Author Bio: Maggie McCombs

“So was I once myself a swinger of birches. And so I dream of going back to be.” — Robert Frost

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I read somewhere that the best way to find your career is to rediscover what you loved doing as a child. As a kid, I’d write letters and journal entries constantly. Some of my teachers, even as early as kindergarten, started to notice that I had a “gift.” In my early twenties, I graduated with degrees in linguistics, English and Spanish.

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The first published poem

The first article I ever submitted got published; it wasn’t perfect or polished, but it had something, and I knew it. Getting published was the answer I needed to keep going.

Years later at age 32, I found out I was neurodivergent and, as part of that, hyperlexic, and how that explained my talents for language. My thirties have proved an interesting time for me creatively because just this year, in April 2024, I got my first poem published by someone who discovered my work on Medium and decided to reach out.

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Who I am and what I’m doing

I like to joke that I’m both a professional and unprofessional writer. Professionally, I’ve worked for digital marketing agencies and big corporations alike, usually managing a team of writers or being one myself. Unprofessionally, I write poetry and essays for literary magazines on and off Medium.

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Currently, I’m working on my first book, a collection of my poetry. Though publishing a chapbook tempts me because it means I’m almost done with my writing — as I slow down and reflect, I realize I’m aiming for something longer, more complex.

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In this initial book, I’m reflecting on themes like how trauma affects the perception of time, as well as topics like neurodiversity, aging and mysticism. My work tends to focus on reconciling conflicting emotions, dealing with loss and the writing craft itself, though I’ve recently tried writing more politically inclined pieces.

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It took 10 years to reach overnight success

I’ve secured a spot for nearly 20 other poems in various publications in the last several months. After so many years (at least 10) of hiding my creative work for fear of rejection or criticism, 2024 was the year I decided to “go for it” and I’m so glad I did. It was nice to get a little push from an editor, too.

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This November, I found out through a X notification that I got a nomination for the 2025 Pushcart Prize. That felt like a culmination of everything I worked on this year. Ironically, I found this notification the day I almost deleted my X account, so I wouldn’t have known otherwise.

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The person behind the work

I live with my husband of seven years, Anthony, a cinematographer and director of photography, in the rolling hills of Lexington, Ky. We have three wonderful dogs, Winnie, Teddy and Koda, and a cat named Moxie.

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Our mutual hobbies include playing bar trivia and visiting faraway lands. Speaking of both, my favorite trivia question we ever got came a few weeks ago: “What two landlocked countries, in Africa and Europe, start with the same two letters and end with the same four letters?” (Comment below if you happen to know. We surprised ourselves!)

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Besides that, I enjoy playing Zelda and Animal Crossing, reading and learning about language, psychology and sociology.