Today we’d like to introduce you to Victoria Mikael

Hi Victoria, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?

I’m a writer/editor and mom living in Seattle. I’d always loved to write but started pursuing it more after my husband passed unexpectedly when our daughter was a baby.

And within about a year of his passing, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was during my recovery period that I started going through my old diaries and journals, trying to piece together all the events that’d led to where I was at that moment and to maybe make sense of it all. I think I also wanted to document and preserve our lives and family history in case something happened to me.

I started to take memoir and poetry classes and that led to me searching out spaces like open mics where I could connect with other writers. I approached my favorite women writers from each space and began assembling my own feminist writers group online.

After about a year and a half of engagement through Zoom, I was really craving an in-person writers community so I started teaching weekly writing workshops at a local women’s shelter, Mary’s Place. The women there were hugely inspiring to me and together we created a Substack literary journal called LadyHouse (formerly Pearl Moon Quarterly) where you can read their works. I also curated a feminist library for them that was really gratifying to watch grow.

Currently my in-person workshops are on pause so than I can focus on a book I’m working on that is part memoir, part historical nonfiction. It’s about grief and recovery of course but also explores my Great-Grandmother’s experience living in Seattles first orphanage, The Ryther House.

I’ve been listening to old audio tape transfers of interviews with my Great-Grandmother and Grandfather that were created back in the 70s, and are a gold mine of family history and lore, as well as insight into Seattle’s early pioneer days.

I feel lucky having my ancestors in my ear as I write – their stories have brought an invaluable clarity and perspective I wouldn’t otherwise have had.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?

No it has not been a smooth road. And hell YES there’s been struggles – but that’s just a given when you’re a single or only parent trying to make something work. With each one though I just try to manage to land us on our feet. So far so good.

Grant financing for writing workshops has definitely been a challenge but I’ve also just been more focused on trying to finish my book at the moment.

And some days everything feels like a challenge but we just keep pushing through. And lately there are more smooth days than rough. My kid and dog are amazing and make it feel easy.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?

I parent, write, and will hopefully teach again when I have more time. I recently had some poetry published in an intersectional feminist journal, Cordella. I’m super proud of it as it was writing I’d done while traveling and reflecting on complicated grief, illness, loss. and recovery.

I hope to have another issue of LadyHouse out by Summer, and am slowly building inventory to create an online feminist bookstore under the same name. I want to feature out-of-print feminist literature, poetry, and zines.

If you’d like to submit to LadyHouse, you can send your written works, art, or inquiries to [email protected].

What were you like growing up?

I grew up in Tacoma and Gig Harbor.
At around 14, my interests started to lean toward punk music and what I considered interesting/provocative art, fashion, style, and music.

And even then I had a strong curiosity about peoples’ stories too, specifically women who’d overcome some type of adversity and emerged out the other side changed and stronger.

I think my early fascination with reading about other peoples’ lives was likely the origin of what evolved into a love of memoir and personal essay/poetry

I loved Drew Barrymore’s Little Girl Lost, and later on Marianne Faithfull’s autobiography. From there I got really into reading rock and roll bios and anything regarding different music subcultures.

I spent my early 20’s in Olympia, Wa. just kind of drifting and learning how to adult. The 90’s were a painfully confusing decade and as much as I love some of the memories you couldn’t pay me to go back. The music and art scene however were a huge influence on me and I write a bit about those days in my book.

What am I most proud of? My
Daughter and the work I’ve done with Mary’s Place and women in recovery.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @victoriamikael @pearlmoonwriterscollective @ladyhousewriters
• Other: https://medium.com/@sistersisu https://www.cordella.org/#/on-the-road

Image Credits

Frances Hill, Hedwight Amoda