S2E17: Writer Melissa Sharman on writing the book you needed

**Season 2: The Home Season** *The second season of Creative Momentum with Meg, The Home Season, features interviews with Australian writers and artists where I explore how and why people do their creative work.* **Episode 17: Melissa Sharman, Writer** Melissa Sharman is a Gold Coast-based writer, domestic and family violence specialist, and founder of Egg Donation Australia, who recently released her debut memoir *The Beauty of Broken Things* (Hawkeye Publishing, May 2026). The book is an unflinching and ultimately hopeful account of leaving a violent marriage, finding resilience and discovering that the worst things that happen to us can become our greatest offering. Melissa is someone who writes because she has to, fitting it in at night and on weekend writing sprints around a full-time job. She came to this memoir the hard way, starting over more than once until she found the version she was willing to be honest in. In this episode we chat about: How writing evenings and weekend Pomodoro sprints at Queensland Writers Centre events became the backbone of her creative routine Why she stopped writing for an audience and wrote something ‘completely raw, for no one’ and how that changed everything about the memoir The difference between having a good story and having the voice to tell it, and what she learned reading hundreds of memoirs in her own genre How she navigated the legal and ethical complexities of memoir, from a lawyer’s review to changing names and writing from her own experience rather than declaring facts Why she thinks the writing process is not just the time you sit with a pen, but everything you observe, read, and absorb in between The advice that unlocked her: ‘don’t be afraid to write crap’ Whether you are sitting on a personal story you haven’t yet found the courage to tell, trying to work out how to structure a memoir, or simply looking for permission to start badly and improve, this episode will give you both the practical tools and the genuine encouragement to begin. Melissa is warm, direct and completely unafraid of talking about the hard parts. **Connect with Melissa** Melissa on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/melissa\_sharman_ Melissa’s website https://melissasharman.com.au/ Melissa’s book: The Beauty of Broken Things https://hawkeyebooks.com.au/collections/melissa-sharman/products/the-beauty-of-broken-things Find all Creative Momentum with Meg show notes **and interviews:** https://megdunley.substack.com/s/creative-momentum-with-meg-dunley *A special thanks to Yvonne Morton for the music accompanying this episode. You can find Yvonne on* Bandcamp *(*https://yvonnemorton.bandcamp.com/*) and* Instagram*.(*https://www.instagram.com/yvonne.morton/*)* Get full access to Musings with Meg at megdunley.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Musings with Meg at megdunley.substack.com/subscribe