I Recommend Where We Go by Melissa Volker

Before Christmas I received a message from author and Wordsmith Melissa Volker to expect a package in the mail. I had no idea what she was sending me. Therefore, I was thoroughly surprised and delighted to receive a package from Amazon inside of which was Melissa's new book of stories and essays on writing- Where We Go.

Being a fan of hers, I dived right into the book. On the following morning after receiving it, I was eating breakfast before work and reading and wound up with tears tumbling down my cheeks as I got halfway into Muse and had to leave for work or risk being late. I felt that story viscerally as well as cerebrally because it expressed feelings I understood perfectly well, even though I am not a musician. If I substitute the keyboard/computer for the piano, a manuscript I am dissatisfied with...it is easy to blame the machine for the failure rather than myself. How many times have we passed the blame for our own failings?

I couldn't get home fast enough to finish the story and read the rest of the book. The essays and writings on writing are especially insightful. All writers find that they share at least some of the experiences, habits, frustrations, approaches, etc. of other authors, but writing still remains a process unique to the individual author because while we share some things in common, we are also unique individuals with differing experiences and perceptions.

Kelly and I often find startling similarities in what we write, but yet we each have our own take on things. We used to take a first sentence and run with it for twenty minutes, like a writing sprint and then swap pages and read what we each wrote. It was always a revelation to find those similarities and the different approaches we each took.

Reading another authors musings on the craft of writing can help you to not feel so alone in the creative world of putting words down on a blank page. To read of another authors triumphs and less than spectacular attempts helps ground you. Writing doesn't come easy. It has to be worked at, fine tuned, tinkered with, and sometimes totally scrapped and started over before it all clicks.

Sitting down with Melissa Volker's Where We Go and a favorite beverage and snack, you'll feel as if you have her right there in the room with you, or perhaps sitting across the kitchen table from you, sharing and swapping stories and ideas about writing. She'll move you and make you feel as if you're spending quality time with a friend.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it. The stories at the beginning of the book are well crafted. Every word is like a stepping stone forward into the story. The pieces on writing are personal and mind expanding. Melissa demonstrates the craft of writing in this book.

I don't know whether to slide Where We Go into the bookcase among her other books or frame it and hang it on the wall because it is an example of the art of writing, and doing it well.

Bravo, Melissa!