1. Can you please introduce yourself and tell us something about your book "And Then I Laughed"
Answer: My name is Melissa and I am a single widow of four young children who are my reason for everything I do. I love being creative and have loved to write since a young age. Introducing myself feels strange right now. I am still in the process of rediscovering who I am in the midst of being a widow and a mother, a journey I think all mothers face. I am much more interested in the company I keep than where I want to be. It doesn't matter where I go, as long as I am around people I love. I spent many years traveling, being very mobile and sometimes homeless so I enjoy my little house and the stability and coziness it gives my family. Maybe one day I will be open to exploring again, but for now I am enjoying the calm of four walls.
2. When did you get the thoughts of writing this book?
Answer: This book, And Then I Laughed, is the culmination of a year of writing that started with my blog (thisismytruestory.com.) After a tumultuous year, the end of my relationship, a pregnancy spent alone and the death of my husband I had so much grief to process and no clue where to start. One day I just started writing. I started a blog and the blog gained quite a bit of traffic. I took the suggestions of my readers and decided to put my story into a book.
3. What kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book?
Answer: I have self published children's books back in 2018. The characters in the books were based off of my children personified into lion cubs. And Then I Laughed is a personal memoir. My self published works have all come out of my life experience and my family.
4. What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books?
Answer: I think when I started the blog, it was a rude awakening of how strange my life has been for the past ten years. For me the way we were living had become normal. For outsiders looking in I started to realize how truly difficult my situation had been, and how strong I must have been to come out of all of it relatively sane and healthy. I am financially stable, independent, and a pretty good mom.
5. Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book?
Answer: I am not sure what my next project will be. In order for me to find the motivation, I have to feel passionate about what I am doing. I work hard and fast. We will see what the universe has in store.
6. What was an early experience where you learned that language had power?
Answer: I have always communicated more effectively with writing. I think anyone who is an avid reader has had the experience of finishing a book, and feeling that emptiness that comes with the ending of a good story when you have been so engaged in the pages of something that it consumes your thoughts even when you were not actively reading. I hope that people remember my story and feel affected by it in a way that precipitates change.
7. Do you hear from your readers much? What kinds of things do they say?
Answer: The readers of my blog were so very affirming of who I am becoming as a person, a mother, and a writer. I never would have published my story into a book without their constant encouragement and support. It was also healing to hear from others that through all the challenges I faced, they felt I made the right decisions. The choices I had to make were so painful to execute at a time when I was facing such darkness. It makes me feel less regretful that everything played out the way it did.
8. How would you express your journey as an Author?
Answer: As a younger author I focused a lot more on fiction and trying to disturb readers into feeling emotion. Now as an adult who has been through trials, I realize that real life can be just as engaging and moving.
9. What things do you love other than writing?
Answer: I love all types of creativity. I tend to obsessively do artistic projects and then never pick them up again for months. Painting, charcoal, knitting, drawing, anything that involves creation. I am so busy with working and motherhood that I seldom have time just for myself. When I do I care more about being in good company than focusing on a task at hand.
10. And last, What advice do you have for writers?
Answer: Fiction or nonfiction, use your real life experience to help execute your vision on the page. When I am writing about my past, I have to mentally go to that place and experience it all over again. This process has been painful but also therapeutic. Feel the feelings, see the sights, smell the smells. Show, don't tell. Then write the words.
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