Marcia Argueta Mickelson is the author of the new young adult novel The Writing Room. Her other books include The Weight of Everything. She lives in Texas.
Q: What inspired you to write The Writing Room, and how did you create your character Maya?
A: The Writing Room was inspired by so many things. I originally started writing it over 15 years ago. At the time, I was telling a different story. I knew I wanted to tell the story of a young woman from a wealthy upbringing who wasn’t going to be mired down by opulence and a wealth-oriented lifestyle. She wants to forge her own path, and this becomes a major rift between her father and her.
The main character of Maya, herself, went through so many changes. She began as a 24-year-old named Claire. Initially, the rift between Claire and her father was due to a religious conversion on her part. The book didn’t feel right as I didn’t feel like I had created the right character and wasn’t telling the right story. I set the book aside for many years.
As the years went on, I was inspired by many things that were happening in our country. One of those things was living in Texas with a governor who is married to the granddaughter of Mexican immigrants.
I was surprised that someone who is married to the granddaughter of immigrants can speak in such a disdainful manner about immigrants. He demonizes immigrants, and I had such a hard time understanding how he can do this when his wife is Mexican and a granddaughter of immigrants.
I wanted to explore this idea more, so Claire became Maya, the daughter of a Guatemalan immigrant. Maya also became a teenager since, currently, I only write young adult fiction.
And Maya’s father, Mr. Mitchell, became modeled after the governor in my state of Texas. He was married to an immigrant, has children who are half-Guatemalan, yet he demonizes the immigrant community.
I used what was going on around me in the country over the past few years to help drive the story in The Writing Room. I finally felt like it was the story I needed to tell, and Maya was the character I needed to tell this story.
Q: What does the Writing Room signify for Maya, and why did you decide to make that the book’s title?
A: For Maya, the writing room is a place where she can go to get away from all of the noises—both literal and figurative—that are affecting her peace. She’s been kicked out of her father’s home where she’s lived her whole life. She’s unable to focus on her writing in the tiny studio apartment she’s sharing with her friends.
The writing room is a new place for her, free of all the baggage of her former life—where she lived in her father’s Upper East Side home of luxury. Now that luxury is no longer part of her life, she’s free to carve a path of her own, and part of that starts in the writing room.
I decided to make that the title of the book because Maya’s life revolves around the written word. Writing is what she wants to pursue. It’s currently how she makes money through freelance work, and she hopes it is her future as she gets ready to study journalism. She is also a lover of books and works in a library.
For Maya, all roads lead to the written word, and I wanted that significance to be part of the title of the book.
Q: The writer Jessica Parra said of the book, “Mickelson masterfully weaves trauma and tribulations with hope and healing, affirming the necessity of making space for yourself alongside and within your community.” What do you think of that description?
A: I love this quote from Jessica. I think she means that Maya experiences tribulations and feelings of trauma from familial interactions. These are laced throughout the book and heighten Maya’s sense of fear, dread, and helplessness.
However, at the same time, there are lines of hope that open up for Maya as the book progresses. She meets new friends along the way who offer her a sense of hope, and she deepens relationships with her siblings.
Q: What do you hope readers take away from the book?
A: It is my hope that this book might help readers find their voice. For a long time, Maya wasn’t sure what her voice was. It was mired in the thoughts and intellectual constructs of her dad. She had certain ideas of what books were important, what kind of education was best, and how people should live their lives.
As she learns more about the world outside of her sheltered upbringing and meets people whose circumstances are so different from her own, she gains a better understanding of her own life. She finds freedom from ideas that were never her own and creates a voice for her new way of thinking.
I think that we can all allow ourselves to learn from those around us whose experiences are different than our own and find our own voice for our own way of thinking.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I am working on a picture book called Double Enchiladas. It should be out in 2027. I am also working on my next young adult novel, which takes place in Austin, Texas.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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