Melanie Bates

I am a writer. A nomad. A nondescript heathen. Sometimes I am an accountant

As Richard Rhodes put it, the most joyous moments in my life come from "applying ass to chair." I began my writing career at the age of seven when I wrote a story about the funeral of my great-grandmother. This story was passed around my family for years and while I had no concept, at that age, of the New York Times Bestseller list I think I inherently understood the concept of fans. This, of course, spurred me into writing other stories - stories about a witch named Hazel with carbuncles and stories about critters. As a teenager my writing moved toward the morose when I attempted to pen my vast memoir at the age of fourteen. Finally, at seventeen, with my towering experience in regards to the matters of love, I wrote a few pages of a romance novel. I am currently working on a young adult novel which I plan to finish this century-ish.

I've moved over thirty times, hence the nomadic nature, but for now I reside in the Midwest. To some this might seem exciting, however, let me tell you, it is not. For example, I spent a year living in Rawlins, Wyoming where I was blown back and forth across the road and where I ran home from school every day on the lookout for dark vans that kidnapped children. I once peed my pants while frantically searching for my latchkey.

These are parts of my life - parts of me. And this website is a bit of what I have to say.

Monica Wilcox

My childhood festered around the school playground, a sewage creek, well-used train tracks, a gas station with Pac Man AND Tetra, a miserable 7 year crush on a boy who refused my offer of marriage in kindergarten, and a 12 speed bike. Yet, the only drama I could muster up was a pin prick to my pinky for my “blood sister”. By 8th grade I knew my content life was not going to justify the adult identity of “tormented author creating surreal material”. The best I had was a dismal display in P.E. (a wicked volleyball return from the bridge of my eyeglasses; twice). So what! Eighty percent of us spend middle school slurking in and out of the gym. There was no choice but to sacrifice geometric proofs for a career in soap opera script writing. I had all my friends meeting, dating, and marrying the members of Duran Duran. This shot my gift-with-the-word into the Jr. High Strat-os-phere, until I wrote all of them into nasty divorces with their teen heart throbs. A sad, sad lesson in overestimating my reader.

So I returned to math, only to find I was more interested in the “characters” traveling through my imagination than quadratic equations. These characters would mumble on and on with some wild story, until another ego elbowed in. I tolerated it through H.S, college, and my 8 year career as a counselor (it’s true, counselors hear voices too), until I had kids. All those hours locked in a rocking chair gave me time to have a really good listen. . This spiraled into my first novel, which is currently being slashed down and dressed up. Although my own life continues to shy away from high drama, it does spice up; spitting out some material backed by my own voice. That’s what I’ve given here; a few observations on life’s spice.