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Melanie Figg

Goodreads Author

Born

The United States

Website

https://www.melaniefigg.net/

Genre

Poetry, Memoir

Member Since

February 2008

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/melaniefigg

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Melanie Figg is the author of the award-winning debut poetry collection, Trace, as well as the sold-out chapbook, Hurry, Love. She has won grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, The McKnight and Jerome Foundations, the Arts & Humanities Council of Montgomery County, and others. Her poems, personal essays, and book reviews have been published in dozens of literary journals, including The Iowa Review, Nimrod, and Iron Horse Literary Review.

With over 25 years of teaching experience, Melanie teaches at the Writer’s Center and privately in the DC area, and also critiques prose manuscripts—offering specific and helpful feedback for improvement. As a certified professional coach, she works with all kinds of writers and people looking to ...more

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Popular Answered Questions

How do you deal with writer’s block?

Melanie Figg Sometimes it's really hard to write, especially when I'm not working on a big project. I work with writer's block with a lot of my coaching clients, s…moreSometimes it's really hard to write, especially when I'm not working on a big project. I work with writer's block with a lot of my coaching clients, so I have lots of great ideas, tricks, tips, and slightly-veiled threats ;-) in my pocket. But in the end, it's about just showing up at the desk, regularly, with a clear head. That can be harder than it sounds.

Being a coach and working with so many writers who struggle with writer's block (which is a catch-all for lots of suffering, really, from procrastination to perfectionism, and more) really helps me with my own writer's block.(less)

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What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

Melanie Figg Keep going. Be the biggest fan of your work. Stay committed to sharing your work with others. If you need to take a break, OK - but get back at it onc…moreKeep going. Be the biggest fan of your work. Stay committed to sharing your work with others. If you need to take a break, OK - but get back at it once you get your head clear.

I'd given up writing. Trace had been a finalist for a handful of big first book prizes, and a semi-finalist for a bucketful more. I'd spent over a decade trying to publish my manuscript, in so many versions, with no luck. But I was also a fierce mama bear about my poems and I didn't want to self-publish. I told myself I would give it one more go. Soon after, I saw the deadline for the National Endowment for the Arts was coming up, and I scrambled to fit the eligibility, and applied. The week I found out I had won the NEA was the same week I got the call from New Rivers Press telling me Trace had won the Many Voices Project. When it pours poetry, that is a damn good day.(less)

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Combine Editions
Melanie Figg’s books

Average rating: 4.78 · 72 ratings · 12 reviews · 4 distinct works

	And If That Mockingbird Don't Sing: Parenting Stories Gone Speculative by Hannah Grieco (Editor), Aubrey Hirsch (Goodreads Author), Olivia Campbell (Goodreads Author) 4.72 avg rating — 50 ratings — published 2022	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Trace it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 10 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Menacing Hedge: A Limited Edition Anthology for AWP 2017 by Kelly Boyker (Editor), Amanda Gowin (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Jasmine An (Contributor) 4.75 avg rating — 8 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Hurry Love by Melanie Figg (Goodreads Author), Doug Abbott it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 4 ratings — published 2004	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.

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Melanie Figg's Blog

Published after 15 years

Trace

Wow. That's hard to admit, but it's true. I got out of my MFA program, and like most of us, expected my thesis to roll right on down the highway to a publisher. It didn't work that way. I kept writing, getting poems published. I won some grants for my work, I won some prizes and did readings. I got involved in the local arts community. I didn't teach in academia...I built a good life writing Read more of this blog post »

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Published on October 18, 2019 11:20 • Tags: first-book, poetry, publishing

Melanie is Currently Reading

Melanie is currently reading

New Poets of Native Nations

by Heid E. Erdrich (Goodreads Author)

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Jul 09, 2019 03:09PM

Melanie’s Quotes

“War is an absolute failure of imagination, scientific and political. That a war can be represented as helping a people to 'feel good' about themselves, or their country, is a measure of that failure.”
― Adrienne Rich

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