I knew very early that I was going to be a writer. I was committed to it by sophomore year of high school. I never let go of that dream, and now you’re on my website! Let me tell you how I got here. 

After high school, I went to college and jumped into writing. I majored in English and Religious Studies, worked at the university’s newspaper, and was a writing tutor in the learning center. I deeply admired my professors and decided I wanted to be a professor. After college, I went to grad school and earned my master’s in English. The plan was to pursue a PhD, but the closer I got to the end of my master’s program, the more I desired to just be a writer. I was in school from 2006-2013, which were intense and fertile years for emerging media and literary approaches, and the allure of the academic profession faded. I never entered a doctoral program.

Once I was out of school, I wanted back in and regretted my decision. I still wanted to be a writer, but I no longer wanted to teach. I was no longer tethered to a job that I perceived as a stabilizing force while I became a writer, but I wasn't tethered to anything else either. Overnight, I was out of the ivory tower, where I had spent seven very beautiful, fun, and rewarding years. I lost the people whose lives I thought I wanted to emulate. I lost the environment where I felt most comfortable, confident, and curious. I lost my way. I fell into a depression, fell into a bottle, and alcohol took over my life. I walked in darkness for five years. 

In 2018, still clinging onto my dream of being a writer, after several attempts, I quit drinking. I clung to my writing dream harder than when I was a teenager, harder than when I was a student, and harder than when I was a drunk. It became my everything. It became action. I self-published my first two books in 2022, then my second in 2023. I sold them on the beach, in some stores, and one of them made it into the Michigan library system. However, it bothered me that the books were not linked to a publisher’s imprint, so I formed my own, VM Publications.  

When I formed VM Publications, I was trying to gain more legitimacy in the eyes of bookstores and libraries. I didn’t know that my own imprint would empower me to publish other people’s work, but it did. I don’t want to be a boss in a building with a high volume of new releases. I don’t want a team of people acquiring and editing under me. That sounds like a nightmare, not my dream. But when I have an idea that I can’t do alone, or when I cross paths with someone who mutually wants to collaborate, I have this imprint. I am able to develop and cultivate an environment of creative letters for myself and others. 

I dragged my dream through some shit, but I never let it go. It has evolved as I’ve grown, and I’m still at the beginning. Check me out on social media or sign up for the mailing list below to follow along!

Vincent Moyet