How Critically Acclaimed Memoirist Melissa Bond Writes

The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and Neuroscience

Critically acclaimed memoirist, Melissa Bond, spoke to me about her dark night of the soul, crowd-funding her lauded memoir, and the paperback release of BLOOD ORANGE NIGHT: A Memoir of Insomnia, Motherhood, and Benzos.

Melissa Bond is a narrative journalist, editor, award-winning poet, and speaker/performer whose breakout debut memoir, Blood Orange Night, is a Barnes & Noble non-fiction book of the month, and was selected by both The New York Times as one of the Best Audiobooks of 2022.

Publishers Weekly (in a Starred Review) said of the book, “In this raw and captivating debut, journalist Bond chronicles her volatile descent into a benzodiazepine addiction …. Bond’s narrative casts a burning light onto the hazards of overprescribing and the threat it poses to vulnerable people. This cautionary tale stuns.”

Melissa Bond blogged and became a regular contributor for Mad in America in the years of her dependence on benzodiazepines. She is a respected speaker and writer on the perils of over-prescribing benzodiazepines and has been featured on podcasts including The New York Times Book Review, and others.

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In this file Melissa Bond and I discussed:

• Her guerilla street poet/poverty phase and hosting National Poetry Slams
• Why she never imagined writing a memoir
• How she Kickstarted her hit book in just three days
• The transformative process of finding gems in the rubble of difficult times
• Her process, meditation practice, and “sitting beyond oneself”
• How to quiet the gnome of self-doubt
• And a lot more!

Show Notes:

• melissaabond.com
• Blood Orange Night: A Memoir of Insomnia, Motherhood, and Benzos By Melissa Bond (Amazon)
• Melissa Bond on Instagram
• Kelton Reid on Twitter

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