Melissa Ann Singer

@masinger.bsky.social

3060 Followers 790 Following

freelance book editor specializing in genre fiction, former Senior Editor at Tor; loves theater & art; basically a nerd. has a cat she/her demi/ace Jewish NYC, HCHS, SMC (cover image: "59th Street Bridge" by Jeffrey is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.)

I have like a million photos of Peri lying across my bosom like this. It is her favorite spot. In many of the pix, her head is titled up because she wants me to kiss the top of her noggin. In hot weather she plasters herself along my thigh instead, all furry and purring, on her side so I can ruffle her belly fluff. She is a brown&black mackerel tabby with blue-green eyes, about 8 years old. I am an older white woman wearing eyeglasses. I am not smiling bc I am trying not to drop my phone.
A photo of a butterknife with a shaped blade laying on a faux marble countertop
A photograpgh of 3 books, Alfred Bester's THE STARS MY DESTINATION, William Gibson's NEUROMANCER, and Philip K. Dick's DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP?, lying face-up on a table. The Bester and Dick are only partly visible; the Gibson and Dick are in school bindings.
Photo: a view from kinda above of a black&brown mackerel tabby who has squeezed herself into a space where she has room to stretch out but this way her tush is jammed firmly against her person. If left alone, she will lower her head to the computer and attempt a nap, but this is unlikely to happen today as I have work to do.
Photo: A sleepy brown and black tabby cat sniffs a woman's finger. The cat and woman are both relaxed and love each other.
A b&w photo of a young white woman's face. She is looking directly into the camera with a calm, neutral expression.
A bad selfie of a fat woman with short purple-pink hair and a generally displeased expression. She is not actually displeased; she is trying to focus the phone canera.
Photo of a woman's head taken at an angle to mostly show her short hair, which is plum-coloed.
Photo of a tabby cat spread horizontally across a woman's upper chest. The woman looks disgruntled but really is just trying to hold the camera steady.
Photo mostly focused on the face of a very relaxed tabby cat.
Photo: A black and brown tabby with a white chin tilts her head back so the human she's lying on can kiss her between her ears. Only the upper parts of the human's face is visible--most of the nose, then glasses, eyes, abd forehead--because she is in fact kissing the cat
A shot of a Tumblr post (I think it's Tumblr; I found it elseweb) Is-sni-ovg: In Romeo and Juliet's William Shakespeare Coffeeandpaper: I've been up for too long I didn't realize what what wrong with this Yulinkuang: AU where Romeo and Juliet are a bickering writing duo and William Shakespeare is their debut play they are trying to put on after college. Forsooth, hijinks ensue. Ai-firestarter: Hamlet is their emo friend who keeps complaining about his step-dad. Othello is their friend who got married too young and had their friend group's first ugly divorce over supposed infidelity. Macbeth is their politician friend whose ambitious girlfriend pushed him to cheat at a student union election, despite the fact that nobody actually noticed or cared. William Shakespeare is a parody of writers who use their friends as material for amped-up melodramas, and they colloquially refer to their play as Mmm Whatcha Say because their protagonist is obsessed with k$lying off all his characters.
The face of a glaring but purring tabby, with whiskers sticking out and up.
A tabby cat lying in a person's arms with her head tilted back and up. The person is kissing the top of the cat's head. The cat looks slightly demented but was purring loudly the whole time. The person looks a bit off herself for no good reason.
A photo looking straight through a window at a wire screen. The tight mesh of the screen is covered in little clumps of snow, ranging from a few flakes up to several inches in length. The top of a window guard intrudes into the bottom of the image. Part of a brick building can be seen through and beyond the clumps of snow. It's chilly but pretty.
Slightly blurred close-in photo of the face of a contented tabby cat.
A color photo of the head of a tabby cat, in profile against a wrinkled red fabric background. The cat's white whiskers stand out against her darker fur and she appears to be giving the camera side-eye.
A white-sheet ghost with small arms and tiny black dots for eyes flexes its tiny arms in a hugging motion. The caption reads, "ghost hug! You can't feel it, but it's there!"
a promo sheet for Jacquelyn Reingold, offering 1-on-1 TV script Consultations. Reingold is a TV writer, Executive Producer, and playwright, and has taught at NYU. her face is featured, along with thumbnails of shows she's worked on: "The Good Fight," "East New York," "In Treatment," and "Grace and Frankie" quotes on the image: "Her rigorous approach to analyzing and constructing story is invaluable."--Nina Braddock, "Mankind," "The Sinner"; "I still rely on Jackie for her resources and wisdom."--Davon Briggs, "Law & Order OC," "Snowfall"; "If you want to learn to write television, Jackie's where you need to go."--Molly Smith Metzler, "Maid," "Sirens"; "Jackie showed me what was possible and how to achieve it."--Julia Brownell, "This is Us," "Parenthood"; "The best screenwriting teacher I had!"--David Scherker, "The Traitors," "The Vow"
A pair of dark silver-gray metal 6-pointed star earrings, textured surfaces surrounding small purple stones (amethyst), mounted on a black card, in a clear plastic envelope.
A 2.53 Oz container of Dove "body love" beauty cream.
A small round object wrapped in green tissue paper with a gift tag that reads, Joy
A tabby cat leans her head back for a kiss from the woman she is cuddling with
A tabby cat snuggles, completely relaxed, in a woman's arms.
