Melinda Metz grew up in San Jose, California. People sometimes ask if she knows the way there. She kinda does, but she has an off-kilter sense of direction, so to be confident of arriving, it's better to consult some kind of navigational device. 

 

Her mother tried to teach her to read in kindergarten, but Melinda had no interest. She also had no interest in learning to write her name. (FYI: when Melinda was in kindergarten it was all about finger-painting, play time and naps.)  Eventually, she mastered both and even majored in English at San Jose State University.

 

After college, Melinda moved to Manhattan to seek her fortune, which involved learning to identify fruits and vegetables while working at a grocery store, making $2.73 working backstage for an off-off Broadway play (her part of the box-office profits) and editing books. 

 

Melinda made the leap from editor to author with a job writing a novelization of an episode of the "Goosebumps" TV show, an episode that was already based on a book. Not long after, she was hired to write the Roswell High book series, which became the "Roswell" TV show. She's been writing ever since, often teaming up with Laura J. Burns, most recently on the vampire novel CRAVE. Laura and Melinda also teamed up to write two TV pilots and work on the writing staffs of TV shows "Roswell" and "1-800-Missing." 

 

Melinda has never regretted learning to read and write her name.

Melinda Metz