MEET MELISSA
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Melissa a writer and editor who listens deeply in order to suggest how to effectively braid the threads of your story together.
In her late teens, Melissa began publishing poetry (Southern Poetry Review, Number One, Cumberland Poetry Review) and winning writing awards (ARTS Award: National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts, National Scholastic Gold Writing Award, Presidential Scholar Finalist for Writing).
After completing her education at Skidmore College in 2002, she spent a few months working for Homeland Security before she began traveling the world. Melissa documented her experiences in a travel column (Views from A Broad, The Nashville Scene), helped organize monthly writing events in Amsterdam (wordsinhere), and also worked as a crime reporter (The Review Appeal). All of this enriched her world view and enhanced her writing style.
Since then, she facilitates workshops, provides marketing and editing services, creates websites for other writers and writes her own essays and poetry.
Every service she offers is devoted to encouraging writers, whether she is facilitating a course about mother loss (Writing with Hope, a foundational writing class for NY Times best-selling author Hope Edelman) or sitting beside a middle school student to explore a prompt. When she works with clients, she is engaged and present — whether on a phone call with an octogenarian memoirist, on the Zoom screen with rising seniors editing their college essays, or in-person at retreats and writing circles.
TESTIMONIALS
“We engaged Melissa to help my son tweak his Common App essay and one of his supplemental essays. Her insights were amazing, fresh, and incredibly sharp. I was amazed how quickly she was able to “get” my son and tap into his strengths. I would highly recommend her!”
”I came to Melissa for help after writing my rough draft. She looked at the draft and transformed it into the essay I was envisioning. She listened to what I liked and didn’t like and really wanted to know where I was coming from while thinking through my essay. She truly goes beyond surface level to get to know you and your writing style. She helped me write a beautiful essay that still was 100% my writing and inspiration.”
“I cannot express well enough how grateful we both are that we found you. Melissa was absolutely wonderful to work with ... from the initial group workshop through the one-on-one meetings.”
“Melissa helped me think deeply about my personal statement and encouraged me to look deep into my experiences so that I could successfully articulate my thoughts in a way that was understandable and had a large impact on the audience. She taught me the skill of writing in a way that “shows” instead of “telling” and constantly reminded me to think in that way when writing my various essays. Melissa was extremely flexible and was available throughout the process whenever I needed something even if it was last minute!”
“As a beginner, I learned so much from Melissa in the craft talks, and the writing exercises helped to "dislodge" things that I have been thinking about so I could finally write about them in a safe and supportive environment.”
“Words in the Woods helped me to feel more confident, comfortable, and connected in my transition from writing poetry to writing fiction. I am so grateful for the experience!”
“Best investment ever of time, money, energy and emotion! Melissa crafted a perfect long weekend complete with wise choices of location, people, food and optional activities. She is a gracious host and an experienced event planner down to details that make the difference between nice and great!”
“Words in the Woods is the best writing retreat I've been to in well over a decade. While it may seem daunting to house with a dozen strangers, there's no better community than creatives; it was very comfortable very quickly even for introverted creatures like writers. Writing in a state park, with opportunities to share meals and fellowship, is a weekend like none other. Enough organization to feel a solid flow, and enough trust in each attendee that we understand how much solo time (or outdoors time, or music time, or sharing time, or...) we each need as individuals ensured that we each had the power to control how productive and impactful our own experience was.”