By: Melissa Parks

My husband reads car repair manuals.

I’m grateful he has the brain to persist through that dreary copy—because when you own three used cars with hundreds of thousands...

By: Dave Goetz

Don’t bury the lede.

That is a principle that can be applied to many forms of writing.

It is especially true in hard reporting stories.

In journalism, the “lede” or...

By: Dave Goetz

I don’t think you can really learn to write. Which is why few fine art programs in writing turn out prolific writers.

Mostly, you need to be trained to write.

You train...

By: Melissa Parks

Before lockdown in March 2020, an HGTV producer (the team behind The Property Brothers) wanted to talk with me about developing a TV show around flea market decorating.

I’m...

By: Melissa Parks

It was a hallelujah day when my Tupperware drawer stopped shaming me for being dysfunctional.

Pieces we inherited after dinner at friends’ homes were tossed. Pieces that...

By: Melissa Parks

Don’t tell my husband. I’ve spent $1,008 on nothing. Nothing. 

That’s what $14 a month for five years adds up to. No one would call me thrifty, but even I...

By: Melissa Parks

J.S. Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” is like chamomile tea with a splash of lemon and drizzle of honey: Smooth. Sweet. Warm. Inviting.

 Not when...

By: Melissa Parks

Over the holiday break, I finally reached 30k followers on Instagram, after hovering around 28k for months. 
 
And the followers keep following. As I write this,...

By: Melissa Parks

If I wasn’t speeding down the expressway already late for my appointment, I would have jotted down this scene from a podcast I was listening to. 
 
It would make for...