Melissa Smith Explores Love, Cosmos, and Creative Freedom Through Genre-Spanning Stories

PHOTO: Melissa Smith, author of Nyanine’s Divide and a guiding voice in indie publishing, continues to uplift readers and writers alike.

A Passionate Storyteller Blending Sci-Fi Wonder With Heartfelt Romance To Uplift and Inspire

Melissa Smith, author of Nyanine’s Divide, shares her journey as a genre-spanning writer, self-publishing advocate, and creative mentor in this engaging Mosaic Digest interview.

Melissa Smith is a storytelling force whose literary world overflows with heart, hope, and imagination. Whether she’s penning steamy romances, YA sci-fi adventures, or emotional tales of love and resilience, Melissa invites readers into stories that feel both intimate and expansive. Her most recent release, Nyanine’s Divide, marks the fifth instalment in her Among the Cosmos series—a sweeping, emotionally charged sci-fi romance saga that delves into universal mysteries and the healing power of unity.

Beyond her own captivating fiction, Melissa is a dedicated advocate for the writing community. Her guide, Becoming a Self-Published Author, is an empowering resource for aspiring authors navigating the often-intimidating world of indie publishing—especially those working with limited means. Through her roles as editor, formatter, and designer, Melissa uplifts fellow creatives with generosity, humility, and expertise.

Melissa Smith crafts emotionally rich, genre-blending stories that celebrate love, resilience, and the limitless power of imagination.

A stay-at-home mother driven by passion, purpose, and curiosity, Melissa writes not just to entertain, but to inspire. Her stories are fuelled by personal truth, creative courage, and the unshakable belief that everyone deserves a happy ending. Mosaic Digest is proud to feature this insightful interview with an author whose work reminds us that love—whether across galaxies or right here on Earth—always matters.

Your latest release, Nyanine’s Divide (Among the Cosmos, #5), continues your sci-fi romance series. What inspired this installment, and how does it evolve the overarching narrative?  

I was inspired to write the conclusion to the series with this book and its sequel after learning some very interesting theories from watching Ancient Aliens. I love exploring ideas about the universe, and this really helps to wrap up and explain the issue we’ve been questioning from the beginning of the series about the divide in this planet’s people, who started it, why, and how to fix it once and for all. 

You’ve authored Becoming a Self-Published Author, offering guidance to aspiring writers. What motivated you to create this resource, and what key advice do you emphasise for newcomers? 

I was motivated to write this guide of ideas and suggestions to help other authors in my shoes, authors with little to no budget for getting out there, who needed a helping hand to start building their author presence but didn’t know where to start. My key advice, as stated in the guide many times, is to take what advice and information you can, use what works for you, and don’t give up on your dreams. There is no one-size-fits-all way to succeed, you have to find what works best for you. And that’s why I wrote a guide of suggestions and tips, not a step-by-step guide that may not work for some. 

In When You Know and Fight Duet, you delve into themes of love and resilience. How do your personal experiences influence the emotional depth in your romance novels? 

I’ve always been a hopeless romantic and believed that everyone deserves to have love in their life in some way. I’ve watched my parents go through divorce, addiction, and so much more. Writing about characters who struggle but still find a happy ending, it’s all I wanted in my life, to get out of the struggles and find a happy ever after. I have it now, and I want to share that heartwarming feeling with others through my stories of empowerment and true love. 

Balancing roles as an author, editor, formatter, and graphic designer to other writers is impressive. How do these roles complement each other, and what have you learned from supporting fellow authors? 

I’ve learned many skills I need to be successful as an author from working in these roles, learning from other authors, and helping them. In helping them, they often help me as well in many small ways, so it’s a great give and take type of career where we help each other succeed, and I love that. There’s always something new to learn, someone new to meet, and it’s such a great experience to grow this way, learning from others and sharing my own wisdoms as well. 

Your writing spans genres from steamy romances to YA sci-fi. How do you navigate these diverse genres, and what draws you to explore such varied storytelling avenues? 

Like many people, I have multiple interests, and those different interests have made it easy for me to write different things. I write contemporary romance with crime drama because of my love of Law and Order and true love, and I write sci-fi romance because I love the idea of other worlds and aliens and so much more out there. The YA series was for my baby sister specifically, but I may write in YA more in the future, it was a nice change of pace from the steamy romances I usually write. Who knows, I may even branch into more genres, but for now, I have a big universe to build and lots of plans, so this is enough for the moment. 

Reflecting on your journey since your debut, what moments stand out as pivotal in your writing career, and what aspirations do you hold for the future?  

Many of the moments I feel are most pivotal for my career are moments when I made new author friends who taught me so much to help me succeed. Without them and their words of wisdom and help, I wouldn’t be where I am today. Without them, I would never have learned how to properly handle graphics, a newsletter, join group parties and hops on social media. This isn’t a career I could build myself, so my pivotal moments are thanks to those who helped me when I needed it most. I simply aspire to continue this journey, to continue growing as an author, continue helping other authors to give back, and I hope that I will continue to inspire my friends, family, and readers with my words. I began this journey to give myself something to do, a passion, but also to show my kids that you can make your own dreams come true in your own ways. I never planned to be an author, it was never one of my top career choices, it was never one at all, but here I am, and I’m never going back.