Malia K Johnson

When I first began writing fiction, I thought I needed to write a traditional novel from beginning to end, with long chapters, developing plots, and enough words to fill an entire book.

Sounds simple enough, right?!?!

Well….not exactly.

I discovered that while I loved creating characters, imagining places, and bringing stories to life, I sometimes struggled with expanding one storyline into a full-length novel. I would have an idea, begin writing, and then find myself wondering how to stretch it...

I don’t experience quite the way a hearing person might imagine it. For me, quiet isn’t an empty space waiting to be filled with sound. It has movement, expression, feeling, and its own kind of language.

As a Deaf woman, I have learned to pay attention to what is happening around me in ways that may be different from someone who hears. I watch faces, I notice expressions and body language. I see when someone’s eyes tell a different story from the words they are speaking. Maybe that is one...

There are stories we choose to write, and then there are stories that seem to choose us.

For me, writing has never been simply about putting words on a page. It has been a way of remembering, wondering, making sense of experiences, and sometimes giving a voice to things I didn’t know how to say at the time.

I’m a Deaf woman living in a world that often communicates differently than I do. That experience has shaped the way I observe people, relationships, silence, and the spaces between what is...