Melanie Bell

Author: Inspire Envisioning

  • Announcing My Short Story Collection, Dream Signs

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    My debut short story collection Dream Signs is coming out soon with Lost Fox Publishing! You can read the press release here. It’s the culmination of over a decade of writing, a blend of realistic and fantastical fiction. The publisher has been great to work with and I can’t wait to see this book out…

  • Where to Find New Book Discoveries and Deals

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    During London’s third lockdown (with restrictions just beginning to ease recently), I read more than ever. Books provided solace and escape into other worlds. I took full advantage of library loans and collected e-books, keeping my eyes peeled for deals and new discoveries. If you devour books more quickly than popcorn, or simply aspire to…

  • Excerpt from my Forthcoming Novelette “The Cliffman”

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    I’m delighted to announce the publication of my novelette “The Cliffman” in Hard for Hope to Flourish, a Midnight Bites collection of three chilling novellas from Crone Girls Press. The e-book comes out on March 11 and you can pre-order it now. If you like dark fairy tales, supernatural beings, and complicated sibling relationships, “The…

  • So You Want to Write in Lockdown?

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    How are you all doing? Here in London, we’re well into lockdown #3. Remember lockdown hobbies, and the optimism with which some people took up making homemade sourdough bread and learning new languages? If you’re like me, enthusiasm for indoor activities has waned a bit by now.    Writing is one of the things keeping me…

  • Book Review: The Four Tendencies

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    My January blog posts attest to my fascination with New Year’s resolutions, the goals and intentions that some of us set each year in the hope of making the coming year (or ourselves) better. After the coronavirus pandemic dashed many of our plans for 2020, I wonder how many of us will make resolutions this…

  • My First NaNoWriMo, or How I Wrote a Novella in a Month

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    I’ve posted before about NaNoWriMo, but until 2020, it was one of those things I’d thought about but never attempted. I was usually busy, and more crucially, I’ve never been fast. I’ve completed novel manuscripts, but writing 50,000 words in a month seemed like a daunting task. I was happy to cheer on other, more…

  • Books I Read During 2020 That I Wouldn’t Have Otherwise

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    In 2019, I read a lot, partly thanks to gift cards that let me buy harder-to-access books I’d been wanting to read for years. I’d thought that in 2020 I’d spend less time reading and more time doing things. Then March happened. The gist of it is, lockdown left me with a lot of reading…

  • The Joy of Playing with Tropes

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    This month, I had a very short dragon story published in Contrary, one of my biggest literary bylines. I love dragon stories. I used to think they weren’t “serious literature,” and when I submitted for awards, I’d send pieces about death set in the “real world.” Meanwhile, I’d write secret stories about magical creatures and…

  • What to Do When Your Brain Just Won’t Write

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    According to coach and author Alexis Rockley, the lack of focus and creative blocks that many of us are experiencing during the coronavirus pandemic stem from the uncertainty arising from this situation. We don’t know what’s going to happen next, and our brains are overwhelmed. In this and other stressful situations, it can be hard…

  • Taking Care of Ourselves and Each Other

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    The coronavirus pandemic has affected all of us, though not equally. Those communities that are most marginalized have been hardest hit. Different parts of the world are facing different trajectories of recovery and reinfection. Here in the UK, some restrictions remain (there’s no skating at the skating rink) while others have been lifted (some travel…