Melissa Burkart
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mwithpen.bsky.social
Melissa Burkart
@mwithpen.bsky.social
1.5K followers 570 following 1.2K posts
Possible sea witch living by the Maine coast. Spec fic/fantasy writer of flash fiction, novels, and everything in between. Perpetually Exhausted Parent™. Forever a theater kid. Bi/demi she/her.

melissaburkart.com
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mwithpen.bsky.social
A white mug with yellow handle and rim sitting on a counter beside a metal French press. Around the bottom of the mug are splashes of rainbow color revealing the word NOPE in white
November 16, 2025 at 2:44 PM
mwithpen.bsky.social
Sunrise: that time of day when the sun shines through the windows at just the right angle to horrify me with the crumbs and other dirt on the floor
A light colored bamboo floor with crumbs and things casting long shadows
November 5, 2025 at 11:48 AM
mwithpen.bsky.social
You know, it’s pretty awesome when the librarians all just melt bc my 7 y/o is holding #StoryTime on Bob the Protoceid
A brown haired white girl in a purple unicorn dress reads Interrupting Cow to 4 other white kids while sitting on a blue carved stylized protoceid. 2 other books (Lizzards and Snow Babies) sit beside her. The camera can’t see any of their faces
August 25, 2025 at 8:21 PM
mwithpen.bsky.social
You know, it’s pretty awesome when the librarians all just melt bc my 7 y/o is holding #StoryTime on Bob the Protoceid
A brown haired white girl in a purple unicorn dress reads Interrupting Cow to 4 other white kids while sitting on a blue carved stylized protoceid. 2 other books (Lizzards and Snow Babies) sit beside her. The camera can’t see any of their faces
August 25, 2025 at 8:21 PM
mwithpen.bsky.social
IT’S GETTING REAL

(But I will never not feel awkward about my face on these things)

#TheatreSky
The image of a postcard for the upcoming show I’m in. It has 4 photos of the same heterosexual white couple progressing from top left to bottom right, in wigs and costumes somewhat indicative of the dates given each photo. The first, dated 1951, they are looking away from each other. The second is dated 1961 and she is looking away while her looks at her. The third is dated 1965 and she looks at him while he looks away. The fourth is dated 1970 and they are looking at each other and smiling. The text reads: Meetinghouse Theatre Lab PRESENTS Same Time, Next Year a play by Bernard Slade Directed by Shari John Starring Melissa Burkart and Tim Pugliese
August 19, 2025 at 1:07 AM
mwithpen.bsky.social
Skate park chalk art! Getting the kids out and trying to make the most of the last of summer
An eye with lips at one corner and something blue squirting out of the other, surrounded by blue flame-like curves and small bubbles-like circles of yellow
August 10, 2025 at 7:08 PM
mwithpen.bsky.social
It’s probably not a good sign when we’re get to the pond and my first thought is, “Are there more islands than normal?”

🤷🏻‍♀️

#MaineGothic
One of Maine’s few sand beaches, empty except for a tree, pile of rocks, and 2 kids. There are a few islands covered in evergreens. The water is calm (as far as we can tell), the sky a perfect blue with both wispy and fluffy clouds
July 29, 2025 at 6:07 PM
mwithpen.bsky.social
Such a theatre weekend in the best way 💜

-Was part of a staged reading last night
-Rehearsal tomorrow
-Currently sitting in a park with my 7 y/o waiting for Midsummer Night’s Dream to start

#TheatreSky
A small, simple stage outside against a backdrop of trees. Does it count as a selfie because you can see my foot?
July 26, 2025 at 9:58 PM
mwithpen.bsky.social
My husband gets me! 🤣
A 3D-printed card: blue square with yellow letters and outlines of 2 blobby creatures, one labeled 40 wearing a birthday hat having kicked the second, labeled 39, off a cliff. It reads, “Happy Birthday Mel”
July 17, 2025 at 8:19 PM
mwithpen.bsky.social
Some dark, non-political humor for this highly political day; or, Why I Find It Hilarious That Today Of All Days Is No Kings:

On this day 15 years ago, I got the phone call that my dad had died

His name was Dick King

Maybe the universe is telling us something 😂

…my humor can get a bit macabre…
A poster for No Kings Day on June 14th at 12:00 PM. It shows the Statue of Liberty without a torch, her raised hand instead closed into a fist. At the top, there are words that read "If there's money for a parade, there's money for Medicaid."
June 14, 2025 at 12:56 PM
mwithpen.bsky.social
How to spot a scam: Maine “traffic violation” edition

