Melissa, Oh!

Category: Prose

  • Seeing your byline not always a good thing

    Amy suggested we write about the first time we got published, a topic which should have been easy for me but instead I started getting muddled in the details: First time I got what published? – A book? Dictated from me to Mom, who wrote it down on construction paper and tied it together with string, 1983.…

  • Life, going down the right tube

    This is by no means meant to be a synopsis of my year – in fact, I’m leaving out some of the biggest stuff on purpose. Just a few random tidbits about time and how we choose to pass it. Thoughts on 2008: – In February I decided to chop my hair off and go…

  • Why exes can’t be friends

    You may have noticed the links to poetryassignment.com at the bottom of many of my poems lately. If you haven’t checked out the site yet, you really should! Still in the beginning stages but we have so many great poets on there already. Not a great poet? It’s ok – come anyway! It’s amazing what…

  • #nanowrimo book editing time

    Just wanted to give a status update on my book. My book!! (I cheer a little inside every time I say that.) For those who haven’t been listening to me chat incessantly for the past month or so, I’ll recap: I wrote a book last month. Yep, a book. Yep, in a month. I participated in…

  • I have a voice in my head.

    So I decided to celebrate my National Novel Writing Month win with a nap. And that’s when I realized … my life now has a voiceover. In my head. Me, giving a running commentary of what I’m doing. As in: She pondered how to spend the rest of the afternoon. Should she go running early?…

  • I am a novelist.

                        I wrote a book! I did it. I won! 50,000 words in 30 days? Piece of cake. Walk in the park. Easy as pie. (I say that now that it’s over …) Forgive me, for I may not write much more today … For some…

  • #nanowrimo excerpt: On hickeys

    Another phone call from Kylie of course meant another moment of drama. “How do you get rid of a hickey?” she asked. “Who gave you a hickey?” Erykah asked back. “Um, it doesn’t matter. I just need to know how to get rid of it.” “Kylie, that is sooo trashy. Why would you let someone…

  • #nanowrimo excerpt: Diamonds, Lies, and Alibis

    She couldn’t let him break her heart, not again, she decided in an instant. “Hey Ryan, thanks for coming over,” she said. “It really means a lot to me that you came to check on me. I think I need to be alone now, though.” She held her breath, praying for him to insist he…

  • #nanowrimo: The sex scene you asked for

    Of course I can’t give you the entire scene! And I almost didn’t even give you this, lest it give away part of the plot. So it’s short and it’s merely the foreplay, but foreplay is better than nothing, right?   Austin adjusted the thermostat and then grabbed two cheap beers from the fridge. He…

  • Strip-poker summer

    In honor of Nanowrimo, (or perhaps to keep myself from cheating and using old material) I am publishing some short stories I wrote in college. Let me repeat: I wrote in college. Apologies in advance. I still remember the first time I ever pondered the concept of a one night stand.  April called to tell…