dreams, when I was forty-two; and, these days, a remaster of Strawberry Fields Forever.
What books are you reading (for research or comfort) as you continue the writing process?
For research, I’m reading Poetry Says It Better by Ellen Burstyn. For comfort, I’m enjoying Whistler by Ann Patchett as well as A Serpent’s Tooth by Craig Johnson.
What other professions have you worked in? What’s something about you that your readers wouldn’t know?
I spent the first two-thirds of my professional life working as a public relations professional for universities. I devoted the final third of my career to leading interfaith peacemaking organizations.
Who/what made you want to write? Was there a particular person, or particular writers/works/art forms that influenced you?
I decided to be a writer because of a homework assignment. My junior high school social studies teacher one day told the class to write our own myths. I wrote one about a god who gets drunk and crashes his chariot. We turned in our myths on a Friday. When the teacher was ready to return them the following Monday, she told us that one was so good and so funny she needed to share it. As soon as she started reading, I recognized my words. The other students roared with laughter as they listened. The rush I got from that experience told me I needed to be a writer.
I decided to take up photography when I edited my alma mater’s alumni magazine right after graduation and found it impossible to explain to a photographer how to take the pictures I needed.
I’d like to tip my hat to three giants of creativity whose books deeply influenced me. The books are: Portraits by the photographer Richard Avedon; Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture by architect Robert Venturi; and One Hundred Years of Solitude, by novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
From Avedon’s book, I learned to take photographs in non-traditional ways. From Venturi’s book, I discovered the importance of the golden ratio in visual art. In the writing of Garcia Marquez, I witnessed how a single sentence could contain an entire story.
Where is your favorite place to write?
Oddly, my favorite place to write is on my living room couch, where I tap out stories on my iPhone.
What advice would you give your past self at the start of your writing journey?
I would say: “You’re obviously a raconteur, a storyteller. Concentrate on writing the way you talk when you tell a story.”
What’s one thing you hope sticks with readers after they finish your book?
I hope readers take away TWO inspirations from The Doorbell Chronicles. First, to write their own mini-memoirs, because a) we all live in our stories, and b) those stories are holy — just as holy as the tales we read in our sacred books. Second, to open their eyes and pay attention to the things they walk by without noticing.
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