Written by Ryan Jones
Among the concrete jungle of New York a passionate author roams.
The snap of a button, the woosh of a shutter, a picture appears on the back of a camera. The hum of a coffee maker and the fluid melody the liquid forms when being poured into a cip. The scrape of lead across paper and the rigorous ticks of a keyboard… This is McKayla DeBonis.
At 20 she is a self-published author of two poetry books, Semicolon and Bones in the Garden. She helps her mother with photography projects and is a part-time employee at Dunkin Donuts. She loves all aspects of writing, reading and binge-watching TV series.
DeBonis said she started writing at a young age and enjoyed being able to escape reality to create her own world.
“The first thing I ever wrote was a short story of Laura Croft searching for a hidden world in the Amazon. When I was young, all my dad and I would rent on weekends would be Tomb Raider.”
She has been an author since 2017 and said one of the reasons she chose to self-publish is because things were completed on her time and schedule.
“My first book is titled, Bones in the Garden and it talks about my the time I went through an abusive relationship, the theme essentially talks about flowers in the garden, my past buried in the soil, along with my bones from my former self,” said DeBonis.
“My second is titled Semicolon; and it talks about darkness, the depression and anxiety that I’ve endured my whole life but the second part takes you through the light or the healing process of my mental illnesses. It’s mostly about the growth from one to the other.”
Writing is a form of healing for DeBonis and said she loves what she does. She is currently working on a futuristic fiction novel where the main character is trapped underground and is curious about what exists above.
“If I could give the writer next to me advice then I would say to write for yourself because you matter,” said DeBonis.
“Let your words heal yourself first, don’t write for the person next to you just because you think they will enjoy it better. That’s not the point of writing.”
You can find out more about McKayla’s poetry collections on Goodreads.
