Like most writers, Jill Madden Melchoir has been putting pen to paper for as long as she can remember. But perhaps unlike most writers, Melchoir’s writing didn’t start with stories or poems: “It was writing lists of stuff I liked, literally just lists of things that I thought were cool—rain, swimming in the river near my house, painter’s pants, shiny rocks.”
There was also a diary with a little gold key where she penned the names of her crushes and end-of-year sentimental essays describing the things she’d learned. Then, in 5th grade, she remembers a particular school assignment that changed everything. “[I] wrote this poem about having gum in my hair and [getting] up late and [missing] the bus. I thought it was hilarious. And one of the boys in my class said to me, with the utmost scorn, ‘What are you gonna be when you grow up, a writer or something?’ I was like, ‘You know what? Yes, Steve, maybe I will!’”
This fearless attitude has driven most of her writing career. Melchoir has been entering writing competitions since she was 16. Even from this early age, she says she wasn’t too afraid to share her work with others. “It’s funny because sometimes I feel like I’m writing the same two poems over and over. Like, half of them [focus on] gratitude and melancholy as the themes. … The other half
