Melissa Willis is a writer from northern New Mexico, USA. She is a hobby family historian and genetic genealogist who weaves together the stories of her ancestors. She lives on a diversified farm with her family where she documents the past and present in the margins of her busy days. Her personal blog is undertheelderberrytree.com, and you can find her on Bluesky @melis-willis.bsky.social.

PHYSICAL

• THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT: It must’ve been the mid-1980s when I first read Stephen King’s The Stand. I was probably too young for such stories, but it filled my imagination with visuals of a whole new world, for better or for worse, and there was no looking back. Alas, when I found out about THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT, I had to get my hands on it. This short story anthology, fully authorized by King himself, brings us back into the world of The Stand from different points of view, during and after Captain Tripps wreaks havoc on society. At nearly 800 pages in total, each short story (~20 pages each) offers just a snippet into the plague that haunted so many of our dreams. I’m taking each story as it comes, when time and space allow, and my youth heart couldn’t be happier.
• Creative Journals: When I finally committed to keeping a physical journal in 2020, I knew I wanted to have a proper cover with fresh inserts that could be replaced when one journal was full. So, I began searching for a journal cover that would last through years of regular use and fell in love with Oberon Designs leather embossed offerings. I started with the Honeybee cover for my personal journal and have since added two more journals to my shelf; a Heritage Journal for creatively tracing my ancestry and a Folk Magic Journal for documenting nature’s cycles, herbalism, and my spiritual practices. I am so glad I took this route and love how each cover gently softens over time, adding comfort and security to the stories they each hold.
• Noise Cancelling Earbuds: As someone who lives in a tiny house on a diversified farm with a lot going on, being able to pop in my earbuds and have agency about how much I can and cannot hear happening around me has absolutely saved my sanity. Whether I’m listening to music, an audio book, or a TV show, being in my own world while not entirely closing out the household or the critters outside is such a gift.

DIGITAL

• The StoryGraph: What can I say, I’m a sucker for solid lists and pretty charts. After spending much of my youth with my nose in books, my young adulthood found me reading for educational purposes instead of for fun. Add children and a career to the mix and reading for the joy of it just took the back seat. A few years ago, though, I decided to intentionally read for fun again and I’ve never looked back. While I have personal reading goals and a massive TBR list, I’m not in competition with any speed readers out there. The StoryGraph keeps me organized in ways I never could on my own and the colorful data tracking is quite satisfying.
• Star Trek: The Next Generation: A few months ago, I created a 50 before 50 list of affordable and achievable experiences I want to complete before I turn 50 in November of 2026. As soon as I started my list, I knew I had to add in re-watching every episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Not only because I’ve been wanting to do this for ages and just never have, but also because, in order to watch all 178 episodes, I’d need to get started right away. I’m now 13 episodes in and loving how 1980s fantastic it all is. Truly a blast from the past. And yes, Counselor Troy and Wesley Crusher are still my favorite characters.

INVISIBLE

There But For The Grace

It could have happened.

It had to happen.

It happened sooner. Later.

Nearer. Farther.

It happened not to you.

You survived because you were the first.

You survived because you were the last.

Because you were alone. Because of people.

Because you turned left. Because you turned right.

Because rain fell. Because a shadow fell.

Because sunny weather prevailed.

Luckily there was a wood.

Luckily there were no trees.

Luckily there was a rail, a hook, a beam, a brake,

a frame, a bend, a millimeter, a second.

Luckily a straw was floating on the surface.

Thanks to, because, and yet, in spite of.

What would have happened if not a hand, a foot,

by a step, a hairsbreadth

by sheer coincidence.

So you’re here? Straight from a moment still ajar?

The net had one eyehole, and you got through it?

There’s no end to my wonder, my silence.

Listen

how fast your heart beats in me.

~Wislawa Szymborska

These words have lived on the pulse of my heart since I first came across them decades ago. It is not lost on me how our lives can be seen as a series of happy (and not so happy) occurrences and, when you look back on the journey, our survival through the mosaic of it all is quite miraculous.