Throughout the past few years, a neatly written note would occasionally appear on the chalkboards of the science center: “Finish H.O.T.P.S.” This cryptic message caught the imaginations of passers-by, leaving many to scratch their heads at its origin and meaning. What could the acronym mean? Is it something science related? Who wrote it? All along, it had simply been a reminder for Senior Nursing Student Ashley Mellinger; a reminder to finally finish Heartache On The Play Stage, the novel she has been writing since she was 16 years old.
And now, it seems that those chalk notes have finally paid off: Heartache On The Play Stage is complete and fully published, marking the fulfillment of the promise Mellinger had made to herself all those years ago, and her ascent to authorship. The book delves into the growing pains associated with being an American teenager in high school—from prom date drama to grief and loss. Through the perspective of the main character, Katie, and her ragtag group of friends, the story engages honestly and sympathetically with the inner lives of teens.
Though Mellinger had originally planned for Katie to be the character she wrote most of herself into, she soon found that many of the story’s motifs were drawn from personal experience:
“Some of them are very first-world problems. But other problems are universal, like. What does it mean to be an older sibling? What does it mean to be a sort of father figure to your younger sibling? What does it mean to lose the love of your life? A lot of these struggles are similar to my own. I can’t speak to every author’s experience, but I feel that you put yourself into your writing, whether you like it or not.”
The heart of the book, she continued, comes from these lived experiences; a strength that is aided by her younger self’s groundwork-writing for the book, much of which coincided with her own teenage struggles and triumphs.
Since publication, Mellinger has had little time to bask in her accomplishment; her sparse free time is split amongst nursing clinicals, extracurriculars, and homework. As a long-time colleague in Peer Educators, I asked a pertinent, simple question: How are you?
“I plead the fifth,” Mellinger quipped. Stifling laughter, she continued: “It’s a lot of emotions… It’s my baby. I’ve been working on it since I was 16, I’m 23 now. I’ve been working on it since forever; as long as I’ve known myself I’ve been working on this novel, so the fact that it’s done and published is wild to me. That there’s nothing else to work on… except the sequel.”
Heartache On The Play Stage is available to purchase online through either Amazon or Barnes & Noble. A physical copy of the book is available via EMU’s library.
