Into the unknown…

I find myself in new territory today. I recently decided to retire my pen name and online persona to move forward creatively using my real name. This wasn’t an easy decision. I spent the last 6+ years cultivating Twisted Libra. She was part of me, but she also embodied facets of life that I never really pursued. She was unapologetically goth, reveled in the paranormal, and lived in her own cemetery. I was never afraid to publish her work, because if it failed it reflected on Twisted Libra, not Kelly Michelle. In that same regard, if the world didn’t like her, they could still like me. She was a safety net of sorts. She existed because I was afraid to. Twisted Libra was my armor. My shield. My mask in a world that so often loves to judge harshly. I am grateful for all she has given me, but it’s finally time to see both sides of the situation.

By writing as Twisted Libra, I unintentionally pigeonholed myself into a rather niche genre. Don’t misunderstand; Tales from the Twisted Libra Cemetery and Lollipop Daggers were meant to be dark. They were intentionally goth and macabre. However, all my poems and content began to take on that dark, gothic tone. While I enjoy that, it isn’t all I have. I began to feel like a fraud if I wrote anything other than dark horror or macabre imagery. That’s quite limiting. I felt like I had to be her, like I had to remain forever in the proverbial cemetery. As much as I enjoy dark, spooky things, and as much as I adore ladies like Morticia and Elvira…for the sake of total transparency I must admit that that’s just not me. Not entirely.

So, who is Kelly Michelle? I guess we will all find out together. Okay, sorry. Just kidding. Well, kind of. I mean, I know who I feel like, but I sort of lost sight of that these last few years and I need to dig into that. This involves a lot of looking back at where I’ve been and ahead to where I intend to go. Such is life, I suppose. I need to remember where I came from and why I gravitated towards writing in the first place. In the meantime, I hope I can offer you all some interesting blog posts and Substack articles to enjoy. You might see things from me you never expected. You might know me well enough to say, “It’s about time!” Either way, I hope you will stick with me on this wild journey. Maybe I can finally figure out Kelly Michelle once and for all.

Thank you all for putting up with my weird ass. Until next time…