Salutations! My name is Yoela Olson, aka Bravishka Skytano. I’m a twenty-something year-old female, Christian, college student, crochet designer, writer, poet, and reader. Most of my inspiration is God-given, and I give Him all the glory for my journey so far.

I began writing when I was thirteen years old. It was nothing fancy, just little things here and there. Then I began to try and write fiction like the many books I fell in love with. I wasn’t a bad writer, but I wasn’t very good either. I remember when I wrote my first poem, it was simple and cute. My cousin had shared with me some of her poetry and that’s when I discovered that not all poetry rhymed. She introduced me to free-form poetry and I decided to try it out the next day. In three days I had written two poems that I was very proud of and others praised me for. It was a great feeling and it gave me the confidence that I was creative and I could write when I was passionate about something. After that, I started trying to write fiction as well as poetry and it worked out quite nicely. There were hiccups and times where I felt like a total failure who couldn’t write one good book without abandoning the project out of frustration. I just hadn’t found my real passion yet and I was tired of trying to figure out how to portray characters’ lives on paper when I couldn’t even figure out my own. My mother told me I should start writing a diary and I couldn’t even do that. It was frustrating.

I started seriously writing when I was about eighteen. During this time, many things were going on in my life that I struggled with and I started using writing as a conduit for expressing my feelings in a clear, understandable way. Again, it started out as stories that expressed a certain part of me. Eventually, I started moving out of the fiction area and started trying other things, something more personal and relatable. In September 2020, I had reached a place where I felt forgotten and broken. I was tired of my life that I couldn’t control. I was tired of all the failures and the constant voices that wanted to remind me of them all the time. I was tired of not knowing who I was. I was tired of being… me. I was confused, hurt, and lonely. I started writing again, some poetry, some fiction. I didn’t write to achieve anything, I just wrote to get things out of my head. I received wonderful feedback on my writing, especially my poetry. I discovered that writing short pieces of literature was what I excelled at and I accepted it. I still tried to write full-length novels, but I didn’t beat myself up when one draft sat in a corner for weeks without attention. But, it was the small stories that I really enjoyed writing. There was something about writing a short poem around something I had struggled with that excited me. I felt called to write about my personal struggles and share them with others. I felt called to speak to the youth in my church and encourage them through my trials. I grew closer in my walk with God which, at the time, I felt was close to terrible. I felt Him speaking to me and encouraging me through His Word and my writing.

One day, the idea of writing devotionals leaped into my mind. I immediately grew excited about the idea and reached out to some friends about what they thought. I received much enthusiasm and encouragement. Many said that I was a great writer and that meant a lot to a girl with low self-esteem like me. I started jotting down ideas and writing my devotionals. Some just came up spontaneously, others are things I struggled with for a long time and didn’t know how to talk about. My writing became my diary. My devotionals became a personal encouragement to not only myself, but those around me. I found peace and wisdom in the arms of my Father as I started to look at His Word and encourage others. I began to find myself and believe that I was something more than just a sheltered young woman. I learned how to love me.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope you enjoy reading my blog as much as I enjoy writing in it.