We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Paula Macena a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Paula, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

I moved to California from Tennessee directly after finishing my university studies. I had barely any money in my savings, immense credit card and student loan debt, but I knew that if I didn’t leave then, I’d stay in that town forever. I was comfortable and loved where I was–all my friends were there, and I’d gotten heavily involved in the local creative community. But I’ve always loved a big city, and I had it in my mind that I wouldn’t achieve all the things I wanted to do if I stayed local. I only knew a handful of people when I moved to California–literally, I think I could count them all on one hand. But now, it’s been over a year since I’ve moved, and I’ve built a beautiful creative community that’s continuously expanded, connected with incredible and like-minded individuals, and am actively building the career I’ve always wanted. I don’t know if I would have come this far if I had stayed, even if that had been the more sensible choice. I operated off of delusion to move here, and I don’t regret it at all.

Paula, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I like to think that I was born a writer. I wrote a crappy song when I was seven-years-old, and instantly became hooked on the craft. Since then, I expanded into stories, poetry, essays, and more. My debut published poetry collection, Penance of the Byronic Hero, came out in June 2023, at the same time that I founded Pluto’s, a creative community for writers. I’m currently based in Los Angeles where I host poetry, prose, and music nights and continue to write my heart out.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I hit rock bottom in October 2023. I’d been living in California for a few months, and had accidentally gotten myself into a terrible living situation. My family was across the country, and having nowhere else to go, I wound up in a ventless room that was the size of a closet, with my two cats and storage bins. I cried almost every day and considered giving up entirely. I was living about an hour outside of Los Angeles and began to feel like the town I was in was physically rejecting me, forcing me out. I’d been terrified to move to LA–I knew even less people there, and I was sure it would be more expensive. But now, backed into a corner, I decided to rely on delusion again: this was my sign to move to LA. I had barely any money in my bank account, but I quit my job at a local coffee shop and told them I’d found an apartment in LA (I hadn’t). I started my search, and told myself that if I couldn’t find a place by the end of the month, I’d give up and move back home. In the last week or so of October, a friend of a friend offered a small studio just outside of downtown and under my budget. I live there to this day, all because I took rejection as an opportunity instead of a closed door.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I grew up in a religious community that didn’t value artists. Because of this, I had to figure everything out myself–submitting to magazines, job opportunities, etc. And I think this held me back immensely. In my senior year of college, when presenting my writing portfolio to my professors, they were impressed with my list of publications. They asked me what the English department could have done to better support me, and I responded, “Well, I got all these publications myself. No one told me how to do it. I could’ve used some direction and guidance.” Now, as I move forward as a writer, I try my hardest to always point writers in the right direction with whatever they may need help with. I gathered this knowledge myself, but I’m completely anti-gatekeeping. Creatives need to support creatives.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://paulamacena.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/plutopaula
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/plutopaula
• Other: https://paulinha.substack.com

Image Credits

Joshua Perez
Marcel Molina
Vanessa Mae Lim