Melissa Robertson

The daughter of a librarian and now secondhand bookshop owner, Melissa spent many of her early years covering books with clear vinyl in front of the telly. Every now and again one would catch her eye and entice her attention away from the box and between the covers into another world. Holidays are now spent behind the counter of Rainydaybooks.com at the foothills of the Dandenongs (Melbourne).

After completing a double major in Music and Drama at La Trobe University (Bundoora), Melissa went on to work for many years in theatre in various positions from Company Manager to Community Theatre Worker. With five years involvement with Theatresports as both a player and administrator, Melissa embraced the craft of improvisation and word play. However, never quite could get the hang of improvising Shakespearean prose in a blues song!

Melissa also had the honor of working with two playwrights, Andrea Lemon and Owen Love as a Writers Researcher. In particular, Mr Love’s work was focused on the reclaiming of historical Indigenous stories of the Australian Aboriginal people. This work entailed many hours pouring over archives in the Mortlock Library (Adelaide), interviews with hundreds of people and devising a database system to house all these references for easy retrieval. Four plays later, twice included in the National Playwrights Conference, and three productions at events such as Adelaide Festival of the Arts, Melissa still relishes the opportunity to delve deep into history and pluck out some unlikely characters and discover their purpose for being.

This is when Melissa discovered the joys of technology and how it can enhance a traditional craft such as writing and now an avid user of the internet for her work since discovering its many benefits to increase efficiencies and connect to the world.  As the Initiator and Designer of the community based website www.festlinx.org through the open source program, JOOMLA, Melissa has first hand experience of the learning curve required to enter into this new world.

With 20 years experience as a community cultural development worker, facilitator of stories and trainer, Melissa now shares the skills of storytelling through the means of digital stories, “vox pop docos” (her own style of documentary story telling you can find on youtube). Above all, there is no doubt, Melissa loves a good yarn – telling it or listening, devising or editing.

The Tropical Writing Game is Melissa’s first writing blogging game – this will be yet another learning journey and made even more fun with her new found friends.