My name is Ayla, but you can call me “Ay.” I grew up in the middle of rural Illinois, surrounded by cats, cornfields, and bright blue skies, raised on science fiction paperbacks, History Channel documentaries, and family ghost stories around the fire. Naturally, my imagination is all over the place.

Here you’ll find an outlet for my windy and wild imagination: writing. I’ve waxed poetic since 6th grade, but didn’t complete NaNoWriMo until 2012. You’ll find me jumping into Twitter micropoetry challenges and #vss (very short stories), writing a poem-a-day in April, or pondering life, the universe, and everything by verse or conversation. My greatest joy is connection, and words are my favorite medium.

I hope you find something here that resonates with you.