Today we’d like to introduce you to Mikayla Elias

Hi Mikayla, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?

As a child, I enjoyed writing. I made up fantasy worlds and would spend time working on those stories instead of doing schoolwork. I was later active on Tumblr and became a fanfiction writer, naturally. Writing was something fun for me, but I never really considered it as a career. So writing inevitably fell off for me when I went to get my undergraduate degree. It wasn’t until years later that I would return to reading for fun. That unlocked the old storyteller in me, and I got back into journaling. Eventually, those journals became poems, and they got me to where I am today.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?

Oh, definitely not. Initially, it was a struggle to carve out time for writing. I was working all day (and sometimes night) in the music industry when I first got back into writing. I wasn’t able to wait for inspiration to strike and go impulsively write something. I was writing bits and pieces throughout the day, on my breaks, in my down time between gigs. When I decided to write with intention and make it into a more sustainable practice, I had to prioritise the work writing took. I passed up opportunities and ultimately decided to leave the music industry and go back to school for a Master’s degree in creative writing. The Master’s program has been my most recent challenge, trying to balance schoolwork and personal work, especially as I finish up the degree.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?

I specialise in poetry. Poetry is what brought me back into writing and made me feel like I had something worth saying, something worth sharing. I would say that my early published work is known for its micro-poetry feel. That skill has expanded, as have the length of my more recent poems. I’m most proud of my first collection of work, bending toward the light. It is a collection of some of my first poems, and they are very vulnerable. I was opening myself to the world for perhaps the first time with bending toward the light. What sets me apart from others is that I am constantly challenging my work through the lens of music. I am engrossed in music and the music world, and I find that coalescing the written world and the musical world produces really passionate work. Through my poetry and my personal essays, I aim to bring in musical elements and make them sing, so to speak.

What does success mean to you?

I define success as my words having touched someone. I have been particularly moved by art and want to share those emotions with others. Several folks have told me that my work has been somehow impactful to them, and I find wonder in those moments.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://mikaylaelias.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/write.with.mik
• Twitter: https://x.com/writewithmik
• Other: https://tiktok.com/write.with.mik