We were lucky to catch up with Maya Golden Bethany recently and have shared our conversation below.
Maya, thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?
I read somewhere long ago that if you do one thing to provide you with a creative outlet for 20 minutes every day, then it can help with depression and anxiety. At the time, I thought it was just an interesting concept. But as I have grown older, I look back on my career and the times I have felt the most downtrodden, the most stressful periods, or the periods that lacked any vitality in my life, were when I did not provide myself with an outlet for my imagination to flourish and my creativity to give me a healthy escape. As a writer and journalist, I am constantly looking for new approaches to storytelling or new angles for a story. This keeps me excited about the work I am doing. I also try to write stories that provide hope and healing. It is not a therapy session bleeding onto the page, but a way for me to process my own feelings and help someone else feel less alone. Whether that’s through memoir, personal essay or an interview with an expert on a particular topic, I always want to connect with readers in a way that keeps the pages turning, authentically and fearlessly.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
Maya Golden Bethany (who also writes and reports under the pen name Maya Golden) is an award-winning television and print journalist, novelist and speaker.
Maya earned her degree from Texas A&M University and during her early journalism career covered sports for the university newspaper “The Battalion.” Maya began her television career as a production assistant at WFAA in Dallas and also served as an editor, newscast writer, and field producer.
She worked as a general assignment reporter for KLTV in Tyler, Texas before becoming the first female weekend sports anchor/sports reporter in the station’s history. Maya further made history as the first female sports director in East Texas television history, serving as the main sports anchor during the evening newscasts. She is the winner of several Texas Associated Press Broadcasters Awards as well as a two-time Lone Star Emmy nominee and the winner of the Excellence in My Market Award from the Lone Star Emmy Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
Maya currently is a freelance journalist and is a frequent contributor for Bally Sports and a sideline reporter for Legacy Sports Network. She has been featured on Fox Sports College as well as ESPN 2 & 3.’
Her memoir, “The Return Trip,” was released in November 2023 from Rising Action Publishing Co. Her first novel, a political thriller, “The Senator,” will release in April 2025, also through Rising Action Publishing Co. For “Newsweek,” she has written about women in sports journalism. For “Salon,” she’s written about fandoms and healing, for “Insider,” she’s written about addiction, and for “Black Girl Nerds,” she’s written about Complex PTSD, dissociative disorders, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Maya recently received the Parent Writer Fellowship from the Martha’s Vineyard Institute for Creative Writing.
Maya is the founder and executive director of the 1 in 3 Foundation, a nonprofit organization that helps adult women recover from PTSD, addiction and the lingering mental effects of sexual abuse or sexual assault. Maya is a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and an advocate for mental health awareness, support and recovery. She shares her story and message of hope publicly to inspire, educate and empower those living with shame and the stigmatizing silence.
Maya is a member of the Writers’ League of Texas and is a frequent attendee of events hosted by Writing Workshops.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Finding trustworthy and supportive mentors and instructors, as well as continuing education, is vital early in your career journey, no matter what profession you are in. When I first decided to make the leap from journalist to author, I did not even know what a query letter (pitch for representation or publication) was or its purpose. It was through workshops, writing mentors, and talking with other literary professionals, that I began to cultivate a deeper understanding of the process and what was needed on my path to publication. That would not have been possible without the guidance of experienced authors and literary professionals who were there to answer questions and give me tips for best practices.
I would also encourage the process of “doing the work.” That may sound simple, but for aspiring and emerging writers, it is a discipline that takes a dedication to improvement. Each time you sit down to write, it is an exercise in not only reaching a goal or finishing a writing project, but it is a chance to get better. If you were going to run a marathon, you would have to train. You couldn’t leave your home and decide to run 26 miles effectively without having conditioned your body for such a grueling task. Writing is the same type of exercise for your brain. You are training each time you sit down and write. What I wrote when I was a teenager may not have been much, but after years of letting the creativity out onto the page, it began to become something I could feel proud of as an adult.
The third skill I think is crucial in developing a skill set as a writer is reading other writers. It is not for the sake of mimicking their work, but knowing what styles you like. How does someone treat prose and what about their work touches your heart? What type of writer do you want to be? If poetry inspires you, who are your favorites and what works move you? Reading to become a better writer, or reading a trade book to become a better worker, or a leadership book to become a better department or company head will always have benefits in the long run of helping you see beyond your own point of view. When we don’t expose ourselves to the works and teachings of others, we can stop progressing because of our own individual blind spots. Commit to reading, continuing to learn and lean on those with experience for guidance, and practice your skill set as often as you can to improve it.
What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?
I finally surrendered and learned to ask for help. It wasn’t waving a white flag, or validating that nagging intrusive thought that I am not enough. It was a way to delegate when life’s responsibilities can be overwhelming. I wear many hats. In addition to being an author and a nonprofit leader, I am a wife and a mother to a special needs child. Trying to juggle any of those responsibilities on any given day can, admittedly, be stressful. They are all spinning plates and I had the habit through perfectionistic drive to never want to let a single plate fall. It’s okay to ask for help. If I don’t have the mental capacity or the physical bandwidth to meet a pressing matter on the long “to do” list that day, I have learned to reach out and ask for help or even more time. I have been pleasantly surprised that when I am authentic with colleagues or clients about my capabilities at the time, I am met with empathy and understanding. I have had to deprogram myself from the belief that I can balance and keep all the plates going. Some days, my son needs more care and attention. Other days, I am on a deadline and trying to devote my hours to making the most of my creativity for the benefit of readers. Asking for help is self-care and I have learned to give myself permission to ask for help as well as permission for self-care.
Contact Info:
- Website: Goodasgolden.com
- Instagram: @goodasgolden
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/MGBWritesv
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mayagoldenbethany/
- Twitter: @Maya_Golden
- Other: @mayagolden.bsky.social
Image Credits
Callynth Photography Jamie Maldonado Photography Justin Elledge at Max Photography KETK News Logen Cure
