Hi there! I’m Mikayla, a Wisconsin native currently living in sunny California with my husband and adorable son. I have been writing for as long as I can remember, but it has been a very on again off again journey…
When I was younger, early elementary school aged, if you had asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up it would have been a resounding: author! (And also teacher and scientist, depending on the day.) I was part of a writing group at Zainy Brainy (who else remembers that awesome store??), where each kid got a notebook and we would meet once a week to read and discuss what we had written with other nerdy kids. It was literally the best. Somewhere around 4th grade we did a project where everyone was given a blank, hardcover book to write a story in. I was in love. After that project (actually, if I’m being honest, it was probably the day the project was assigned), I made my mom take me to The Learning Shop to buy more, and I wrote stories about whatever intrigued me at the time. I even used one for a different school project (much to my embarrassment when the teacher made us read our stories aloud and I had to share my illustrations that I thought would be between myself and the teacher). We had a family website and my page featured short stories I had written. My 6th grade teacher, Mr. Betz, even asked if he could submit a story for my website. I thought I was the coolest person around, a teacher wanted to be featured on my website.
Around middle school I stopped writing for fun. With more essays assigned, I didn’t have time (or maybe the patience) for creative writing. So that was the end, for a while. After I moved to California, I dabbled a bit more in creative writing again, but nothing too serious. Then, in late 2019 I really jumped back into it, starting with a short story for a dear friend, Mrs. Davis. Since then, I have really picked up steam and seem to come up with ideas faster than I can get them down on paper.
When I got pregnant with Sam, I started reading a ton of children’s books – you can never start reading to baby too early! Thanks to all those books, and the 4 weeks of (glorious, relaxing, work-free) maternity leave pre-baby, I got started writing children’s stories. I was very pleased with and proud of one story in particular and talked about maybe fulfilling a life-long dream and getting it published.
Now, after a year of talk, I’ve finally started taking some action. I am taking the leap into the world of self-publishing! There are a million choices, which means a million decisions to make, and the steepest learning curve I’ve ever seen. But I am so excited to be doing this, and I hope you will follow along with me on my self-publishing journey!