2024-04-02 02:52
“Vasily, my friend, the Symphony board asked me to approach you.” I said to the man in the straight-backed chair.
“The light,” my old friend responded. “I&rsqu&helli…Read More
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Missmeliss.com | I Make Stuff Up…and Collect Dog Blog
missmeliss.com
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Slice-of-life blog by a freelance writer/improv performer balancing the girlish and geeky parts of her life.
2024-02-15 22:55
Excerpt:
ANNOUNCER (off)
Gentlebeings – and not so Gentlebeings – welcome to this year’s Rochambeau Rumble, where an intergalactic panel of players tries to win the… Read More
2024-02-15 02:48
Excerpt:
LINDA (still waving the knife): You never know anything do you. Never read the briefs, never check the news. You’re always just stumbling around in the dark. You’re lu… Read More
2024-02-13 00:38
Excerpt:
Old Fisherman:
I put to see at the break of dawn
Seamen’s Chorus:
Mother of Water, guide me on.
Old Fisherman:
I search for where the fish have gone.
Seamen’s Chorus:
M… Read More
2024-02-13 00:19
Excerpt:
Father:
Sometimes we had to be reminded, but the truth is, we had other kinds of learning, not just what a Teacher laid out for us. Your grandfather taught me to catch fish, and c… Read More
2024-02-08 22:45
Excerpt
As I said, these gators are all nuisance animals. They were brought here from someone’s pond, canal, or swimming pool. They crashed a barbecue and drank all the beer –… Read More
2024-02-08 05:09
Excerpt:
FRAN: I love it. I feel… magical. But I can’t afford it. I’m sorry, I should go change.
EVELYN: I won’t hear of it. As I said, my darling girl, we have oth… Read More
2024-02-07 00:00
Excerpt
Charlie: Name one.
Teacher: Okay… MacBeth.
Charlie: MacBeth has a riddle.
Teacher: I think you’ll find that Shakespeare’s work is full of riddles. In MacBeth, ho… Read More
2024-02-05 20:42
Excerpt:
MORGAN: Morning. Coffee?
ALEX (grateful): Coffee? Yes. (beat) Black.
MORGAN: Sugar?
ALEX: No.
MORGAN (surprised): No sugar?
ALEX (patting their middle and shaking their head): No… Read More
2024-02-05 02:04
Excerpt:
KAL: You’ve never been standing outside a building in Metropolis when someone has pointed to the sky and said, “Look! Up in the air! It’s a bird! It’s a pl… Read More
2024-02-03 21:14
Excerpt:
SONIA: The first time through the figure, is on your outside edge, on your left foot. It sounds weird, but even though you have two skates with two edges each, there are eight edg… Read More
2024-02-02 19:35
An excerpt from CIRCLES AND COMMAS:
ZOE (annoyed): Is it flat-flat, or android flat?
BASIL (perplexed): As we have discussed many times, there is no such thing as ‘super android tuni… Read More
2024-02-01 19:48
Excerpt:
Scene: the front porch of a weathered farmhouse. GLADYS enters from a door, center, and sees something in the distance.
GLADYS
George! Tyler’s little calf is on our lawn ag… Read More
2023-12-24 16:00
‘Twas the night before Christmas, and down in the deep,
Not a creature was stirring, nor making a peep.
The seashells were hung by the coral with care,
In hopes that Old Sandy Klaws… Read More
2023-12-23 21:59
Dear Santa
Hi there, Big Guy, it’s been a while. I used to write to you every year, but I’ve gotten out of the habit.
This year, though, I feel like the special kind of magic yo… Read More
2023-12-19 01:25
A message overhead via the A-Sea-and-Sea Conch Network:
Dear King Neptune,
I am thirty-two cycles old. Some of my mer-friends say that there is no such thing as Sandy Klaws. I think they&r&hellip…Read More
2023-10-30 02:57
Memory is fallible. You tend to treat it like it’s not, but you’re wrong. It’s pliable, suggestible, sometimes even amorphous. What really happens and what you remember ha… Read More
2023-10-23 19:35
She always arranged her tools before she began any operation. Just as in an any operating theater, it was important to be able to lay your hand on the correct instrument without looking, wi… Read More
2023-10-22 03:03
The Mother of Water has many moods and many forms.
