She began her literary career in earnest in 1870, writing stories, sketches and poems for publication, which were widely copied.

She contributed to the Ladies' Repository, the Masonic Magazine, the Chicago Interior, the Advance, the Northwestern Christian Advocate, and other prominent periodicals.

Besides her work as a writer, she was a respected reader, often reading her poetical productions in public, mainly before college societies.

[2] Allen experienced a high degree of success with her first book of poems before writing volumes of missionary and temperance literature, and hundreds of verses upon various subjects at the request of friends.

[3] Lavilla Allen died November 11, 1903, and is buried at Oak Grove Cemetery in Hillsdale, Michigan.