Melanie Bell

Tag: writing

  • New Play and Chasing Harmony Book Tour

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    Lots of good writing news lately. September was my book tour to celebrate Chasing Harmony’s one-year anniversary, following shortly after its ebook release. What a whirlwind! From August 28 to September 22, a variety of book blogs hosted guest posts, excerpts, gift card giveaways, and reviews for my YA novel. You can catch up with…

  • Happy One-Year Anniversary to Chasing Harmony!

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    Inspire Envisioning
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    My first novel, Chasing Harmony, has been out for a year now! It’s now available in ebook format as well as in paperback, which I’m excited about because it means more people can read it. It took 10 years for this strange, literary, bisexual YA coming-of-age story to find a publisher, and I’m grateful it…

  • Want to Write a Book? Tap Into Your Weird Obsessions

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    What do you Google at 3 am? What’s that one odd thing you can’t stop thinking about, perhaps to the point where you have a hard time explaining to other people why it captivates you?  If you’ve ever dreamed of writing a book, one starting point is personal interest. Scratch that: personal passion, obsession, or…

  • Onward, 2023!

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    2022 was an intense year. I’m not sure what to expect from 2023 yet. So far, I’ve found joy in learning Spanish on Duolingo, which feels more like a game than an education, and in exploring the pebble beaches of my new home.  I’m revising my NaNoWriMo novel, working on another novel, and continuing to…

  • NaNoWriMo Was a Wild Time

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    I started NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) this November as an incentive to finish my fantasy novel, the one I’d been working on for a year and a half. At 55,000 words in, it was rolling along toward a conclusion, but it hadn’t gotten there yet. When I applied last year for a grant I…

  • Oh, the Drama!

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    Inspire Envisioning
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    These last couple months have been exciting ones for my short play, The Pictures of Dora Gray. I’ve seen it read by two different casts. And at the end of the month, I’ll see it performed at the Tower Theatre’s Writers’ Room showcase. In Oscar Wilde’s classic novel, The Pictures of Dorian Gray, a young…

  • My Play Is in a December Showcase

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    Inspire Envisioning
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    The Tower Theatre has become one of my favorite places in London. It’s that rare thing, an amateur theatre company with its own performance space. The plays are diverse and high quality, ranging from Shakespearean comedies to contemporary theatre about the Black British experience, from intimate monologue series to expansive productions like Coram Boy. I’ve…

  • An Author Interview and a Writing Retreat in France

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    I’m delighted to have an author interview on Autostraddle this month! Darcy read my YA novel, Chasing Harmony, and asked thoughtful questions about it. I got to talk about music, the messiness of growing up queer, where I got my ideas, and what songs might be on Anna’s playlist right now if she were a…

  • Chasing Harmony Playlist, Trailer, and Publication

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    Chasing Harmony, my YA novel about a musical prodigy, is now out in paperback! Here I am with my box of author copies. My publisher, Read Furiously, did a wonderful job putting the book together, including little music-related details in the design. They are also donating a portion of proceeds to literacy organizations. It was…

  • My Novel Chasing Harmony Is Out July 19!

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    In 2009, I started writing a novel while traveling across Canada. I was thinking about art and failure and how life seldom meets our expectations. I finished the manuscript while studying Creative Writing at Concordia University in Montreal, went through several drafts, and over a decade later, I’m delighted that the book found a home.…