When she is sad or angry, her tears fill the basin of the lake near our home, and the power of her emotion fuels wicked storms. The fisherm… Read More
2023-10-14 23:30
“So, it’s your first night at the warehouse, huh, kid?” The paunchy older man with the graying whiskers and faded denim overalls asked. His tone was conversational. His s… Read More
2023-10-05 03:43
The first time she saw him, she knew. She needed him to pose for her. She’d put him on film. On canvas. Maybe even in stone, though sculpting wasn’t really her forte.
He was too… Read More
2023-10-02 22:41
The sky is tight like a drum and painted in shades of gray fading from a purplish charcoal to a soft dove with bits of white. To the west, where the sun is setting, pink and orange glow thro… Read More
2023-08-11 02:40
“You’ve heard of crocodile tears, right?” she asked him.
They were sitting in her truck, which was parked at the top of the lake’s grassy embankment. The headlights… Read More
2023-06-02 19:50
Quand il me prend dans ses bras
Qu’il me parle tout bas
Je vois la vie en rose
Another café, another ancient French song wafting out from speakers mounted above the door &ndas&hellip…Read More
2023-04-28 19:05
Starhaven Transit Station02:00 hours, local time.
Two in the morning isn’t typically a busy period on a starbase, especially if that starbase is little more than an interstellar transi… Read More
2023-03-24 22:57
Here is your wisdom, they say as they thrust the young reptile into my arms. Guard its life as you guard your own.
I too am young, and the idea of being responsible for this other life is d… Read More
2023-02-15 04:19
Changes in fashion and culture affect everyone. Business attire had grown ever more casual. Flight attendants didn’t have to be stick-thin and perpetually twenty-three anymore. It mad… Read More
2022-10-26 21:15
A Basil and Zoe story, sort of.
Her head hurts.
And there’s this weird choking feeling in the back of her throat as if she stuffed grief whole into her mouth but can’t swallow… Read More
2022-08-01 23:51
The skies are green and glowing,
Where my heart is, where my heart is,
Where the scented lunar flower is blooming:
Somewhere, beyond the stars…
Beyond Antares.
To their siste… Read More
2021-11-12 01:17
The clock ticks. The countertop herb garden’s pump grinds: it needs more water. The owner of the house grunts slightly as she rises from the couch, which creaks in response. The faucet… Read More
2021-11-11 19:00
“I have a little shadow
That goes in and out with me
And what could be the use of him
Is more than I can see.”
“He is very very like meFrom his toes up to his headAnd I see… Read More
2021-10-27 00:02
The ground was moist from recent rain, but she’d brought one of the thick, wool blankets from the old cedar chest and it was enough to keep her dry. She sat down on the folded fabric… Read More
2021-10-22 22:00
That one stretch of Highway 75 across the corner of Nebraska between the Kansas Turnpike and the turnoff to cross the river and connect with I-29 always spooked her.
When she made the trip… Read More
2021-10-12 01:18
When I was little, my grandmother kept the moon in a glass on her bedside table. She kept her teeth in another glass right next to it.
I always wondered what would happen if she mixed them… Read More
2021-08-09 04:30
I found her waiting for me at the table when I got there. I hung up my coat and had, and went to join her. “Oh, it’s good to see you…” I half-whispered. But she did… Read More
2021-06-26 05:00
“Why does doing the right thing never feel good?”
“I do not understand.” Basil’s voice was mild as always.
“Well, take us for example. We’ve been d… Read More
2021-06-26 02:00
We’re supposed to be writing about con artists but I have no CONfidence that I can pull it off.
