We recently connected with K.M. West and have shared our conversation below.

K.M., appreciate you joining us today. One of the toughest things about progressing in your creative career is that there are almost always unexpected problems that come up – problems that you often can’t read about in advance, can’t prepare for, etc. Have you had such and experience and if so, can you tell us the story of one of those unexpected problems you’ve encountered?

Before I died, I wanted to write a book. That’s how it started. Inspired by the proverbial bus that could hit me at any time, I began the early workings of my first novel when I was in my mid-twenties. With the support of two close friends, I hammered out the initial draft thinking, “Oh my God, this is amazing!”

Then I read it again and thought, “Oh my God, this is awful.”

And that’s how I became a writer.

The birth of my oldest daughter cast me into a state of transformative anxiety and loneliness, through which I compulsively edited and re-edited what would become my debut novel, Wild Things Will Roam. Two years of drafts, all written by the glow of a cell phone at 2am with a nursing baby in my arms, in stolen moments between meetings at work, in voice memos while driving. By 2019, I held a polished dystopian fantasy ready for the query trenches. Setting aside my mortification, I summoned all the audacity my ego could manage and tried my damndest to manifest success for these characters I loved. And it came! I had a few offers, spoke with a few publishing houses, and eventually accepted a deal with a house out of London that was looking to launch something revolutionary–an episodic release of stories, primarily targeted toward commuters in the UK.

My dizzying, electric excitement hummed throughout every aspect of my life. I worked full-time in IT, my husband was 5 years into building his sports performance/coaching business, we had a beautiful daughter, and I was about to see my first novel published. The contracts were signed, my story was edited for episodic release, the marketing was in place, and commuters were going to have my little dystopia in their hands beginning March 2020.

Turns out, there were no commuters that March, and the dystopia they were handed was far less entertaining and far more devastating. In what had felt like my moment, the world came tumbling down around me. The fear of the unexpected had started my journey, and so, too, did it bring this chapter to a halt.

But that’s not the end of the story, is it? My book did launch, we scrambled to change course and promote it to a world-wary audience, and it received incredible reviews from the handful of gracious people who gave it a chance. The publishing house closed its doors, and Wild Things Will Roam was shelved (and not in a good way).

I’ve always believed that we have to become the person who can tell our story, and these past five years have been the start of my becoming. All of the hustling to try to push more dystopia in dystopian times burnt me out and the narrator in my mind protested with her silence. My creative energy went instead into building two more incredible children. Then in 2023, we nearly lost our son and the emotional process of the following year gave birth to a voice which scratched and clawed at me until I put it on paper. I realized that my desire for recognition came at the cost of my expression. That what I needed wasn’t to become #booktok famous, but to acknowledge myself and step into my own identity. From there and only there could I create my art.

I’m now editing a collection of short stories centered on Filipino folklore and generational stories of Filipina American mothers like myself, called ‘Motherhood and Other Gods.’ The follow-up to Wild Things Will Roam, called ‘The Things We Fled,’ is underway. This time, my writing isn’t fueled by a desire for fame or a fear of dying, but by a need to discover my own story.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m K.M. West, and when I’m not raising three beautiful kids, obsessing over my handsome husband (he’s incredible), helping him to grow his small business in our little corner of Bartlesville, OK, USA (PureHealthPerformance.org), or building my professional career in IT, I am a writer and graphic artist.

I write stories for people who want to believe in magic and love having their hearts broken.

A second-generation Filipina-American, I work through my writing to piece together a history that’s been rewritten, obscured, occluded, and in some cases, fed to crocodiles.

My stories mix dread and unease with a sense of discovery, leaning heavily on the myths of my childhood and worries of the modern world. The nightmares in my writing reflect my own personal experiences with things otherwise unseen.

My debut novel, ‘Wild Things Will Roam,’ is a dystopian dark fantasy filled with “humor-wrapped ruthlessness,” following two Romani brothers who failed to fulfill a prophecy and set the world on a path of destruction. Fifteen years later, a chance encounter with a woman raised in the wilds of post-war America provides a second chance to fulfill their destiny–but only if she learns to believe and the Creatures of the new world don’t get to them first.

‘Wild Things Will Roam’ is available through Burnt Leaf Press; online, anywhere books are sold, and physically in certain independent bookstores with exceptionally great taste.

Under the umbrella of K.M. West Creative (kmwestwrites.com), I have helped my clients design eye-catching book covers to capture their readers attention and communicate their story’s heart. I create promotional materials (ads, copy, book trailers, you name it), logos, and brand kits for others in my industry. I developed this skillset while serving as Creative Director for my first two publishers.

Beginning this fall, I am stepping into the driver’s seat of my current publishing house, Burnt Leaf Press, developing through partnership with fellow author L.M. Riviere a publisher that provides readers “books to burn with” and respects its role as a vehicle for creativity for authors in our field.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The way it comes full circle. When I first starting writing, there was this high that came with simply generating an idea and putting it on paper. As though I had literally channeled the power of a Muse, I generated people, personalities, and situations such that they started to behave on their own. This was my first real exposure to the magic of it. Then, in an effort to make a living off that high, I tried to monetize it. I wanted to ride the wave of creativity for the rest of my life.

But that’s not the journey. The Romans used the term “genius,” not to represent someone with a specific set of extreme knowledge, but as a guardian that stayed with them for a lifetime. If they were lucky, a spirit (or ‘daemon’) would occasionally inhabit a person and allow them a stroke of brilliance. I believe it’s our responsibility to accept when these moments arrive, translate them through our unique lens, and then set them free out into the world. Oftentimes, we aren’t meant to be the last stop. It can be disappointing if you try to form an identity out of your art, because sometimes your role is to create the thing that inspires greatness in someone else. You have to love that part of it. You have to love the work of it, the grind, the way that you can always learn something more and constantly change your opinion. The craft has to be your true love, way ahead of recognition.

For me, the most rewarding aspects have come in the opportunity they’ve given me to explore myself, my culture, and my history in ways I would have been too nervous or too shy to do before. This process has invited me to fall in love with my experience as a human being living at this exact moment, knowing that these stars will never align like this again.

We are living in a wildly uncertain time, and I believe its our opportunity as artists to remind the world why it’s worth living in. We cannot chase fame, but rather rest in the knowledge that our impact on just one other person can mean everything.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I don’t necessarily agree that there’s such a thing as “non-creatives,” but I do think there are those whose medium is math, or biomechanics, or tax law. The thing I’d like people to realize — both in and out of the Humanities — is that creation is such a vital part of being human. That, while the opportunity is there to generate anything you’ve ever dreamed from entering a mere prompt, this will never replace the feeling we get when one person’s soul communicates with ours.

I’d invite everyone to see themselves as artists in their sphere. We are all here to teach and to be taught, so please, treat yourself as worthy of existing in every room you enter. And if you can’t yet do it for yourself, remember that by hiding, you rob the world of whatever brilliance your presence may stoke in someone else. It may be as simple as a conversation, or a funny situation, or even a small quirk that inspires greatness. It only took a single Word to create the universe, after all.

We all get one story to tell. We have only to open ourselves to the journey and become the person who can tell it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://kmwestwrites.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/km_west_
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kmwestcreative

Image Credits

IzzyZ Creatives
K.M. West Creative