Published inMelissa Miles McCarter·PinnedMelissa Miles McCarterWho am I and what do I write about? — I am at heart a mommy who writes on the side. But it took a long time to earn that title. From the loss of my daughter to SIDS, the ups and downs of step-parenting my now 20 year old, to a long journey of infertility that culminated in my now 5 year old daughter arriving by way of IVF…Writing2 min readWriting2 min read
Published inPop Off·Sep 30Member-onlyPatti Smith’s Horses: An Iconic Album With An Equally Iconic CoverThe 1970s are seeing a major revival in the 2020s. New series inspired by the era, like Amazon’s Daisy Jones & the Six adapted from the novel of the same name, have become hits among younger generations — catapulting many other ‘70s elements back into the zeitgeist. Fashion is also…Music3 min readMusic3 min read
Published inThe Writing Cooperative·Jun 16Member-onlyHow To Take Your Memoir To The Next LevelShare your emotional truth. — We all know the phrase, as writers, “Show, not tell.” The same can be true of writing a memoir. Before I took my writing to the next level, I confused writing an essay with a memoir. The fact is lots of memoirs are collections of essays. But good memoirs, even…Writing5 min readWriting5 min read
Published inMelissa On Writing·Jun 1Member-onlyWhy You Should You Submit Your Work to Literary JournalsDevelop a writing plan. The first time I published anything, it was a short story in a literary journal. This was back in the 1990s when they had journals primarily in print. …Writing4 min readWriting4 min read
Published inPublishous·May 29Member-onlyWhen Should You Let Go of a Dream?Deciding to stop trying is a hard choice. — One of the biggest challenges in life is knowing when to let go and when to keep trying, no matter how impossible the challenges appear to be. After thirteen years of infertility, after the death of my first daughter from SIDS, I was pretty much ready to be done with…Parenting3 min readParenting3 min read
Published inInvisible Illness·May 28Member-onlyWhy Motherhood Helps Me Stay SaneParenting keeps me mentally stable. — If you told me 30 years ago that parenting would help keep me mentally stable, I would not have understood. To me, caring for anyone else would be impossible when I couldn’t even care for myself. I remember laying in bed, miserable, unable to get up for my college classes…Psychology5 min readPsychology5 min read
Published inThe Narrative·Updated May 25Member-onlyHow America Can’t Deal With DeathOur healthcare system has major problems with end-of-life care. — The lack of recognition and emphasis on extending life at all costs reflects a broken system. “It’s time to put him in hospice,” said the geriatric case manager we had hired, after months of long-term care debacles and trying to navigate the Medicare/Medicaid system by ourselves. She recognized the dying…Healthcare4 min readHealthcare4 min read
Published inHuman Parts·May 24Member-onlyWhy Technology Keeps My Dad AliveGrief in Zero and Ones. — I found out the hard way that technology can immortalize trauma. Texts, voicemails, or photos can all be haunting fragments from the past, capturing fleeting moments we might otherwise have lost. “Daddy had a stroke. Call me.” I saw these fragile moments in the texts back and forth with my…Memoir4 min readMemoir4 min read
Published inMelissa Miles McCarter·May 21Member-onlyIs AI Really Reading Your Mind?Short answer: yes it is. — In our increasingly digitized world, concerns about artificial intelligence (AI) “reading people’s” minds have emerged. Social media users have reported experiences where their thoughts seemingly manifest in personalized advertisements on their smartphones, leading to questions about the extent of AI’s understanding of our innermost thoughts. Let’s delve into the concept…Technology4 min readTechnology4 min read
Published inMelissa Miles McCarter·May 18Member-onlyShould I Submit My Work to Literary Journals?Or should I just self-publish on Medium? — I’ve been taking writing classes through the Stanford Continuing Education program. This time it’s a memoir class that culminates in one chapter and the beginnings of a longer manuscript. I submitted an excerpt of this chapter-in-process to various journals and have been rejected or haven’t heard back. …Writing3 min readWriting3 min read