Jane A Mellor - Writer

Although born in San Francisco, Jane Mellor lived in Western Canada for most of her adult life where in 1990 she began a career freelancing for Canadian and US lifestyle and travel magazines.

A graduate from Simon Fraser University’s The Writers Studio in Vancouver BC, her current literary work often examines her romance with nature and the human spirit through vignettes of poetry, lyric prose and short fiction.

Recently returned to San Francisco, Jane continues work on her second book of poems and is excited about the progress of her rites of passage story of a young woman whose adventures take her from the empowering political and social landscape of urban San Francisco in the sixties to the isolated ‘bush’ of rugged, rural British Columbia.

Current Info

Quills Canadian Poetry Magazine

Once, a poem by Jane Mellor, published in Quills Canadian Poetry Magazine. Check it out.

Current Projects

- A poetry manuscript out for consideration

- A novel about a young woman whose adventures take her from the empowering political and social landscape of urban San Francisco in 1968 to the isolated 'bush' of rugged, rural British Columbia.

- A second poetry manuscript in the works

- A book of short fiction in the works

Current Reading Material

- On Writing, by Stephen King

- You Look Fine, Really, by my sister Christie Mellor

- Just finished Olive Kitterage, by Elizabeth Strout

Current Groups/Memberships

- Member of The San Francisco Public Library

- Member of The Poetry Society, London

- SFU/TWS Alumni

- SFU/TWS Advisory Committee 2008/2009

- Host and organizer of TWS Reading Series from Jan 2008 to June 2009

Poetry

POETRY & LYRIC PROSE: Words chosen for rhythm and musicality are played out through Jane's poetry and lyrical prose, often inspired by rich tapestries from every day life; lively movement, raw emotion, longing.

Once

Once, when it was February
you tickled me under my
thick-as-sheep’s-wool fleece,
carried me over
snow mounds to silver ponds
where we skated far,
far across what seemed like
the edge of the winter, twirling
and racing, arms swinging
to and fro, while
cutting blades sliced the
coarse surface. More ...

Fiction

FICTION: To tell a story from the imagination one must dream. To write that story one must take that dream deeper into a world beyond ordinary into extraordinary, plunge deep into that place where the minds-eye runs wild and free.

Coffee Break

Constable Percy sat down at his desk. He picked up his coffee mug, the one his wife gave him as a joke for his twenty five years on the force - the one with the saying 'not a morning person' written in bold type with a picture of a ragged looking groundhog surfacing from a long winter's nap - and drew it to his lips. The phone rang. More ...

Nonfiction

NONFICTION: How delightful to take a romp through someone else’s miserable or glorious life, to be drawn into another’s clandestine world, or to be taken on a historical journey to another place and time.

Finding Kingsway

What is it about Kingsway anyway? It’s like a main artery gone awry. Every time people I know get onto this street, by default or not, they get so turned around that grown men have been known to break down and cry. I kid you not. More ...

Squirrely

I didn't sleep last night. Again.
It wasn't because I didn't want to. I did. And it wasn't for lack of trying.
It wasn't menopause, sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome or my wild imagination. It wasn't a boy-toy, or from drinking too much wine with the girls after work. No, my lack of sleep last night was directly related to squirrels. More ...