Why melissamann.com?

This website aims to:

• be a vehicle for getting new writing out into the world.
• explore the craft of writing and encourage creativity and innovation in literature.
• entertain, inform and inspire people through the power of words.
• celebrate the work of other creatives out there in the world doing inspiring things.

Melissa who?

• Born: Bradford, West Yorkshire some time in the past. Now based in London.
• The road to here: A long spell collecting qualifications (culminating in an MBA and a PhD) and working as a management consultant in Leeds then London. In early 2005 read a quote by some genius (either Goethe or Garfield - always get them confused) which said: 'be bold and mighty forces will come to your aid.' So I did and they have. Left my consultancy job in a large global law firm to devote more time to writing and to teach Pilates. I have a thriving Pilates practice helping the stressed and inflexible of London to perform feats of great stretching. Full details at www.pilatesinthecity.com.
• Writing CV: Have completed one novel Endomorphosis and an anthology of short stories. Some of the stories from this collection have been published in a number of print magazines and online litzines including 3:AM Magazine, Thieves Jargon, The Beat, Red Peter, Straight from the Fridge, Literary Tonic, Outsider Writers, Up the Staircase, Gold Dust magazine, the Laura Hird Showcase, Dogmatika, Six Sentences, Parasitic 101, litup magazine, Zygote in my Coffee, and Savage Manners. Four of the stories from the collection have been short-listed and highly-commended in the Harpers & Queen/Orange Prize for Fiction short story competition in 2001; the London Arts New Writing competition in 2002 and The Asham Award 2003 and 2007. See www.ashamaward.com. Also have a collection of poetry called 'Pink Knitted Love/Hate Mittens'. Some of the poems from this collection currently feature in an online chapbook at Open Wide Magazine as well as at The Smoking Poet, Literary Tonic, litup magazine and The Beat. I did a reading at an Anything But Hackneyed event as part of the London Lit Plus Festival 2007. Occasionally I review books. Here's one at Word Riot.
• Interests: Many and varied including vacuuming patterns into the carpet, imagining new illnesses I'm about to die of, green cuisine, raging against the Machine and making up many and varied interests.
• Beat the Dust and BTD TV: I am the founder/managing editor of Beat the Dust and BTD TV, the place for writers with 'kiss my shades' attitude to flex their literary muscle and showcase their best poetry, short stories, novel chapter ones, videos, flash fiction and plays. Beat the Dust was launched at melissamann.com in October 2007 and BTD TV in April 2008.
• Myspace and Facebook: For all you myspacers out there, I have two pages. The mm.com profile is here and the Beat the Dust profile is here. Facebookers (careful how you say that) can find me here and Beat the Dust here.