Episode Details

🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast, where love stories can begin in the most unexpected places, fate sometimes needs a little luck, and the right person can change everything.

This week, host Sara Santillan sits down with author and poet Michael Tavon to discuss his contemporary romance, I Want to Be Where You Are, a raw, poetic, emotionally honest love story inspired by how he met his wife.

Michael shares his journey from poetry to romance, including the life experiences that pushed him toward writing, the creative writing class that helped him build confidence, and the moment he walked out of an anatomy class to pursue writing more seriously. He opens up about being a Black male romance author in a genre often dominated by women, the challenges of being overlooked, and why he hopes readers focus on the heart of the story rather than assumptions about who is telling it.

The conversation also dives into I Want to Be Where You Are, a romance about two writers connecting long-distance while their separate lives are falling apart. Based largely on Michael’s real-life relationship with his wife, the book follows two people learning how to heal, grow, and rebuild themselves before finally choosing love together.

💫 What happens when two people meet at exactly the right wrong time?
❤️ Can love be both fate and luck?
✈️ And what does it take to leave behind everything familiar for the person who feels like home?

Whether you love contemporary romance, poetic writing, real-life love stories, long-distance relationships, emotionally grounded happily ever afters, or stories about healing before love, this episode is heartfelt, honest, and deeply romantic.

🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT:
✨ Michael’s journey from poet to romance author.
✨ How writing became an outlet during heartbreak, grief, and major life changes.
✨ The creative writing class that helped Michael see himself as a writer.
✨ Dropping out of college to pursue writing and the courage that choice required.
✨ Being a Black male author writing romance and poetry.
✨ The stigma around men writing romance and why sensitivity matters on the page.
✨ Moving from poetry into contemporary romance.
✨ Why Michael wants to write across romance, sports romance, and romantasy.
✨ The music, dancing, and pop culture that fuel his creative process.
✨ I Want to Be Where You Are and the real-life love story behind it.
✨ The vulnerability of writing real people and real experiences into fiction.
✨ Long-distance connection, healing, messy personal lives, and emotional timing.
✨ Interracial love, family questions, cultural assumptions, and finding connection beyond difference.
✨ Michael’s upcoming romance projects, including sports romance, forbidden love, and a dream-inspired story about healing after loss.

🎶 Plus: 90s pop music, R&B, dancing as a creative ritual, celebrity trial rabbit holes, Nicholas Sparks vibes, poetry forms, This Is Us theme songs, and the pickup line Michael did not have prepared.

CONNECT WITH US

🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic
👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill
📚 Michael Tavon – @AuthorMichaelTavon

✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.