Meet Myah Hollis | Writer and Co-Founder of Pretty Thing

We had the good fortune of connecting with Myah Hollis and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Myah, have you ever found yourself in a spot where you had to decide whether to give up or keep going? How did you make the choice?
The truth is it’s hard to know for sure whether it’s time to give up on something that you’ve been working towards. There’s always the chance that if you persevere things could work out. Sometimes that’s the motivation that we need, but it can also be the reason that we hold onto things for longer than we should. The more time and resources that we invest in something, the harder it is to convince ourselves that the right thing to do is to walk away from it. For me, it comes down to understanding what I can live with. Would it be more harmful to my mental health to disinvest in that thing or to allow it to continue to occupy space in my life. How badly would it hurt me to let it go and would I be willing to live with that pain. I know that I cannot function properly in life unless I’m doing something that I’m passionate about, and I’m willing to risk the instability and uncertainty that comes with that type of mentality. It’s about weighing what you want against what’s best for you and prioritizing accordingly.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I started my first novel in high school. I had no idea what I was doing at the time, but I think that being naive about what it meant to be a writer helped me develop a love for it before I had to think of it as a career. I finished the novel in college and began to query agents without really having an understanding of the realities of the publishing industry. Traditional publishing can feel very lonely and demoralizing, and writers don’t always have the access to the information that they actually need to be successful. It’s a lot of trial and error and, hopefully, you find mentor figures along the way. I spent most of my twenties focused on screenwriting but in 2019 I picked up the novel again and began to revise it one last time. That revision got me into Pitch Wars, a highly competitive writing program, and now the manuscript is being considered by some incredible agents for representation.

I think the biggest takeaway from my experience so far is to tell the stories that I want to tell and know that the right people will find them. I have to love what I’m writing or I won’t have the determination to advocate for it the way you have to in order to be successful. You get so many notes and so much feedback about what you should create as an artist, and you can be very successful by following that advice, but it doesn’t mean anything to me unless it feels real. I want people to read what I write and understand that, regardless of what they get from it, I wrote it exactly that way, on purpose, for them.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Honestly, my best friends and I are very lowkey. When they visit LA, we end up in my apartment binging a show, eating sushi and drinking margaritas. When we do go out, we either go to the beach (Point Dume in Malibu is my favorite) or take a trip to Ojai, San Diego, or Joshua Tree. Ninety percent of the time, if I can’t be by a body of water, I’d rather just be at home.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My business partner Sarah Hawkins has seen me through every professional achievement and failure over the past seven years. We’ve produced a digital series together and started a business that has inspired thousands of women by being transparent about our wins and the ways that we’ve struggled along the way. She lets me talk in circles about new book ideas I’m developing or a new script concept that I want to write. She’s always pushing me to do the things that I think I’m not capable of and talking me off of ledges when my anxiety makes me spiral out. We’ve kept each other sane, for the most part, and I couldn’t have done any of this without her.

Website: www.prettythingla.com

Instagram: @myahhollis

Twitter: @myahhollis

Youtube: www.youtube.com/myahhollis

Image Credits
Miriam Bribiesca, Caroline J. Phillips