Melanie Harless lives with her husband of 53 years in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. A former school librarian, she retired thirteen years ago and, in addition to spending time with her grandchildren, she began to write. She provided a monthly travel column for a regional magazine for several years and her creative nonfiction and poetry have now been published in several anthologies and in online and print magazines. Melanie serves on the board of Tennessee Mountain Writers and is a volunteer trip coordinator for the Oak Ridge Institute for Continued Learning.