-It’s a text, rather than official mail via USPS
-Comes from a non-207 area code
-Says DEPARTMENT of Motor Vehicles/DMV. In ME, it’s BUREAU/BMV
-probably a bunch of other things I’m not bothering to look up
-I have no traffic violations 🤷🏻‍♀️
Screen shot of a text message that reads: Maine Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) Final Notice: Enforcement Penalties Begin on June 10. According to our records, your traffic violation remains unpaid. Under Maine Code 15C-16.003, if your fine is not settled by June 9, 2025, the following penalties will be enforced: 1. DMV violation database reporting 2. Suspension of vehicle registration effective June 10 3. 30-day suspension of driving license 4. Toll service referral with additional 35% processing charge 5. Possible legal prosecution and credit rating damage Pay immediately here: https://maine.vtoc.cc/pay?znb=6J0yCH Please resolve urgently to avoid further legal action and suspension. (Reply Y and re-open this message to click the link, or copy it to your browser.)
June 9, 2025 at 2:07 PM
mwithpen.bsky.social
The world is on fire but at least I have some comedy to escape into for a couple more weeks?

Obligatory green room selfie from the final dress rehearsal of Sunshine Boys—opening tomorrow!!!

#TheatreSky
A mirror selfie of a white woman with brown hair and heavy makeup wearing a vintage-style nurse’s uniform complete with box hat (I have no idea of the proper name for those things). The dress is unbuttoned to below the boobs so there’s a lot of cleavage hanging out. This character has one goal and that is sex
May 16, 2025 at 1:05 AM
mwithpen.bsky.social
THE WILD GARDEN

🧑‍🦳 middle aged mc
🍄 murder garden
🔪 murder mom
📚 forbidden library
🤫 quiet revolution
💥 small actions shake the world
🏳️‍🌈 queer rep

#Q #SFF #A #LGBT #novella #QuestPit
A wooden bookshelf of dark leather-bound books and a wooden ladder reaching up. Photo by Tim Van Cleef
May 7, 2025 at 10:34 PM
mwithpen.bsky.social
THE WILD GARDEN

When Q leaves her (murder) garden to help a heist, everything she thought she knew about herself begins to unravel. She must choose between the lie of peace and the lure of human connection

#SFF #A #LGBT #Q #QuestPit
A worn wooden door in an age-stained wooden wall, overgrown with ivy and other plants. Photo by Viktor Mogilat
May 7, 2025 at 3:57 PM
mwithpen.bsky.social
...ever heard of a murder garden?

When Q leaves her garden to help steal a murderer's artifact, everything she thought she knew about herself begins to unravel. She must choose between the lie of peace and the lure of human connection.

THE WILD GARDEN

#QuestPit #Q #A upmarket #SFF novella
A worn wooden door in an age-stained wooden wall, overgrown with ivy and other plants. Photo by Viktor Mogilat A wooden bookshelf of dark leather-bound books and a wooden ladder reaching up. Photo by Tim Van Cleef Pears rotting on the ground. A yellowjacket is eating one. Photo by a-b
May 7, 2025 at 1:14 PM
mwithpen.bsky.social
I love Bangor and its arts community! A not-insignificant part of me wishes we could live here part time (I don’t want to give up my writing retreat home in the woods). These murals scattered around the city like Easter eggs make me so happy 💜
On a gray wet day, a brick wall with a bright mural of bugs—bees, ladybugs, butterflies, ants, worms, etc—among flowers and mushrooms, also showing soil layers with a mole and…maybe a fox? Curled up in a burrow
March 31, 2025 at 9:34 PM
mwithpen.bsky.social
And that’s the second revision DONE!!!

