TopShelf Magazine June 2023

MELINDA OWENS

REMINDER: This is an interactive magazine. Click on book cover or link to follow.

Q I WAS INTRODUCED TO YOUR WRITING WITH THE STORIES OF SERENDIIPITY WHEN YOU WERE PUBLISHING UNDER THE PEN NAME OF ANNE CONLEY, CAN YOU TELL THE PREMISE BEHIND THAT SERIES AND WHAT WAS THE DRIVING FORCE FOR THE DIVERSE STORYLINES?

I had recently moved to a small town in East Texas after living in Houston most of my life. It was such a culture shock that when I first started writing, I went with it. Since it was the beginning of my writing career, it’s a pretty rough writing style. I was trying to find my voice, you know? The first book is a girl next door with so much angst it makes me mad reading it now. The second and third books are sort of PNR-lite, and the fourth and sixth books are novellas. The fifth book, seventh, and eighth books are contemporary romance where I managed to tone back the angst for angst sake, and found some humor. The ninth book is where I discovered the mystery behind things and that’s where I found my voice. Saving Charlie is undoubtedly the best in the series, and the one that sort of sets the tone for the rest of my work.

Q: ALSO AS ANNE CONLEY YOU WROTE A BOOK ABOUT ANGELS…HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE IDEA THAT ANGELS COULD HAVE HUMAN EMOTIONS ? DID YOU HAVE A FAVORITE ANGEL FROM THAT SERIES?

It was actually my husband’s idea. I think we were actually drunk by the fire one night, just bullshitting, and he said, what if angels really could fall in love? You should write that. Of course, what actually came out was not exactly what he was thinking, but it’s still a fond memory.

Q: SO YOU WENT FROM SMALL TOWNS AND ANGELS TO ROMANTIC SUSPENSE WITH LOTS OF ACTION WITH YOUR BESTSELLING PIERCE SECURITIES SERIES, HOW DID YOU MAKE THE SWITCH OF SUB-GENRES? WHAT WAS THE MENTAL IMPUTUS FOR THE SWITCH?

Book Nine of the SoS, Saving Charlie, was a little suspenseful in some places. I really enjoyed writing that one, and wanted to try to go a little bit harder with it. I love action, both in books and movies, so I incorporated it. I loved the idea of a group of misfits running a security firm, and while I didn’t flesh them out that way as much as I initially planned, I just went with it and had fun. I love the Pierce boys, and owe a lot of my success as a writer to them.

Q: IN THE LAST FEW YEARS YOU MADE THE CHANGE FROM ANNE CONLEY TO MELINDA OWENS…WHY THE CHANGE OF PEN NAME AND WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE IN WHAT YOU WROTE AS ANNE AND WHAT YOU ARE WRITING AS MELINDA?

I was a rather popular author as Anne, and I didn’t know how to deal with people telling me what they wanted me to write. “Write so and so’s story!” “Write a story about this!” “Write this!” “Write that!” I seriously tried to write it all because I wanted to make people happy, but I just couldn’t. I got burned out writing stories that weren’t in my heart to tell. The burnout came right before the pandemic, and the pandemic killed my muse. Anne conley wasn’t coming up with ANYTHING. I thought I was done with writing, and I got super depressed. Like, changing my life depressed. I got a job at a bank, almost divorced my husband, stopped

talking to important people in my life.

As soon as I came up with a new pen name (again, drinking with a friend) I got a story idea that afternoon, started writing it the next day, and six months later had the Dark Knights in the City series almost completed. I decided Melinda would only write the stories she wanted to tell. Some are a little bit darker, more antiheroes than heroes, some are way sexier, some have some over the top action scenes and bad guys, some are just pure old erotica. Melinda is unapologetic, and I love her.

Q: WHAT GENRE BOOKS DO YOU NOT WRITE THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO TRY?

I would love to write some fantasy, but my daughter tells me I suck at it.

Q YOU HAVE ATTENDED MANY BOOK EVENTS AND WRITERS CONFERENCES – WHAT ARE THE TOP 3 BENEFITS FOR ATTENDING BOTH?

Meeting the people is hands down the best benefit. Readers, other authors, people in the industry… I’ve met some lifelong friends at those events (like you, heifer. I see you fishing.)

Q IF YOU HAD TO TELL AN ASPIRING OR NEW ROMANCE AUTHOR 3 THINGS TO ALWAYS REMEMBER, WHAT WOULD THEY BE AND WHY?

Everybody has advice, or a story, or a method for you to do things. Be nice, listen to them, then do what your freaking HEART tells you to do. This is your dream, not theirs. Do you.

Have your stuff edited and professional. Sure, you can do it all yourself, but it will show, no matter how good you are. Unless you have experience in graphics, don’t do your own cover.

Alpha readers and then beta readers before final edits are imperative. God, they catch some great stuff. If you don’t have any of those because you’re so new, hire a developmental editor. Or both. Both is amazing.

Q BECAUSE ALL AUTHORS ARE READERS, PUT ON YOUR READING HAT FOR THIS ONE…WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE GENRE TO READ RIGHT NOW, WHO IS THE FAVORITE AUTHOR AND WHAT ARE OTHER GENRES YOU READ THE MOST?

I’m currently working my way through everything G.T. Geissinger has published. I ran into her on Tiktok, and was in a serious slump. She’s gotten me out. I love her writing style. She writes everything from mafia, to romcom, to some serious uncategorizable stuff.

Also, I love Rebecca Zanetti’s post-apocalyptic series Scorpius syndrome, which was unfortunately published before the pandemic, and I’m not sure got the love it deserved, since it was about a virus that wiped out humanity. She’s got some SERIOUS ALPHAs.

Holy hell, they are hawt.

ABOUT ANNE CONLEY / MELINDA OWENS

Anne has written her entire life and has the boxes of angst-filled journals and poetry to prove it. She’s been writing for public consumption for the last four years. Currently she is writing two romance series. In Stories of Serendipity, she explores real people living real lives in small town Texas in a contemporary romance setting. In The Four Winds, she chronicles God’s four closest archangels, Uriel, Gabriel, Raphael, and Michael, falling in love and becoming human. She lives in rural East Texas with her husband and children in her own private

oasis, where she prides herself in her complete lack of social skills, choosing instead to live with the people inside her head.

Melinda Owens was born in 2020, when the world turned dark. Her previous muses leaving her, she recreated herself as a darker author, saving her own sanity in a world with happilyever-afters in spite of her own frustrating circumstances. She lives in East Texas with an abundance of cats and her family of giant people.

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