A photo of part of the top of a woman's head, showing that her hair is mostly purple, with an inch or so of dark brown and silver roots.
a horizontal bar graph showing Slate News Quiz results OP answered 8 out of 12 questions for 365 points and is marked "Winner!" Slate staffer got 127 points Average score was 343 points
A tabby cat looks stoned in a woman's arms. She's not, though, she's just in her happy place.
A woman's forearm with a tattoo of the Flatiron building
Libby status report from OverDrive, reads: Identified: We have identified an issue with Libby "tags" resulting in some functionality being impaired for users and are working on a resolution. posted November 1 at a little after 8 PM EDT
A round sticker with an illustration of the Unisphere in the center and the words Queens Votes Early around the edge.
A MetroCard for public transport in NYC. A small rectangle of smooth, stiff, coated paper with one notched corner and a magnetic strip, around the size of the palm of an average hand. Prone to getting midplaced.
An extremely relaxed and happy tabby cat cuddles in her person's arm.
A tabby cat lies in a woman's arms, purring loudly while being adorable.
A very close up, slightly blurry photo of a tabby cat's face as she pushes her head into her person's hand for early morning petting
The slightly blurry head of a brown-and-black tabby cat with blue and green eyes. She is shoving her head at a human because she wants to be petted now that the human is awake. Pets first, then breakfast.
A copy of SUPERNATURAL CRIMES UNIT: THE THIN BLUE LEY-LINE sitting on top of a stack of books
A copy of AT DARK, I BECOME LOATHSOME on top of a stack of books
Happy tabby cuddled in a woman's arms, looking a bit leonine
A contented tabby sits on her person's bosom, cradled in a human arm. All is right in her little furry world.
Slate news quiz results box, showing 3 bars indicating scores. "You"--the person who posted this--got 9 of 12 answers correct for 417 points. The Slate staffer got 271 points and the average score is 319 points.
A tabby cat lying on its side, back pressed up against a human's leg.
A statue of a frog-human, with a frogs head and a mostly human, nude body that still looks fragile, with its mouth open and tongue hanging out, in a pose which might evoke surprise or fear.
A black and brown mackerel tabby lies on her side with her back pressed against a woman's thigh and her legs stretched away from her body. Her front paws are tucked under. She is awake and purring and very relaxed.
A panel from a webcomic, in which a young woman has grabbed a large talking bird by the throat with one hand. The woman's face, seen in profile, expresses frustration, intensity, determination, and a bit of irony (via an eyebrow), at least by my interpretation.
A single hole punch sits on a desk.
Slate news quiz score box showing OP getting 9 questions right out of 12, for 419 points, beating both the Slate staffer, who had 303 points, and the average score of 360 points.
Same woman with short violet hair.
Same woman with short hair that is partly snowy white and partly very pale yellow.
Same woman with bluish grayish paste applied all over her hair, which is standing up in peaks and swirls on top of her head.
A woman's large, rectangular, fat face and head, showing her snoopy bangs and floppy hair. The hair is mostly a very light blue, with silvery white patches where the color has dropped out completely, with at least 2 inches of darker "roots," which are mostly brown but shot with silver strands.
The belly is not a trap! A woman runs her fingers through the super soft belly fur of a tabby cat that is completely relaxed, lying on its side and purring.
screenshot of two reviews from Reedsy. from Kat H. : Melissa is absolutely amazing!!!!! Her notes were incredibly thorough and detailed, and she went above and beyond what I expected! She also gave me ideas for taking the project in a new (and exciting!) direction--I've started working on revisions and I'm feeling more inspired than I have in a while! Melissa's feedback is taking my work to a whole new level (and gave me ideas on how to draft and structure future projects!) from Claire A.: Melissa provided a thorough review of my novel with detailed notes in a developmental edit. The notes reflected attention to detail, discussed specifics, and it was extremely evident that she put time, attention, and heart into the work performed. Communication was stellar and timely! Follow up conversations were beneficial and insightful.
The face of the sane cat, showing off her stunning blue-green-yellow eyes, with very small slotted pupils, as she stretches her nose toward her person's counter finger for a nose book. Her whiskers are sticking out extravagantly.
A slightly blurry image since both the cat and the person's hand are moving. The cat--same cat as in previous photo--is wiggling around to expose more tummy. The person is curling and incurring their fingers in the soft belly fur.
The head, shoulders, and front paws of a very relaxed brown and black striped tabby cat, lying on its side, pressed against a person's thigh, with a person's hand on the unseen belly, between the front legs, petting the cat's tummy. The cat is purring.
The cover of A Haunted History of Invisible Women by Leanna Renee Hieber and Andrea Jane's as seen on a tablet screen.
Same cat, grumpy and half-awake, a few seconds later, with one blue-green-yellow eye visible. Not really processing the world. Was asleep again moments later.
The front paws of a sleeping brown and black tabby, right paw crossed over left, completely relaxed. The cat's ears are visible behind the paws. The cat is apparently soundly asleep.
A clise-up of the face of a very alert brown-and-black tabby cat with turquoise and green eyes staring fixedly past the viewer, with slitted pupils showing the intensity of her gaze.
A wide- and wild-eyed tabby (who is lying down) glares sideways at the camera with one paw raised, prepared to defend a fully-wrapped Ricola throat drop from all comers.