Melissa Tagg is the USA Today bestselling, Christy and Carol Award-winning author of swoony and hope-filled small-town contemporary romances. She’s also a former reporter, current nonprofit marketing strategist, and total Iowa girl.
Melissa has taught at multiple national writing conferences, as well as workshops and women’s retreats. When she’s not happily lost in someone else’s book or plugging away at her own, she can be found spoiling her nieces and nephews, watching old movies, and daydreaming about her next fictional hero. Connect with Melissa at melissatagg.com.
Now for the rest of the story:
It all started when my dad, at the ripe old age of sixteen, picked up my mom for their first date. She was thirteen. Thirteen!* Dad drove a cherry red car up the lane to my grandparents big ol’ green house and honked his horn…whereupon Mom jumped out of the apple tree she’d been waiting in and off they went…fishing. True story. (I’d give more details, but I’m saving it for a novella I plan to entitle Two Leaves…which is an inside joke…which means I really hope you’re reading this, Mom and Dad.)
Fast forward a few years and they got married and then a year and a half later I came along. Is this not the best (i.e. possibly worst) baby picture you’ve ever seen?
In addition to trying to take at least slightly better photos (but generally failing), today I also work full-time at a homeless non-profit while playing author on the weekends and sometimes early in the morning, occasionally in the evening…but never late at night because apparently I’m now an old woman who can’t stay awake past 10.
You can check out my books here…or download a printable reading list here.
Sometimes people ask why I write romantic stories. The short answer is because it’s fun. The longer answer is because I love the idea of making people laugh, making them swoon…and maybe, hopefully, inspiring or encouraging or challenging them in the process. I believe laughter paves the way for truth. It gets us all comfortable and settled in and prepped for the heavier stuff. And romance tugs on our vulnerabilities. Stories, no matter the genre, change us. They make us think, they get under our skin, they get us to ask questions we might not otherwise. They get us to feel things we might not otherwise.
Other than stories, I love, love, love talking about faith, my insanely cute nieces and nephew, classic movies, baby goats, Pop-Tarts and the bookworm life. Finally, I probably love Needtobreathe, flannel and candy corn more than any other person you will ever meet.
*Um, when I was thirteen, I had braces and glasses that took up two-thirds of my face…and stretch pants with stirrups were a staple in my closet. Yeah, not so first-date-ready. Though, I did rock the slouch socks.