Recently, I reviewed Cameron Mouton’s poetry and prose book “Mixed,” and quickly fell in love with her powerful writing style.

Thankfully, I got the chance to talk to Mouton about questions that I had lingering in the back of my head since finishing “Mixed.”

I think it is interesting what makes someone go forth in writing and publishing such personal content, to which she replies, “Ever since I was little I’ve always wanted to be a writer of some kind so I could share my stories and ideas with the world.” She continues, “As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized there are too many taboo stories that aren’t shared with people my age or with people of color in general, so I wanted to break the stigma around these taboos.”

Only being a couple years younger than Mouton, I can see that as a society we have slowly been opening up and being comfortable with ourselves, but I definitely understand that topics about self harm and sexual assault were not talked about at all.

She then talked about how she looks at writing “like shadow work which is a practice within spirituality, and oftentimes therapy that forces you to become better acquainted with the parts of yourself that you don’t necessarily want to think about.” Not knowing about the term shadow work until that moment, I asked if it helped Mouton overcome past incidents, to which she replied, “Yes! I think its made me really think about my past, and how its helped shape me into who I am now rather than trying to pretend like it never happened.”

Personally, one of the most effective ways for me to cope with certain situations is to write it all out on a piece of paper and throw it away. Shadow work can be very beneficial to those who might have complex feelings about a certain incident.

Since this is such a personal book, I wondered if other people touching Mouton’s work affected her in any way. She goes onto say, “the people who helped me edit kind of knew about some of the topics I wrote about beforehand, so I wasn’t too phased by it.” She adds on, “it also helped that I had to keep reminding myself that everything I wrote about it based off of my truth, so it wasn’t as if anyone could really say anything like, ‘this sounds too unrealistic’ or anything of that nature.”

Though there is still an emotional attachment, Mouton reiterates that she felt confident that her story is still real and authentic.

Since there are 102 poems in “Mixed” I asked what is her favorite poem, Mouton answers, “my favorites are always changing, but at the moment I think ‘Not All Men’ is very relevant to what’s being publicized in the media right now regarding womens’ safety. A lot of men don’t realize when people generalize mens’ actions, they aren’t talking about ALL men.”

Lastly, some advice Mouton would give to her audience or aspiring writers would be, “to not be afraid of telling your truth because at the end of the day, it’s exactly that. it’s not easy putting yourself out there, but once you do, it can be surprising to see how many people have been through similar experiences. It can definitely make you feel less alone. I think the best thing to remind yourself is that you can do anything you set your mind to!”

Mouton has always been someone who can give me words of encouragement. I think her writing can uplift people too, but also show the not-so-glamorous side of life.

You can follow Cameron on Instagram at @wheatbreadcam and purchase her book “Mixed” on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Powell’s Books, The Last Bookstore, and Indie Bound!