We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Molly Likovich. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Molly below.
Molly, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
Over the course of 2019-2020 I worked on an indie documentary called The Hidden History of Edgar Allan Poe. This meant a lot to me and remains something I’m incredibly proud of not just because I believe that the finished project is a truly high quality short film but because the journey that went into making it was so special.
I have admired the works of Edgar Allan Poe since I first discovered him in 7th grade english class which was why it was important to me that my 7th grade english teacher be a guest in the documentary, which he was. Besides this incredibly special part I got to speak with other writers, researchers, and Poe experts and film at special Poe related locations including his house in Baltimore.
The research process was intense and emotional for me due to elements of the tragedy and history of mental illness in Poe’s life, it helped me view everything about this literary icon that I’ve always admired in a brand new light and it felt like such a gift to be able to tell his life story in my own voice in my own format.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m a writer first and foremost. I write romance novels, poetry, and make video content that I write and produce myself. I don’t limit myself to one specific medium, format, sub-genre, because I don’t want to be boxed in. I always tell myself whenever I worry that I’m not going about my career the ‘correct’ way that: I’ve never been like everyone else and I never will be and that’s okay. My brain operates differently, my heart has always had space for a wide variety of stories and means of telling them.
I started writing as soon as I learned how but I started getting into it professionally in college when my poetry started getting published in various literary magazines. I started making long form written video content (documentaries, video essays, deep dives) after college, and in 2021 I put out my first book of poetry with my co-collaborator and best friend artist Marcia Ruiz-Olguín.
I’m known online as Magical Molly and often describe myself as a Gothic Leading Lady. I always want my potential followers/readers/fans to understand is that I am as goofy/campy in real life as the content I create. I aim to tell stories that appeal to the weirdos, the theater kid vibes, the chaotic homeschool kids, the outsiders. I don’t want to confirm or try to fit myself and my content into a box and I don’t want my readers to expect it to. I want us all to embrace the weird together.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
In December 2016 I got into a car accident that permanently damaged my spine. I now live with degenerative disc disease and fibromyalgia. Becoming disabled so young in life has made it difficult to carry on the same way day to day as I did in college when my creative career began, but I think the fact that I haven’t given up is a testament to how much being a writer means to me.
I have utilized my struggles into my stories to help bring representation to a world far too devoid of disabled narratives. My novel ‘Send in The Clowns’ and my most recent novella ‘There’s Something in The Woods’ feature disabled leading ladies who suffer from the same disabilities as me. It’s been cathartic and inspiring to write these kinds of characters and bring readers together through shared experience.
Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?
It’s going to sound silly but CanvaPro. I’m not sponsored by them or anything but I use them constantly for all my projects, they’re so helpful.
Contact Info:
- Website: mollylikovich.com
- Instagram: magicalmolly
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTM9gVrGSxuHJMg-MZqTXJg
- Other: TikTok: magicalmolly
Image Credits
Katy Likovich Andrew Likovich