Today we’d like to introduce you to Melissa Neeb.
Hi Melissa, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hi, My name is Melissa, and I am a compulsive creative.
I have always been that way, from the first time I picked up a crayon, a pencil, a book, a camera.
I have been writing, drawing, reading, creating, and photographing my whole life.
I started a little blog called Faith in the Mess in 2020 when, you know, the world was a dumpster fire that we could not escape from. Because at that point, why not?
I was immersed in writing every day and creating content and I loved every second of it. My platform grew consistently. In addition to my own page, I got published by other websites: Her View From Home, His View From Home, Filter Free Parents, Parenting Teens and Tweens, Grown and Flown, and Moms of Teens and Tweens.
A year later, I started blog #2 called Never Empty Nest. It caught like wildfire.
I have gotten some incredible opportunities along my writing journey. I’ve been interviewed on podcasts, had pieces published in books, created online communities, and recently met some of my favorite writer friends from across the country at a weekend retreat on the Jersey Shore.
If my words were never read by another soul again, I would still be writing. I can’t stop. I am just so grateful when anyone reads my words and is able to see themselves and their situation in them. It is an honor to connect in such a raw, truth-telling way.
Being a creative is my life’s joy. There is nothing else I would rather be doing.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Around 6 months ago I began having an existential crisis, which is an interesting and foundation-shattering thing to have happen in the midst of running a platform about faith.
My core beliefs started to shift and my writing followed suit. In addition to feeling a bit orphaned by my church and some loved ones, I lost followers on my page and began suffering from a lot of doubt and imposter syndrome.
Who was I to be writing about faith?
I was very fortunate to have a small group of fellow writer friends who just so happened to be going through the same faith shift at the time. They were a lifeline and a huge source of comfort.
They continue to remind me to this day that my questions are valid, my uncertainty accepted, and that I am loved just as I am without any qualifiers.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My writing is focused on my faith journey and also on the beauty and challenges of raising two teens.
My style is nostalgic and poetic. I love documenting life as it unfolds in all its imperfections. I find the ordinary to be sacred and I try to capture the complex emotions in the simplest moments.
I love my family: all the versions of my kids as they grow older, my messy beautiful marriage to the love of my life, and adventuring with our 3 rescue dogs.
What makes you happy?
Quiet mornings make me happy. Time to anticipate the day unfolding. The sun slowly rising, the first sip of hot coffee, being surrounded by dogs.
Also, having conversations with people in which the niceties and talk of weather are stripped away. Conversations about the things that light us up and make us cry for no reason and see the humanity in each other.
Thinking about Jesus makes me happy. Trying to live a life that even slightly resembles his character: how he loved so completely and was compassionate and merciful and so, so gentle.
Dusty books and new ideas and changed perspectives and blazing fireplaces and spending time with beloved friends and rescuing animals makes me happy.
Traveling and watching the sun rise in different places makes me happy.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: instagram.com/never_empty_nest instagram.com/faith_in_the_mess
- Facebook: facebook.com/neveremptynest facebook.com/faithinthemessbymelissaneeb
