Growing up, Neumann University senior Nykaria Mitchell always loved writing. She started writing as a hobby when she was as young as nine and continued to sharpen her skill through fanfiction for her favorite boy group.
“There was this boy group when I was a kid called Mindless Behavior, so I would say I started out writing fanfiction for them and then, when I got a little bit older, it turned into regular short stories,” Mitchell commented.
Although she has always been into fiction, it wasn’t until she got to Neumann that she turned to poetry. The enjoyment (for poetry) came in professor Kain’s class in spring semester of 2022. That was the only class I really, really liked.” And after being introduced to the art of poetry through school it soon became something that was always on her mind.
“I started out just doing the assignments at first and then in my free time I would start writing random poems and I really liked it. I always thought poetry was interesting, but too hard. So, I doubted myself in a lot of ways, but then I was like ‘you know what, let’s try this again’ and now I actually love it.”
Mitchell has won a category in the annual Delta Pi writing contest every year since she arrived at Neumann whether that be for her poetry or fiction pieces. So, when she enrolled in the Communications Art Seminar for her fall 2022 semester, it came to no surprise that she took on self-publishing her poems as her project for the class.
Self-publishing a book is no easy task Mitchell admits, “It was very time consuming, trying to go to work, trying to have time for myself, too, especially being a college student. I did everything myself, I designed the cover, wrote it. It was very stress inducing.” Some of Amazon’s guidelines seemed to prove an obstacle, too. “I had to take the cover and change it about 27 times before Amazon let my upload it because with Amazon you have to use certain margins.”
Despite these hardships, Mitchell put extreme care into her work. Her book, entitled "Unlocking the Unknown,” is comprised of forty meticulously chosen poems and divided into two categories: Mind and Romance. “I already knew I wanted at least some of my poems to be romantic. I knew that from the beginning and then, after writing certain poems in professor Kain’s class, I decided to add the mind section,” Mitchell said, describing her thought process while compiling the poems.
Furthermore, Mitchell’s poems represent a piece of herself “I really wanted to implement parts of my life. I wanted it to be relatable, which is why I dedicated it to the hopeless romantics and overthinkers of the world.”
She wrote the majority of the poems in this book when she was going through a hard time herself, and she wants people to find comfort in it in times of need. “I wanted somebody who might be going through some stuff be able to flip through my book and relate to whatever poem they choose to relate to.”
Mitchell shared her personal favorites from her collection. From the Mind section, her favorite is Waiting, and from the Romance section Honeydew, which she wrote after feeling inspiration from a romance movie.
Currently Mitchell is working on writing and editing two novels, one being a murder mystery, and the other a fantasy romance. “Unlocking the Unknown” can be purchased on Amazon under the name N.K. Mitchell.
Marcella Maughan
