Welcome back to Scare Me! a weekly horror newsletter. Today, we’re speaking with my friend Maya Rector, creator of The Weird Girl Edit newsletter and my collaborator on a brand-new creative venture.

There’s always something slightly tragic about making friends at work.

One day, you’re trading banter over Slack, fingers flying over the keyboard. Then, suddenly, someone gets a new job, and the rhythm breaks. The person you spoke to daily, sometimes for years, is somewhere you’re not. That’s usually where it ends.

But once in a while, a work friendship will transcend the odds. That’s what happened for me and Maya Rector, who you may know from her brilliant newsletter The Weird Girl Edit or her TikTok vlogs about writing her debut novel. It’s been years since we shared (virtual) office space, but we’ve never lost touch. From battling tech bro misogyny to trading gory book recommendations, we’ve had an ongoing dialogue in which the best stories seem to start the same way: “This might sound strange, but…”

At the end of last year, we started kicking around the idea of making something together—and that refrain suddenly took on new life.

This Might Sound Strange is a horror fiction podcast where tarot cards direct the conversation. In each episode, we’ll interview a guest from the world of horror fiction and allow tarot cards to guide us into their work’s deeper themes. We’ll also dabble in the occasional horror movie discussion and occult history detour!

Our first big investment was some truly stunning custom artwork by Chris Panatier:

We’ve got some very cool guests lined up for April and May recording sessions, and we’re aiming to launch the podcast later this summer. If you want to be the first to hear our latest updates, you can follow us on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube—or subscribe to our newsletter.

In the meantime, please enjoy getting to know Maya in today’s interview!

Thanks for reading Scare Me! Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up to receive a new edition every Thursday.

We met in the corporate trenches, and let’s just say weird recognizes weird. But it’s risky to put yourself out there, especially at work and especially when the dominant culture is decidedly not weird. What made you decide to take the risk with me?

I’m not sure if I’ve admitted this before, but I remember you mentioned loving horror and zines on a company intro call. I immediately was like, I have to get to know her. I was too shy to reach out right away, but as fate would have it, we ended up being on the same team later on. For whatever reason, I decided it would be a good idea to recommend Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh to you. Anyone who’s read that book would probably think it’s nuts to recommend to a coworker, but in some ways, it felt like the perfect barometer for our friendship. 

Even when we no longer worked together in the corporate world, I always looked forward to our catch up calls and yap sessions, and was so relieved that we actually stayed in touch (which can be rare for corporate friendships in my experience). We have a ton of overlapping niche interests, and have spent countless hours talking about horror, media, and all things weird over the years. When you approached me about the podcast, I immediately saw the vision.

We did The Artist’s Way together last year, and I swear it changed something for both of us. A year later, is there anything that’s stuck with you from that process? Would you recommend the book?

Yes! It’s wild to think about how much has changed since last year. I’ll be so real, I was super hesitant about the book at first. I’ve always been a bit wary of self help books, and I wasn’t sure if it was a gimmick or not. Having gone through the process, I would recommend it and remind people to keep an open mind. 

One of the biggest takeaways for me was the section on creative monsters. It can be really easy to get in our own heads about our creative aspirations, but oftentimes, once you peel back the layers of the metaphorical onion, it’s really the voices of others that we’ve internalized along the way. Maybe it was a disparaging comment made by a parent or a teacher growing up, or something a middle school bully said. Regardless, I think the book really helps with unlearning those negative perceptions, which helps tap back into a form of raw creativity without all of the noise.

The concept of creative synchronicities also really stuck with me. I think any creative person can attest to the “coincidences” that sometimes occur while working on creative projects. It can be easy to write them off as confirmation bias or magical thinking… but life is so much more fun seeing them as synchronicities. There’s something romantic and affirming about it. Whatever works, right? 

Tell me a little more about your creative journey this past year. You’ve been writing fiction, publishing a weekly newsletter, and also posting fun videos and vlogs along the way. Do you have a favorite medium you’re currently working in?

It’s definitely been a journey! I don’t know if I necessarily have a favorite medium. My honest answer is that my favorite project to work on tends to be whichever one I’ve reached a flow state in most recently. There’s really no better feeling than being totally in sync with a project, and having the words or ideas materialize in just the right way. That being said, each medium has its benefits, and each one terrifies me since it involves being perceived in one way or another. 

I started publishing my newsletter (inspired by yours) before writing my book, which helped catapult me back into my personal writing after putting it off for years prior. It’s also been a fun way to document my novel updates and all the weird things I’m loving each week, ranging from books to media. Writing fiction has been the most personally fulfilling, and I’ve injected a lot of myself and my own lived experiences into my novel. It’s also the most isolating to work on since I haven’t shared it with anyone yet.

Prior to December of last year, I hadn’t posted online since 2020, so putting myself out there and posting videos was a big adjustment. I initially had a tendency to overthink results and metrics, which I blame my marketing career for. I eventually realized that it’s not that deep. Despite all of the issues with the social media machine, it’s been a great way to forge community, and approaching it through that lens has made a massive difference for me. I’ve been amazed at how kind the horror and bookish community has been, and have met some truly wonderful people. 

