Hi Meg and welcome to BBJ. Meg’s
been writing from an early age, and has been published since 2013, with 13 tales
to date, and is an American living in good old England, which no doubt equates
to missing out on sunshine and fresh air, having to get used to rubbish weather
and our obsession with talking about the weather. Having to put up with weird
Britishisms and quirks. Having to drive on the opposite side of the road.
Trying to figure out what we mean by
chips (French – oh the irony! - fries),
biscuits (cookies), crisps (chips), jam (jelly), scones (biscuits),
flats (apartments), dummy (idiot and also pacifier!), etc., etc. And eat overpriced, pretty rubbishy food
(and yes, I’m a Brit, so I am ‘extracting the Michael’, as they say, though
there’s more than a small grain of truth in how our food doesn’t measure up 😞). She
terms herself a geek and a film buff and loves puppies. But, as ever at Bayou
Book Junkie, we want the TMI stuff, which is why we’re opening up the floor to
her.
BBJ:
Hi Meg and welcome. Since your official bio is a little…sketchy?... A deliberate
touch of La Femme Mysterieuse, perhaps?...we’d love to find out all about you
and what makes you tick😉
MEG: Hi Rita and
thanks for having me! I’ve never thought of it as sketchy on the details, so I
might need some elaboration lol. Honestly, I’m one of those people who can
write an essay on something like apples in five seconds, but give me an “about
me” thing to do and five hours later I’m still sitting there staring at a blank
screen. I’ll give it a go. I’m a big Marvel fan – I’ve got a WIP Marvel leg
sleeve going – and I’m hockey obsessed. My main source of income comes from
walking/watching dogs and I spend 90% of my free time reading fanfiction. I’m
an introvert through and through. I’m never really sure what people want to
know.
BBJ:
So, you’re currently studying for an M.A. in Publishing in the UK. How does
life over here compare to life in the US? Is it pretty much what I touched on
above? And, where are you based when you’re back home? Are you homesick?
MEG: I get asked
this a lot, and I’ve got to say there were two things comparison wise that I
found harder to deal with: the food (which you touched on) and the
supermarkets. I missed stores like Walmart and Target where everything could be
found in one place, Tesco and Asda just weren’t the same. And the food was…
different, yeah. I was used to a lot more in the way of flavour and options.
I’m from Florida, so I honestly think that made living in England easier. Sure
it’s cold, but the weather had nothing on Florida monsoons. I was actually
surprised by how little it rained, and it was cool to finally get to see
seasons. Most everything was expected, though. British TV doesn’t tell you
everything, but I watch enough of it and knew enough people living there to have
a general gist.
BBJ: We’re
very interested in your fascination with hockey. What inspired this – a love of
sports, a love of sexy men, a love of strong men in tight clothing? All of the
former?
MEG: So, I’m going
to preface this with saying I’m an oddball. I fell in love with hockey thanks
to fan fiction, and I stayed because the players are dorks. I wasn’t into
sports beforehand, and I don’t have the slightest interest in any other sports
now. Hockey’s kind of it for me. The players “um” their way through interviews,
their player-to-player dynamic makes me go all warm and fuzzy, the way they
defend each other on the ice does things to my heart, and watching their casual
interviews/team videos never fails to make me laugh.
BBJ: What comes first – characters who pop into your mind and make
you tell their stories, or a storyline around which you create your characters?
Or does it differ book by book?
MEG: It’s a little
of both? I’ll get an idea revolving around a very generic plot point – no
detail, nothing – and I’ll sit down to write it. