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 said and what is understood.

Perhaps that is one reason I notice the quieter things. A look that lingers. A change in someone’s expression. The movement of trees when the wind begins to rise. The feeling of walking into a place and somehow knowing there is a story there. Much of my writing begins in those small moments.

Where My Stories Begin

I have kept journals throughout different parts of my life, recording experiences, thoughts, places I’ve visited, things I’ve witnessed, and emotions I didn’t always understand until much later.

Sometimes those experiences remain memories. Sometimes they become something else.

A feeling from my own life may eventually find its way into a fictional character. A place I’ve visited may become the beginning of an entirely different setting. An experience may inspire a story while the names, circumstances, people, and outcome become something completely new. That is one of the things I love most about writing. We can begin with something true and allow imagination to ask:

What if?

From there, an entirely new path can appear.

Nature Is Part of My Writing, Too

If you’ve read Whispers Through the Trees, you already know how deeply nature influences my writing.

The mountains, forests, changing seasons, wildlife, and quiet places have always spoken to me in their own way. Not with words. With presence. 

There is something about being among trees that reminds me that life doesn’t always need to be rushed or explained. Sometimes we simply need enough quiet to notice what is already there.

Nature appears in many of my stories for that reason. It isn’t always just the setting. Sometimes it becomes almost another character. A witness to grief, change, discovery, love, loneliness, healing, and belonging. 

The People Who Find Their Way Onto My Pages

My books may be different from one another, but I’ve begun to realize that many of them share a common thread. They are about people trying to understand where they belong.

Mara’s journey through The Shape of….stories explores connection, loss, community, relationships, and what it means to create a life that feels like home.

Rowan Hale (coming in 2027) is taking me somewhere entirely different. Into mystery, danger, young love, secrets, and the experience of being a Deaf teenager navigating a hearing world.

And Never Broken and Whispers Through the Trees comes from an even more personal place. Different stories. Yet underneath them are questions I think many of us carry:

Who am I? Where do I belong? Who truly sees me? And what happens when life asks me to become someone I haven’t met yet?

Why I’m Starting This Blog

I wanted a place where we could meet somewhere between the books.

So, welcome to Between the Pages.

This will be a quieter corner of my website where I’ll share pieces of my writing life. The inspiration behind my books, thoughts about creativity and Deaf experience, reflections from nature, characters I’m getting to know, stories behind the stories, and occasional glimpses of whatever happens to be sitting on my writing desk/journal. 

I don’t know exactly where every post will lead. I think that’s part of the fun.

Writing has taught me that we don’t always need to know where the path ends before we begin walking it. Sometimes we just follow the next bend. So that’s what I’m doing here. Following the path. Listening to the next story. And seeing what might be waiting between the pages. 

Thank you for walking alongside me.

With Gratitude,

Malia K Johnson