Who is Melanie Ann?Melanie was born in 1980 & lives in Buffalo, NY and has a daughter (2008). In 2007 Melanie received her BA in English from the University of Buffalo & has been writing most of her life. She has always been a bit melodramatic & loves pushing her own emotional buttons to work at a piece. Melanie loves to read, write & create. Some of her favorite past-times are gaming (board, video, role-playing), sewing/cross-stitching, scrap-booking, photography, surfing the internet and music.
What is this project about?
This is a daily exercise in creativity. Upon turning 30 years old Melanie decided to start writing, everyday, and posting it for the world to see. The project was inspired by one of Melanie's closest friends in October (on said friend's birthday) when she started a similar project with her art. She loved the idea and her friend's sudden outpouring of creativity (plus, the bonus of actually using her Art degree on a daily basis) & was shocked to find out that the inspiration for this beautiful Art project was from a link that Melanie posted, herself. The original inspiration came from http://www.artpants.com/ ; check it out, these guys are great!
What in the world is an exercise in creativity?
For Melanie, an exercise in creativity means writing something; most of the time that something comes in the form of a poem. These creative "somethings" come in the form of short stories, fictional stories, poetry, free form fictional writing & maybe a rant or two (she is staying away from non-fiction - essay type writing). It is mostly poetry because that is one of Melanie's great loves & much easier, for her, than writing fiction. But, her reason behind starting this project was to push herself & her writing. So, Melanie plans on writing in styles that are unfamiliar and uncomfortable for her. There are many types of poetry that she struggles with writing & will explore within this project. One goal that Melanie has for herself is to write a short story; fiction has been difficult for her & she has never finished a short story out of a classroom setting.
One. There will be pieces that are posted which would otherwise never been seen by anyone (aka crap). Melanie is writing to write, not for an audience.
Two. Melanie has decided not to edit any of her work once it has been posted (except to fix typos & add pictures); this also means that she will not simply post an edited version of yesterday's piece for today. This means that once in a while she will post something that she does not feel is ready or wants to work on more, but due to the daily time restraint she cannot do (in the realm of this project) (aka crap).
Three. There will be repetition. When she gets a good idea, she may go with it for a few days or weeks. You will see themes & "rewrites" or versions of the same piece. These will be a completely new look or format for another piece that she has written (aka decrapmenting a piece)
When did the project end?
This is not an easy question to answer. The daily writings started failing sometime in May; the fiction writing ceased in June, but I didn't give up hope until the end of June. Life had caught up to me & I am better prepared for my next attempt (scheduled for sometime when my daughter is in middle school).
If you have any other questions, please post them & Melanie will do her best to answer.
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