This draft was all about tightening and clarity so for all my cutting, the total word count went down <2k

Next up: Write the synopsis, give it a proper title, then QUERIES

#WriteSky #AmWriting
A photo of my laptop screen showing “//end” in a Word document. The lower left hand part of the screen shows a page count of 118 and a word count of 32,977
March 26, 2025 at 3:07 AM
mwithpen.bsky.social
This was my feed 🤣
My BlueSky feed! Top post by Nathaniel Swift: “Nothing like waking up at 5am for baseball. Go Cubs!” Immediately above a post by Ashley Fairbanks: “keeping track of who is silly enough to wake up for 5AM baseball so I can recruit you into my Tour de France cult”
March 18, 2025 at 10:00 PM
mwithpen.bsky.social
I chopped off my hair and dyed it red today! And youngest child is SO PROUD to be 4 now and SO EXCITED to start pre-k in the fall (though really I am the most excited 😂)
A terrible selfie of me, a white woman wearing a black and white cardigan with freshly cut and dyed dark red hair blowing in the wind. The sun is bright and the sky behind me is a brilliant blue
March 12, 2025 at 12:27 AM
mwithpen.bsky.social
That is a much prettier cover than the edition I have! Thank you for reminding me of it—most of my writing books are buried in clutter of kids and I’ll-organized-when-I-have-time (lol) so I’d forgotten it completely. Between that and WONDERBOOK I think I’ve got a decent starting place
2 books on a sage green carpet: WONDERBOOK by Jeff Vandermeer and CHARACTERS & VIEWPOINT by Orson Scott Card, which still has its sticker from Half Price Books in Seattle (he may know his craft, but I’m not giving bigots money)
March 10, 2025 at 1:57 AM
mwithpen.bsky.social
Yesterday:

6 hours round trip solo driving mostly in rain
Once-a-year load up on TJ’s snacks
Wandering a tiny corner of a city I love
Freaking AMAZING izakaya dinner w/ a friend I haven’t seen in years
Getting to see @amalelmohtar.com & @catvalente.bsky.social in conversation

Worth every moment 💜
My 7 year old’s cat stuffie, a Siamese named Wendy, on the dusty dashboard of my car looking through the rain-streaked windshield at the Trader Joe’s parking lot. My kid was very concerned I’d be in Portland without her so insisted I take the cat 🤷🏻‍♀️ A “PORTLAND TRAILS” sign at the top of a set of stone steps leading downhill between residential to the end of a dead end street. Everything is great and wet and the snow looks old and tired in its stubborn refusal to melt away Catherynne M. Valente and Amal El-Mohtar laughing together, seated on stools on a small stage. Corner of wooden tables are in the foreground and abstract paintings on the wall behind them Me, a dark haired white woman in a white-and-black heathered sweater, at 11:30 pm looking into the camera after a 3 hour slog driving through rain and fog in the dark so I can be home to help get my oldest off to school in the morning. Wish I’d been able to stay longer and meet more people but I had to book it home as soon as I could
March 6, 2025 at 3:59 PM
mwithpen.bsky.social
Show me your mugs
A white Dimspirations mug with yellow handle and rainbow splashes along the bottom revealing the word NOPE. Beside it is a stainless steel French press and behind it is a burr grinder and other kitchen clutter
March 2, 2025 at 1:10 PM
mwithpen.bsky.social
My 7 y/o wrote a wonderfully silly picture book & wants to donate a copy to every library she knows. When she went to give it to her school library, the principal gave her the chance to read it to the entire school

I am so proud 💜

#WriterMom
My kid wearing a blue and orange poncho I knit her years ago over her purple unicorn dress, over pastel tie dye leggings and tall winter boots. She’s sitting on a tall backless wooden stool and reading from her book, which is printed on standard white paper. The principal stands behind her holding a mic and wearing a purple cardigan over a gray dress. For privacy, both their faces are covered by purple circles. They’re in the school gym with a shiny wooden floor and blue wall with safety mats in the background The image is a screenshot from my phone of the school’s app because I can’t download photos but I had to keep proof of this moment
February 28, 2025 at 3:45 PM
mwithpen.bsky.social
I just finished the poncho my 3 y/o has been requesting for months and I WON YARN CHICKEN

#knitting #winning
A small red knit poncho on a gray couch. A portable wooden yarn holder with blue contrast design and a blue wrist strap sits on top with the tiniest remnant of the red yarn still on it
February 17, 2025 at 7:35 PM
mwithpen.bsky.social
I got married at 23 to the person I’d dated since I was 19. Still viscerally remember walking through my Capitol Hill neighborhood in Seattle to process the realization that marriage meant being a unit and some options for the future

(Image stole from @blazeautumn.bsky.social alt text added)
Quotes reading, “Sometimes I can hear my bones straining under the weight of all the lives I’m not living.” And, “How do we forgive ourselves for ask the things we did not become?” Attributed to Jonathan Safram Foer // Doc Luben
February 6, 2025 at 3:31 PM