Contact

macymcbethryan@gmail.com

About

I’m a Texconsinite. I was born and raised in Texas. At 36 and six months pregnant with my second son, I moved to Janesville, Wisconsin to live in a 150-year-old historic Italianate home with my son and husband, who was born and raised here. In 2019, we had a third son, and are surrounded by our children’s love and chaos (Boy Mom Alert!). I also dedicate my time to arts, education, and environmental non-profits and to growing Janesville’s downtown. I’m currently writing my first novel, Midwestern, to submit to agents in Spring 2022.

I fell in love with books as a child, when reading was the most precious quality time I spent with my mother, grandmother, and brother. I exasperated the local library by always trying to check out too many books at one time, and exasperated my mother by spending too much money on every Scholastic book order. It was with THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA by C.S. Lewis that reading became not just entertainment and a way to spend time with people, but also a meditation and an essential philosophical guide to life. As a teenager, I discovered THE VAMPIRE CHRONICLES by Anne Rice and deeply fell in love with fiction, and also discovered a divergent pathway of seeing and being that was different from what I experienced in conventional high school life: a new dimension where my eclectic creative self could flourish. My love of exploring other perspectives and alternate realities is what led me to major in English at Rice University, where I graduated Cum Laude in 2001. My favorite authors are Brené Brown, Glennon Doyle, Elizabeth Gilbert, Celeste Ng, J. Courtney Sullivan, Ann Patchett, Ann Napolitano, and Fatima Farheen Mirza.

My love of reading naturally led to writing, and my love of storytelling led to filmmaking—though my love for film began at the age of three, when I sat captivated and utterly enthralled while watching THE WIZARD OF OZ. Going to the movies and watching them at home was cherished quality time spent with my father, most especially for our annual Christmas tradition of watching IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE, my favorite film of all time. My favorite directors are Richard Linklater, Guillermo del Toro, Mira Nair, Darren Aronofsky, Paul Thomas Anderson, Steve McQueen, and Tim Burton. In my early twenties, I associate produced a friend’s short film, “Gay By Dawn,” which appeared in over 80 international film festivals, and my heart was hooked on film production. I threw my first event as a fundraiser for “Gay By Dawn,” which began my career in event production, work that now enriches my contributions to fundraising for various charities and non-profits.

Events, films, and books are intertwined in the beauty and the effervescence of their experience. I love a good party. I love bringing people together to experience joy, and I believe that those shared communal moments are elementally nurturing parts of life. An engaging novel is a gift, and I cherish a great film; these mediums teach us about ourselves, others, and our world. You receive the nourishment these creative experiences give you—the sense of expression, unity, identity, and understanding—and you’re forever enhanced and enlightened for them.