In the past few months, you’ve been consistently posting updates about your Novelist in 90 challenge. Could you tell us a little about what the challenge is designed to do, and what you’ve learned so far?

I always said it was my life goal to write a novel, but I kept making excuses. After our Artist’s Way journey, the seeds of a novel idea started to germinate. That combined with a stress-related health scare late last year prompted me to quit my corporate job and just go for it. It wasn’t the most logical decision—and I was fortunate to be in a position to do so—but it was the decision that made sense for me. Plus, there’s a lot going on in the world right now. I thought, if the world ends and I still haven’t written my novel, I’d be pretty pissed off. 

The Novelist in 90 challenge was designed to keep me accountable and get the first word vomit draft out of the way. I knew if I didn’t have some form of accountability or a deadline, it might not actually happen. What better way to stay accountable than posting it on the internet for everyone to see? I don’t have a large following, but I’ve been amazed that some people actually care enough to keep up. The support has meant a lot to me, and if the challenge inspires even one person to get back into writing or creating again, I couldn’t be happier with the outcome.

The key things I’ve learned are that consistency is key, perfectionism is the enemy, and to have fun with it. Don’t get me wrong, writing can be challenging, and some days are harder than others. But if I’m not having fun with it, what’s the point? 

Is there anything you’re able to share about your novel at this stage?

I’m sure some things will change in future drafts, but I’ll say this: It involves girls, ghosts, and glamour, set against the backdrop of LA. There’s a lot of Old Hollywood references, as well as references to mythology and witchcraft. The story is an unapologetically queer social commentary, and involves a fair bit of drama via a queer love triangle. Genre-wise, I’d say it’s horror meets thriller, told through a weird girl POV and a dark sense of humor.

Perhaps selfishly, the protagonist navigates several liminal identities as both a bisexual and bicultural woman. This was really important to me, since I’ve always wished I could read more stories that I could relate to. I figured ghosts and remnants of Old Hollywood could act as catalysts to weave these ideas together. Ghosts are seen as these liminal beings between the living and the dead, and there’s something uncanny about watching Old Hollywood films and realizing that the actors you’re seeing on screen are all dead…yet their work still lives on. 

I wanted to play with these ideas and the concept of invisibility in a way that feels true to lived experience, while offering an alternative to the belief that a person needs to “pick a side” when it comes to who they are. My hope is that anyone who has ever felt invisible or misunderstood can see parts of themselves in this book and realize they weren’t invisible after all. 

You’ve had so many paranormal experiences and self-identify as a witch. Did these experiences begin early in life, and did you only later discover the labels and language to describe them? Or did you notice an uptick in supernatural experiences as you delved more deeply into your studies?

My first paranormal experience occurred when I was around five years old. Little me told my mom about it, and she said that several generations of women in her family had a “gift,” with some of them being curanderas (folk healers) way back when. The interplay of witchiness and my Catholic upbringing was always really interesting to me. I remember learning about these women in my family and their traditions around the same time I learned to feel guilty for practically everything in my catechism classes. It never really computed to me, because one felt natural and empowering, and the other was an uncomfortable formality that made me feel like a sinful caged animal. 

There was a lot of unpacking I had to do, and I’ve definitely gone through phases with it. Once I was a teenager, my interest in the occult was reignited and I started to do more of my own research. I was also hanging out in cemeteries and buying creepy objects at the thrift store without giving any of it a second thought, so I had a tendency to learn lessons the hard way. It taught me a lot though, and I’ve since learned to be much more discerning and grounded within my spiritual practice. 

I did experience an uptick in supernatural experiences as I delved deeper into my studies, but I think this partially had to do with honing in on my understanding of magick. Whether you want to call it spirit, the universe, or energy, I’ve found that it often operates in subtle ways that you may otherwise miss if you’re not paying attention. As much as I love movies like The Craft, real-life witchcraft is a lot less cinematic in my experience…and that’s probably for the best. 

We’re launching our first collaboration very soon! What would you like horror fans and weirdos to know about our forthcoming podcast? What are you hoping we’ll create through it?

I’m so excited! I’d like horror fans and weirdos to know that it’s a space that’s safe for them. I know safety and horror might sound contradictory together, but I’ve found that horror and all things weird can be a healthy outlet to contend with the very real horrors so many of us and our communities are currently facing. I hope we can create a sense of camaraderie, fun, and belonging. I’d love it if listeners left each episode feeling like they just finished catching up with those weird friends of theirs who just seem to get it.

If you’ve been following me on Instagram, you’ve probably seen me relentlessly celebrating my love for Annie Neugebauer’s writing. Last week, Annie was kind enough to hop on an early morning video call to chat about her most recent releases, You Have to Let Them Bleed and The Extra, as well as what’s ahead.

I’m currently reading Annie’s next novella in the Outsiders Sequence, The Other (out 6/9 from Shortwave!), and it’s even more tense and unnerving than The Extra.

P.S. I reviewed These Familiar Walls by C. J. Dotson last week over on Macabre Daily!

Scare Me! is a free weekly horror newsletter published every Thursday morning. It’s written by Michelle Delgado, featuring original illustrations by Sam Pugh. You can find the archive of past issues here. If you were sent this by a friend, subscribe to receive more spooky interviews, essays—and maybe even a ghost story or two.