From hobby to published author: Rochester writer launches first novel

(ABC 6 News) – A Rochester woman has written and published her first novel and held a book signing/meet the author event at Garden Party Books in Rochester on Sunday.

M.A. Melby wrote her new love story/thriller, ‘Bad Memory,’ from cover to cover in about a month and a half.

“I write quite quickly actually,” Melby said.

During the pandemic she found herself sitting down to write a short story.

“I had a lot of free time and so I ended up writing a lot,” she said.

Melby ended up accidentally writing about 260,000 words.

Melby went to school for physics but has always loved to write poetry and fiction since she was younger.

“You don’t have to be incredibly popular for it to be worthwhile. You don’t have to be one of those authors who like somehow made it big. You always think ‘Hey it would be really cool if my work became popular and I’m going to make it as good as I can so that people enjoy it,'” she said.

There are five books within this novel, but she said you must still read it from beginning to end.

“When you get into writing, a lot of times you’re kind of dealing with your own stuff too, right? And putting that into words and I’m writing this book and I realize that a lot of the things that happen are more relevant than I realized,” Melby said.

Melby incorporated some personal ties into the novel. She said she has some personal experience with some of the things the characters experience throughout the book.

“You know, it’s fiction. You aren’t actually aren’t talking about real things, right? But of course, it’s impossible not to be talking about your own experiences because those are the only experiences you have,” she said.

Lastly, if you are wondering what the tie is to the gummy bears, Melby said you have to read the book to find out.

Melby said she has a few things on the back burner she is working on and hopes to have a few more books out in the next year.

You can find ‘Bad Memory’ at local bookstores such as Garden Party Books in Rochester, as well as on Amazon.