Sew Melissa Writes

Hello readers! Today's short story is being brought to you thanks to one of my friends and readers, Hayle. I hope you enjoy it! Most days, Elizabeth could take almost anything in stride. She could hold her head high, thank the Lord for the sunshine, and ignore the things that would bring her down. Today was not one of those days. Things had started out well, with the sun shining brightly through the clouds and in her window as she awoke, and the remembrance that she had bacon waiting in the fridge to fry this morning. Her step had some pep in it as she rolled out of bed and made her way to the closet for a clean skirt, even her amazingly messy hair had made her grin in the mirror as she brushed her teeth, and the excitement of a surprise party at work for one of her co-workers, who was retiring and today was their last day, had her humming her way through breakfast preparations. And then it had all gone south. Before she had even finished frying the bacon, the rain had star...

Little hands tugged at Anne's skirt as she set the mixing bowl on the counter. A little voice begged her, 'Up!' as Anne tried to stir the cake batter. Little feet stomped impatiently when Anne didn't stop what she was doing and give the little person attention. "Yes, Abbie, I heard you the first time. Just hold on." Anne sighed, looking down at two big blue eyes and hoping her little friend could wait just a minute more for her to pour the batter into the cake pan. This was Anne's life. A constant little shadow following her around, interrupting her work and feeling like all Anne's attention belong to that little person alone. Did it get annoying? Sometimes, but Anne was so used to her shadow that she rarely thought about it anymore. In fact, Anne actually liked the fact that someone thought she was the best thing since sliced bread. For the past year and a half, Anne had been babysitting two year old Abbie and her older siblings while their parents we...

"What have I gotten myself into...." Caroline groaned as she looked at the number by the inbox. 74 messages. And they had all come within two hours of Caroline taking over for her friend who moderated a book discussion group online. Her friend had warned her that the messages could be overwhelming at times, especially with over 300 members in the group. "I seriously should have reconsidered offering to help Hannah with this for the weekend..." Caroline muttered as she started opening messages. "I don't care if she is maid of honor at Rebekah's wedding!" Pushing back the frustration, Caroline read the first message. "Dear Moderator, I'm hoping you'll agree and send permission for me to advertise-" Deleted. Hannah had said specifically, no advertising. That was taken care of. "Dear Moderator, I have a question. I'm supposed to be studying for my test, and I was wondering if you could help me with a math problem- mayb...

I wrote this story last year, and it got me so tickled that I still go back and read it from time to time when I need a smile. Hopefully y'all can see the humor in it, but also the truth: gossip only hurts people, and says a lot more about the person gossiping than the person they're talking about! Update: I appreciate those who read my blog and take it for what it is- encouragement and made up stories. Sadly, there are those out there who only wish to indulge in back biting, sowing discord, and gossiping amongst family, friends and communities. So for this reason, I have turned off the ability to comment on this post. I appreciate those of you who read this from a godly standpoint and hope you continue to read and find encouragement.  For the most part, the Covington family lived in a peaceful world.  Since the passing of Mr. Covington, Mrs. Covington had done her best to give her children a happy, peaceful life. Her youngest children, still in school, were happy and heal...

I thought it was about time I introduce another of my fictional couples. Actually, this time it's a trio of characters, because the third character is too important for me to leave her out. Meet Josh.  Josh is a widowed father struggling to keep up with his growing daughter since he lost his wife. Quiet, serious and rather stern, Josh finds it easier to shut people out of the protective little world he has created for his daughter, rather than take chances that the life he has made for himself and his daughter might be disrupted. An architect by trade and Christian by choice, Josh has to face facts that having a broken arm, a rambunctious daughter and trying to take care of everything by himself isn't exactly possible at the beginning of this story, which brings me to my second character.... Meet Isabella.  Pretty, rich and heartbroken, Isabella has had her heart broken in love, though not quite like Josh has. Her dream of becoming a teacher has never quite came true, tho...

 This is another of my favorite short stories, perhaps even my own all time favorite. I hope you enjoy it! Seven little faces looked up with awe and fear at the stern, wrinkled face that gave no sign of friendliness as they entered the Sunday school room. Seven pairs of eyes took in the sparsely decorated room, wondering how they had managed to deserve moving from the fun kindergarten class to this scary, unfamiliar first grade class. Seven pairs of feet shuffled in unwillingly as the old lady who was to be their teacher boomed out,  “Let’s take our seats boys and girls.”  Little Rhoda Jones sat down on the closest chair to the door, her best friend Amber sitting next to her. The two scooted their chairs as close together as possible as if being closer to each other would protect them from whatever happened in first grade Sunday school.  “Now, since this is your first Sunday in my class,” Miss Todd said, her voice monotone and somber, “I’ll go over the ru...

Here's another short story I wrote that has been moved over from the other blog. Enjoy! Since Grandma Delany had taught Eva to crochet when she was a young girl, Eva hadn’t put her hook down. Her projects had started out small and clumsy, with so many mistakes that Eva could only smile and shake her head when she thought of them. Then her skill had grown, and her projects had grown larger, to detailed afghans, cozy sweaters, and ornate hats. Now, Eva felt her talent had reached its fullest potential, as her little home was covered nearly top to bottom with the works of her hands. There were intricate doilies on every table, gingham curtains hanging in her kitchen windows, and fanciful rugs beside every bed. There wasn’t a thing that Eva couldn’t- or hadn’t- covered with yarn or thread. Now her hands worked on a different project: a wedding gown. For her whole life, Eva Delany had dreamed of one thing: Her wedding day. She’s spent her teenage years pouring over wedding gown ...

 If you enjoy short stories, I hope you'll like reading this one. Mallory Mitchell usually saw good in everyone and everything. There was rarely a day when the sun wasn‘t shining or her world wasn‘t perfect. Today, however, it had already been a bad day, and she wasn’t in the mood to be charitable. After waking up with a sore throat, Mallory found her shower leaking all over the bathroom floor, her only pet- a goldfish named Henry- floating belly-up in his bowl, and her kitchen empty of anything that could be deemed a proper breakfast. There was a gray cloud hanging over her apartment and her head. After calling the landlord and waiting half the morning for the leak to be fixed, she spent another half an hour trying to clean the floor. Then, flushing Henry in a most undignified way, Mallory shoved her arms into her jacket and grabbed her keys before heading to the door. “Could this day get worse?” She mumbled, unlocking her car and leaving the apartment complex with the s...

Hello Readers! One of the posts you can look forward to on this blog will be introductions to my books and the characters in them. I thought I'd start off with one of my favorite couples from a story I've been writing for years. Now, sometimes my characters don't quite behave how I think they ought to, and they may change over time and through different drafts of their story, but the basic foundation remains the same. That's how Harmon and Anissa have been. Their book is going to be the first in a series of three books, and I'm writing all three simultaneously, so they often get little changes worked in as I write to accommodate their story plot. But, for now, here they are as I have them currently! Meet Anissa. As the oldest of a widow's two daughters, Anissa feels like the burden of taking care of her mother and sister falls solely on her shoulders. While she is young (early twenties) Anissa is mature beyond her years, thanks to a past that has ...