I always find it interesting to check out the tidbits of info people include in their “about me” pages. What detritus of their life do they feel significant to include? To what can I relate, commiserate, envy, scoff, applaud or deride?
Besides, I like to talk about me. So scoff and applaud away!
As a disclaimer, if this page appears unfinished, that’s only because it is.
THE BASICS: I’ll rarely give exact #’s or dates, just references, you can sort it out.
I was born in the year of the Dragon, the same year the USA celebrated its bi-centennial b-day. I’m a Scorpio, but that really has no meaning for me…except that my roommate in college was a Scorpio as well, and she had a lot to say about it.
I met the love of my life, the boy who builds me lots of bookshelves, when I was 16. It was the most romantic of places – the mall. Yep, we worked across the hall from each other at the local jumbo outlet mall. I was at a houseware store (though I also moonlighted next door at the Claire’s Boutique) and he was at a video game store (of course).
Several years and a few breakups later he surprised me with a proposal in New Orleans and a honeymoon in London and Dublin.
So now I’m a Mom – christened “MamaNice” by my oldest, Miss A, though, sadly that sobriquet has gone away. Due, I hope to the maturing of the bestower of said name, not to any reduction of niceness in said bestowee.
I graduated high school at 16 (yes, the same year I met my future husband – it was a busy summer) and paid my own way through college via scholarships and good ol’ grunt work which included serving caffeinated drinks til 2 am at a little coffee house. Despite several straight years on next to no sleep I managed to earn a B.A. with a double major in English/Theatre –magna cum laude, baby! (The sad part, I would have been summa, but I bombed 1 course…human reproduction. Yeah, I failed the sex class.)
I put my degrees to work teaching high school English and Theatre classes while directing plays and coaching speech team. Just as I was about to earn tenure I go ahead and have a baby (well, I didn’t do that all by myself). Thus launching the hardest and most rewarding job of my life. And though one could label me as a SAHM (Stay At Home Mom) since I stopped teaching high school… I wouldn’t say I was home much. I found jobs I could do either with my daughter present, or when my husband was home. I often juggled 3 or 4 part-time jobs, including: tutoring, teaching acting classes, directing plays, and even becoming a gymnastics instructor (for little kids; my best move is a round off, nothing fancy here!) After baby #2, Lil’ G, came along I started to scale things back, in a manner of speaking, and launched my own children’s theatre company. It was fun to introduce little to the world of theatre, but as the business got bigger, I had to make a choice between going all in (with no room for anything else) or stepping back and saving space for other creative endeavors, like writing. (The writing won).
Now, with both red heads old enough to use the microwave (they only lit it on fire once), I’m able to spend more time focusing on the writing. Enough that I can comfortably call it my “job.” My debut series of fun, flirty, and a wee bit dirty contemporary romances was published with St. Martin’s Press in 2019, and my next release, a love letter to romantic comedies, arrives summer 2021.
I also produce audiobooks under a pseudonym.
Well, that’s me: Redhead. Writer. Drama Mama.
Not bored yet? Really? Ok, go check out my 100 things list.
Melonie Johnson 