Melinda M. Snodgrass was born in Los Angeles California, but the family moved to New Mexico when she was five months old. Under her father's tutelage she was given every possible opportunity - she learned to ride, shoot, swim and fly fish, She sat in on his business meetings and traveled with him from a young age.She inherited her father's musical ability and studied ballet, voice and piano. She starred with the Civic Light Opera, and performed the role of Gretel with the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra Hansel and Gretel. Her love of music took her to Vienna Austria where she studied voice at the Conservatorium der Stadt Wien.She soon realized that while she had a good voice she didn't have an extraordinary voice, and she returned to America to finish her college degrees, majoring in History (Magna Cum Laude) and minoring in music. Upon graduation, she entered the New Mexico School of Law.

After graduation she practiced law for three years working first for Sandia National Laboratories, and then a corporate law firm. She quickly discovered that while she loved the law, she wasn't terribly fond of lawyers. At the urging of Victor Milan, she tried writing and never looked back.