Author • Storyteller • Founder
Bugg
Author • Storyteller • Founder
Who I Am
I’m MeLanie, but some people know me as Bugg.
“Bugg” comes from LadyyBugg, a nickname my mother gave me, and it’s the name I chose to write under because it feels the most like me.
I’m from the Bay Area, California, with family roots in Oakland. Storytelling has always been part of my life through music, poetry, short stories, imagination, and now, novels.
Why I Write
I started writing my first novel more than a decade ago during one of the hardest periods of my life. I was navigating personal, emotional, financial, and relationship struggles, and writing became somewhere I could put everything I didn’t know how to say out loud.
What started as an outlet became something much bigger.
Life interrupted the manuscript more than once, but I kept coming back to it. Years later, after praying for clarity about my purpose, I realized the story had never really left me.
“It had been waiting for me to come back to it.”
Why Dhamma Exists
The stories I want to tell are the kinds of stories I connected with as a younger reader. Stories with recognizable people, honest conversations, culture, mystery, emotion, edge, and characters who feel like somebody you might actually know.
That’s why I created Dhamma Publishing House.
I wanted the stories in my head to always have a home.
I created Dhamma so the stories in my head would always have a home.
And now, I get to share them with you.