[Introduction: Melanie Stormm continues her humorous series of posts about the misdirected emails she’s been getting. Stormm is a multiracial writer who writes fiction, poetry, and audio theatre. Her novella, Last Poet of Wyrld’s End is available through Candlemark & Gleam. She served as guest editor for issue 43.4 of Star*Line, an issue focused entirely on Black voices in the speculative arts. Find her in her virtual home at coldwildeyes.com. Wipe your feet before entering.]
NO EMAIL FROM WRITER X THIS WEEK!
Hello All, Melanie here. I’m sorry to disappoint. I haven’t received an email from Writer X this week. This was a real let down for me; I’ve kind of gotten used to reading her emails. For a moment I wondered if she’s finally learned that her emails weren’t getting to Gladys, but given the content of her last few messages, I’m starting to worry more for her safety—although I’m not sure how she’s actually in danger. Besides that UFO Communications and Far Far Right Gun Group.
I like to assume they have good reasons for requiring her dental records and “various possible forms of identification.”
Probably she’s alright and has just corrected the email error. I’ve tried looking her up some other way, but short of this account on Pinterest, I can’t seem to find her. I’ve also tried looking up articles online to see if there’s any reported incident of chicken feathers covering a neighborhood and that was a wider and deeper rabbit hole than I’d imagined.
It’s not that I found a lot about chickens leaving their feathers all over a neighborhood. For that, I only found this link: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/missing-chicken-lots-of-feathers-but-no-blood.815571/
Rather, I discovered that there are about a hundred thousand small newspapers for towns in the U.S. which is maybe a sign that there’s some hope for our democracy. Most of them have a paywall, which means this is a dead end.
Kinda makes me hope she gets that book written so that maybe it gets published and I can find her again. I couldn’t help it, I opened her file and I have to say the chapter she shared really wasn’t that bad. Almost Dresden Files but with a lot of pink and a passage of confounding length about moonlight on the city of ChaalChaal.
I’m really hoping we hear something from her. If I get anything from her, I’ll be sure to pass it on right away but, barring reaching out to her directly, we might just have to face the fact that she’s fixed the error and is disappearing out of our lives.
For a little while, it was nice to read of someone else having a worst time with writing than I am.
Cross your fingers and toes and hug the nearest writer to you, even if it’s yourself.
…Do you think I should email her?
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I have been reading all of these posts with enjoyment and hope for more! But honestly, as a fledgling fiction writer I find Writer X more horrifying than looming supernatural doom. (At least I’m not trying to get someone else to tell me what my story is about.)
Nancy, that’s so great to hear! Thank you so much for reading! You’ve hit the nail on the head. I’m much more afraid of Writer X’s choices than I am of whatever else is happening. That said, I may or may not have made some of those bad choices at some point in my writing life but please don’t tell anyone. 😉 Good luck on your writing! What genre do you prefer?
Melanie, thank you for your good wishes! I am a writer of speculative fiction, mostly some flavor of fantasy. I’ve been doing short-form stuff as a freelancer for some tabletop rpg companies while dabbling in writing my own stories. In the meantime I struggle with learning how to plot a novel. (As one does.)
Nancy, tabletop RPG? That’s AMAZING. I have a strong love for the short forms. Working with those kinds of structures really allows you to hone your craft, I find. As for novels, it definitely gets better and clearer but at the end of the day I feel like once you write a book, you know how to write that book, lol. I’m sure with all your RPG experience you are well ahead in the game.