May I CONfide in you? The only con artists floating around in my CONsciousness are the… Read More
2021-06-26 01:15
“Five more minutes,” I demanded, and the Faceless Man nodded. “It’ll cost ya,” his voice came from nowhere. And everywhere.
“How much?”
“Ten… Read More
2021-06-25 04:59
They knew weather conditions in the gulf were unstable, but her grandfather checked the maps and figured they were far enough south to avoid the brunt of any storms. So, they went to the do… Read More
2021-06-25 02:27
I woke to the sound of my grandmama singing in the kitchen.
“Lift every voice and sing
Till earth and heaven ring
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the… Read More
2021-06-24 07:43
Hemingway wrote standing up at his typewriter, at least when he was a war correspondent, but Twain liked to write in bed. I’ve always preferred the former’s style, because he s… Read More
2021-06-24 04:29
Written for Brief #17 of Like the Prose 2021: 49 Words Read More
2021-06-24 00:51
Picture it, I dare ya, out there in the Jungle
Of India, a place so old it makes you humble
There’s no roads and the trees are close together
So the way to get around is very clever
S… Read More
2021-06-23 23:00
Thunder murmurs in the distance, and the sky brightens in response. Both are soft at first, but in wee increments, they increase in intensity.
The murmur grows into a conversation, and then… Read More
2021-06-19 04:30
You can tell everything about a person by their feet. And for dancers, you can tell our histories.
That scar on my heel? It’s from my first time playing Marie in The Nutcracker. I ha… Read More
2021-06-18 05:06
Her head hurts.
And there’s this weird choking feeling in the back of her throat as if she stuffed grief whole into her mouth but can’t swallow it down where it won’t hurt… Read More
2021-06-16 05:19
“It’s bedtime.”
“Five more minutes?”
“You have school tomorrow.”
“I’ll get up on time, I promise.”
“It’s very late.&r&helli…Read More
2021-06-15 04:27
“Take this,” he said as we approached the shuttle bay. “In case I do not return.”
It’s a ritual we’ve been through ever since the Cousteau’s mission… Read More
2021-06-15 03:44
She knows she should be writing tonight. She has a deadline. Sure, it’s voluntary, but it’s still a deadline.
But she doesn’t want to.
She’s tired. She’s sore… Read More
2021-06-13 03:53
“Chill out!”
I knew that voice. It was the scratchy tone of a faerie – almost more white noise than actual speech. But I knew what to listen for. And I knew it wasn… Read More
2021-06-09 05:42
The mask was broken into three large pieces, laying on the tile floor.
Earlier…
Muzzy from sex, she murmured to her partner, “Are you ever going to show me your face?”… Read More
2021-06-08 01:31
Note: I am not a poet. I don’t enjoy writing poetry and I’m not good at it. I’m posting this here purely for archival purposes.
The morning air was heavy, humidity coati… Read More
2021-06-07 05:15
I met him for the first time when I was six years old. I had no front teeth and wore my hair in pigtails. He was the strong, silent type. It sounds scandalous, I know, but really, it… Read More
2021-06-06 17:00
It’s not what you think. The art deco building that houses the old carousel still stands, but the painted ponies on their pneumatic poles are gone.
History would tell you that the car… Read More
2021-06-05 03:59
No matter how many times I drove out to Howard Beach, the moment where the pine woods give way to the causeway, stretching a mile across the Gulf of Mexico, would never fail to take my br… Read More
2021-06-04 03:21
(A Twitter Story)
https://twitter.com/Melysse/status/1400651144440041473
1) This story is true… mostly.
2) I’m visiting my mom for a month or two while storm damage is finally… Read More
2021-06-03 01:21
Forget your troubles, c’mon get happy
You better chase all your cares away
Shout “hallelujah”, c’mon get happy
Get ready for the judgement day
The smell of sugar wa… Read More
2021-06-01 04:56
“How much longer?” I asked, feeling like all the time in the universe had passed at the same time that none of it had.
