Pull Up a Chair With Melanie

Pull Up a Chair With… is a new series I’m starting on Substack. The idea is to interview paid members of the Stop Hiding Under the Desk community to find out more about you and your creative pursuits. Edna was my first interviewee, and you can read her replies here.

I’m very grateful to Melanie, who is the second creative from the Stop Hiding Under the Desk community to answer questions.

Mel is an indie author of magical realism and cosy fantasy. She spends a lot of time staring moodily out of windows and drinking vast amounts of tea.

Mel has also written and published five novels. There are four in the Tales of Glencarragh series and one in the Winkle Village series - with book two and three on their way.

Hi Mel, and thank you for being the second Stop Hiding Under the Desk community member to be interviewed for this series.

What creative project are you trying to bring into the world?

Right now, I’m working on the edits/rewrites of the second book in my Winkle Village series.

How are you finding this process?

This whole project has been excruciating since the very first. I hadn't really intended to write another series...The House In the Hedge (the first book in my Winkle Village series) was meant to be a stand-alone...it was kind of a heart-project, born of grief and gratitude, and I really hadn't envisioned it going beyond the one book. But apparently my muse had other ideas, and I ended up building a world that I wasn't quite ready to leave.

So I set about writing what I assumed was the next book, only about halfway through I realised it was actually the third - there were too many things that needed to be accomplished, and I couldn't make it work as a second book. That meant I was in the really odd position (for me) of writing a whole book out of thin air. I usually have at least a nugget of an idea, but this one was literally pulled out of the void. Needless to say, it's been a bit fraught.

Is there anything that’s holding you back?

Oh, you know, the usual...self-sabotage, imposter syndrome, utter lack of self-belief. So, nothing much. ;) Also, the pressure of the second book is real -- especially when the first one has been quite beloved by many people.

What are you currently hiding under the desk from?

Publishing this book. Talking about this book. Talking about any of my books. Self-promotion is quite literally my Achilles heel. It goes beyond the ick of marketing and is rooted pretty deep in my psyche...it's taking some unravelling, but I'm slowly edging my way forward.

What has helped you keep going recently?

Funnily enough, the rise of AI. Not in a desperate, OMG-I-NEED-TO-OUTRUN-THE-ROBOTS way, but in a sort of “eff you” way. I believe so very vehemently that the arts can never be outsourced to technology, and so despite (or maybe because of) my very human foibles and all of my self-doubt and agonising, I keep going because the world needs art with a human soul. I can’t do much to stem the tide of enshittification, but I can squeeze out a book every few years in defiance of it.

Also, my readers are just such lovely, kind people and I want to give them another book to read.

What do you wish you’d known earlier?

That it's okay to do this self-publishing thing on my own terms. That means honouring my own process and not falling in with what everyone else is doing. For a long time I tried to keep up and do things the Proper Way (whatever that is!), and I ended up in a pretty massive burnout. I also wish I'd defined 'success' for myself much sooner. I had a lot of unrealistic expectations going in, and that led to some pretty severe disillusionment for a while there.

What tiny step are you taking next?

I'll be showing up to my desk tomorrow (Monday) with the intention of spending an hour working on my manuscript. I've written all of my books in around an hour a day, so I know that the work adds up, even if it doesn't feel like it at the time.

What are your links?

You can find all of her books on Amazon here.

And Mel’s website is here.

Thank you so much, Melanie!

Helen’s note:

Although we have never met in real life, I have known Mel for years. In fact, it was so long ago I can’t remember how we ‘met’ - was it through Instagram, or blogs? It was well before 2020 anyway, I think…

Anyway, the reason why I’m telling you that is because, throughout all those years, including when Mel joined my Confident Creative Membership Club, Mel has never enjoyed the promotional part of writing a book.

In fact, she’s written before that she has a love/hate relationship with the internet. And when modern day book marketing is mainly done via socials this can be a challenge.

However, what I admire about Mel, and I mean truly admire about her, is the fact that she has kept writing despite all of the mindset stuff. As she says above, she struggles with “self-sabotage, imposter syndrome, [and an] utter lack of self-belief,” but she keeps going, she keeps persevering…

She keeps writing.

I mean, she has five novels under her name and a sixth one in the making. And she’s done this by showing up consistently, by pushing the voices to one side so she can immerse herself in the magical worlds she has created, by taking tiny steps of one hour a day and getting to the finish line not just once. But five times.

She’s probably shrinking in her chair cringing as she reads this, but Mel, thank you for showing us the way.

If you would like to be featured in Pull Up a Chair With… then send me an email or a DM on the Substack app. (You can read more about it in this piece.) I’m limiting it to members of the paid subscriber community for the moment. You can upgrade your subscription by clicking the link below.