Mireya S. Vela, Author

Shaneka Jones Cook: What type of writer do you consider yourself?

 

Mireya S. Vela:  I’m primarily a creative nonfiction writer. Though lately, I have been writing horror to explore the gaps in my traumatic childhood. I have snippets of memories. They aren’t complete. But to me, they are interesting enough to turn into fiction.

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SJC: What is your favorite genre to write?

 

MSV: I absolutely love horror. I love that I can just make things up.

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SJC: What was one of the most surprising things you learned about yourself through your work? 

 

MSV: I have always loved to write. I read that writing is healing. But I didn’t fully understand this until I wrote a book. Writing to complete a project is a different journey than journaling. It forced me to take traumatic events and turn them into essays. I didn’t realize until I was experiencing it, how powerful it is to take flashbacks and give them order—give them chronology. I was able to take my power back and take charge of my own narrative. The interesting part about the narrative is the point-of-view. In my stories, I could have been a kid who is pounded with abuse on a regular basis—and was damaged by this. And yes, this is definitely true. But it is also true that I was abused and have been able to use the coping skills I learned to survive and become a person I like. It’s all about perspective. I think of the abuse now as my origin story. It made me. It’s where I come from. But that’s not the end.

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SJC: What advice do you have for young women of color who are writers? Do you consider yourself to be a role model for young women of color?

 

MSV: Advice for WOC is difficult because we are dealing with layer upon layer of barriers. We have problems with the publishing industry and gatekeeping by many White people. So, we are dealing with how to move an industry forward when it’s run by oppressors that suddenly want us to trust them with our stories. When frankly, they don’t deserve that trust.

 

Another issue is opportunity. I was a single mom for a bunch of years—and I can tell you that there was no room in my life at that time for what I wanted to achieve. There was only the grind. I often juggled 3-5 jobs in order to get by. And I couldn’t do a 9-5 job because my oldest has autism spectrum disorder (ASD). I had to be available for the thousands of emergencies that resulted from him having autism. The majority of the writers I know don’t make a living out of that. So, I swallowed my dreams for a long time. I was a researcher for 16 years because, at the very least, I was able to write long reports that advocated for what I believed in. At the time, I did community research, asking many communities of color how they wanted mental health services, educational services, and nonprofits to adjust to their needs. So, I felt I was doing a good thing. But it was hard. It’s hard to listen to stories about mental illness, homelessness, or racism.

 

I’m definitely an advocate for WOC. I’ve done a couple of projects to highlight WOC voices. Whenever possible, I do volunteer work for The Nasiona. For a short time, I hosted online readings. The Nasiona is an online publication and podcast whose entire mission is to focus on marginalized individuals and their stories. Julián Esteban Torres López runs that entire enterprise. He’s amazing. The work he features isn’t only about marginalized groups but about issues that are not frequently discussed. He’s the only man that I know that deals with women’s narratives in a way that is sensitive, open, and reflective. He’s a wonderful editor. I’ve also worked with Natalie Obando for the Women’s National Book Association. She did a project where she only focused on publishing WOC writers. She took them from writing an original story to getting them published. What was different about the way this project was run was that the women were paid to be part of this project. It was a pleasure and an honor to be a part of that team.

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SJC: How important is it for you to show black and brown girls that we matter in the literary world?

 

MSV: I’d like to venture that in this time as literary citizens, black and brown girls and women are what matter the most. If you look at statistics from the book White Fragility, 90% of the people who decide what books are read in the United States are White. That’s devastating. As a neurodivergent person, who identifies as pansexual/bisexual, I completely understand the issues of publication are also dire for women that are LGBTQIA and disabled. But I feel like if we can’t get passed color then what the fuck are we even doing?

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SJC: I know how much you love animals, as a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal?

 

MSV: I’ve going to tell a dark story. Please be warned. My grandmother used to hurt animals. And I loved my animals fiercely. She knew this and would often threaten to hurt them. Sometimes, she followed through on her dark thoughts. I won’t get into details. But my cats would disappear or get mutilated. I’m not a spiritual person. But I see the divine in animals and their honesty in a way I don’t see that in people. My mascot is the rabbit. I got a rabbit as an adult in my forties. I was terrified of caring correctly for them because of what I’d experienced as a child. I didn’t know what to do with such a vulnerable animal. What I learned is that rabbits are soft but know how to be fierce too. If you’ve never heard a rabbit growl, it’s hard to explain how scary they can be. And for silent animals, they are great communicators. They don’t tolerate bullshit.

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SJC: You are very vocal when it comes to your family trauma, has anyone in your family objected to anything you’ve shared about your family secrets/truth?

 

MSV: They don’t know. I cut all contact with my family. But it wouldn’t matter if they did. I tried really hard to leave that family over and over again. I know I don’t belong there. Knowing I don’t belong there is a double-edged sword. It feels lonely. But I also know I can write whatever I want.

 

SJC: What was the journey like writing Vestiges of Courage? How did you deal with the emotional impact of the book (on yourself) as you were writing the story?

 

MSV: Actually, I was terrified. For the first 3 months, I thought someone in my family would read my book and kill me for naming them. I sincerely should have bad a better support system for dealing with that. I think things would have felt better if my best friend was still living in Los Angeles. But that was no longer the case. And I didn’t know how hard it would all hit me. I didn’t realize how hypervigilant I would feel. And just for the record, many of my family members have been imprisoned for violence. My fears were not unfounded. The only thing that has saved me is that most of them don’t read. For my next book, I plan to have a therapist on speed dial.

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SJC: What books or authors have most influenced your own writing?

 

MSV: Beloved by Toni Morrison. It was the first book by a WOC I read that filled by heart and drained me out. Her writing is outstanding. I also love Margaret Atwood for her imagination and daring.

 

SJC: Do you prefer painting/drawing overwriting?

 

MSV: They are two different processes for me. The painting is all emotion and meditation. The writing is much more intellectual. I’ve spent a large part of my life trying to figure out whether I’m a writer or an artist. I’m both. I don’t want to choose. I make art to escape and establish emotional well-being. I need writing for structure and expression. It’s hard to explain this in detail, but art and writing don’t feel the same in my body. They seem to come from different places for me. At the same time, I need them both to create worlds. I suppose that goes back to my childhood, right? I imagine all children stuck in trauma imagine building a world that’s different than the one they were forced to endure.

 

SJC: What are you currently working on?

 

MSV: I have a horror manuscript that is out finding a home right now. And I’m working on a series of paintings I am calling “Mexican Gothic”. I’m getting my “spooky girl” thing going.

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