My partner’s response was patient. “Three minut… Read More
2021-04-30 05:06
“You don’t sleep.”
“Zoe?”
We’d just been intimate – sexually intimate – for the first time, and while there’d been some pleasant pillow… Read More
2021-03-26 01:45
She walks, following the pattern of the stones. Her feet sink into the soft earth and when she’s on the outer rims of the shape the evergreens reach out to snatch bits of her hair, let… Read More
2021-03-01 01:24
Leonardo DaVinci once wrote, “In time, and with water, everything changes.”
Over the last year I’ve lived very closely with that tenet, as we’ve had to replace pretty… Read More
2020-08-05 05:08
“She looks so natural,” I hear my aunt say.
“I can’t believe she’s only two hundred,” my grandmother replies.
“That color really isn’t her be… Read More
2020-06-22 17:26
I’m participating in the Summer Love Notes project this summer. (If you’d like to contribute, feel free to drop me a line.) Here’s an excerpt from my piece “SwimTime… Read More
2020-06-21 20:38
This was supposed to be for Day 8 of Like the Prose – Heroes and Villains / Good and Evil – but I had to twist it.
He is her hero.
Dark. Silent. Slightly broody.
But he&rsq&hell…Read More
2020-06-20 22:39
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Password: Read More
2020-06-13 05:21
a lipogram
It had begun, like much did, at a bar. There hadn’t been a band that night. Rather, the entertainer had been a magician, of a kind.
The title he’d claimed had been … Read More
2020-06-12 23:46
A Basil and Zoe story
“Basil… ” I hesitated because I know this is going to be a sensitive subject. “Why do you always hide your laser gun the second you come home?… Read More
2020-06-08 01:16
A Basil and Zoe story – sort of.
This was for day 4 of this year’s Like the Prose challenge, in which we were supposed to write in third person, which I don’t do a lot.
… Read More
2020-06-02 05:01
There are many kinds of mermaids. Sirens. Whatever you want to call them.
The mermaids you know, the kind on earth, the kind that spend their lives in the ocean – they have fins… Read More
2020-06-01 20:16
Thunder was rumbling in the distance as my partner and I got into the jeep. Jake and I were almost always teamed up for these runs, as much because we worked well together as because people… Read More
2020-05-29 23:51
But, the Wolf
They found her, naked, curled into a protective ball – not quite the fetal position – nestled in between the great roots of a giant tree.
“We’re so gl… Read More
2020-05-19 10:16
“Mama! Come look! There’s a bedraglon on the beach! We have to help it!”
“A what?” My child confused me sometimes.
“A bedraglon,” she repeated… Read More
2020-05-12 10:08
In the cold gray dawn the sisters lit their lamp and read their chapter with an earnestness never felt before. For now the shadow of a real trouble had come, the little books were full of h… Read More
2020-05-04 05:55
Bang bang, he shot me down
Bang bang, I hit the ground
Bang bang, that awful sound
Bang bang, my baby shot me down
I’m wrote this, last October, with a brain that was a bit addled, an… Read More
2020-04-30 06:17
She twirls.
She has to, you see, because Mommy put her in the dress with the floofy skirt to take pictures for Grandma and Grandpa, and it swirls when she moves at all, so full-on twirling i… Read More
2020-04-13 23:34
Here they come, I warn,
Make sure you’re sitting down.
Because Teddy is kind of flaily
And he’ll bark at you while wagging
His Shepherdy tail
But then he’ll turn his head… Read More
2020-04-13 23:11
Write one perfect sentence, they ask, and I think: who determines what perfection is?
