Are you there, blog? It's me, Melissa.

Are you there, blog? It’s me Melissa. Who else is fangirling over Judy Blume’s Are you There God? It’s me, Margaret being turned into a movie?? Like so many others out there, Judy Blume helped me blossom into a voracious reader and inspired me as an author. 😊 While Judy Blume isn’t a romance writer, Forever... by Judy Blume was my first tiptoe into the world of love stories (swoon).

            Ms. Blume is responsible for fueling my love of reading and inspiring me in my wee-Melissa days to be a writer. I read Are you There God? It’s me, Margaret when I was in sixth grade, which incidentally was when I wrote my first book for a Language Arts assignment. It was a fairy tale called The Three Giants about three giants (clever name), who are ostracized by a village of humans, because they are assumed to be “scary”. After three adorable advocating children befriend the giants they help the village see the giants as unscary and welcome them into the village. Gee…as the only blind girl in a school where I was severely bullied this story was my first channeling of all those feelings into story. Something I still do now. Side note, the book won a red ribbon (second place) at the county fair and may be in a box in my garage to never see the light of day!

            Fast forward to 2023, and I am now writing my fourth manuscript. Two are with editors and I will be sending out queries to literary agents by end of May/start of June and pitching at RWA in July and the third is in self-editing right now. I am a passionate reader and writer because of the foundational authors in my childhood and teen years. Besides Ms. Blume I can count the following as earlier inspiration to a young Melissa:

·       Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

·       The Babysitters Club by Ann M. Martin

·       Double Love (Sweet Valley High, #1) by Francine Pascal

·       Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

I know there are so many more books and authors that were instrumental in stoking my fire for reading and in the long term led me to the path I am on now as a writer. I am so grateful for those writers and books in my past, present, and future reading life. Their stories are such a lovely gift. I only hope to share such a gift with you all very soon!

Pinkies up!