The nautilus, with its saltwater-born concentric spirals that echo the golden ratio may be a perfect cr… Read More
2020-04-13 22:01
Most of my Easters have been for just two people. As a child, the other was my mother, and we colored eggs, (which I would find hidden around the house the next morning… often one wa… Read More
2020-04-13 20:42
Note: The excerpt is the poem used in the play, Fireflies, by Robert Frost. The challenge was to write a play that could be produced in isolation. The full script is linked to preserve forma… Read More
2020-04-11 02:39
Note: For prompt 4 of Covid Metamorphosis, we were to retell a friend’s story, making it into something new. I used a story my former pre-school teacher told me, long after I was lega… Read More
2020-04-09 21:22
He was found alone, unwanted
Lying in the dust
The realized he was mechanical
(Amazed there was no rust).
They took him to their starship
Found the switch to wake him up
Offered water, cof… Read More
2020-04-05 07:43
Note: this story is for prompt #2 of “Covid Metamorphosis,” in which we were asked to begin and end with provided quotations from Ovid.
“I want to speak about bodies chan… Read More
2020-04-01 21:27
Metamorphs. Changelings. Shapeshifters. They seem like something out of science fiction or fantasy. As a life-long geek (I maintain that I have too much fashion sense to be a nerd), I think… Read More
2020-03-21 02:57
2020-02-28 12:44
Brief: Take one of your previous plays and expand it in some fashion.
Excerpt:
JACQUES: (wa… Read More
2020-02-28 07:45
Brief: Write a play with no plot.
Excerpt:
Scene 5: Electricity
He: … Read More
2020-02-28 06:40
Brief: Use environmental sustainability as the inspiration for a play.
Notes: It’s possible that I just wanted to set something in an ice hotel.
Excerpt:
YUERIG: &n&helli…Read More
2020-02-28 06:31
Brief: Write a comedy.
Notes: I thought it was amusing that so many personal hygiene products (handy wipes, hand sanitizer) were out of stock on Amazon.
Excerpt:
CHAD: &nb&helli…Read More
2020-02-26 01:29
Brief & Notes: This was meant to be the “rules” challenge, but one of the reasons I switched to the untimed track is that I don’t have the energy for long pieces right… Read More
2020-02-25 02:24
Brief: Create a performance art piece, on paper.
Excerpt:
Cage 1: A woman. She is gaunt and tired. Her cage is filled with pacifiers and onesies.
USED FOR BREEDING:  &hellip…Read More
2020-02-21 05:24
Brief: Write a play in a restricted amount of time. (This is brief 21. Out of order because I’m really sick.)
Notes: The movie they watch is 47 Meters Down: Uncaged.
Excerpt:
STEV… Read More
2020-02-20 06:48
Brief: The task was to revamp yesterday’s unstageable play into something that could work on a stage… but I went off-brief.
Excerpt:
SARAH: … Read More
2020-02-20 06:41
Brief: The task was to write an unstageable play. This takes place in my brain, but is technically off-brief.
Excerpt:
PAIN: &nbs&helli…Read More
2020-02-18 07:24
Brief: Use a suggested first and last line and write any play you like.
Notes: Inspired by the Hairy Farmpit Girls on Facebook.
Excerpt:
JESSICA: … Read More
2020-02-17 00:16
Brief: Write a play in the style of a playwright you admire.
Notes: Explicit-ish.
Excerpt:
She stands still in the spotlight for several seconds, then looks up at the audience.
ZOE: … Read More
2020-02-16 07:34
Brief: Write a play that takes place in darkness, but isn’t an audio drama.
Excerpt:
CHORUS: Beep. Beep. Beep.
PATIENT: &n&helli…Read More
2020-02-15 05:58
Brief: Write about an atypical kind of love.
Notes: Siri’s lines are legitimate responses from the AI.
Excerpt:
HECTOR: &nbs&helli…Read More
2020-02-13 22:13
Brief: Write part three of a trilogy of plays.
Excerpt:
SOPHIE: Anyw… Read More
2020-02-13 05:32
Brief: Write part two of a trilogy of plays.
Excerpt:
KATE: &n&hellip…Read More
2020-02-12 05:56
Brief: Write the first play in a trilogy.
Excerpt:
She surveys her last bit of work, nods to herself in approval, and goes on.
ELIZA: … Read More
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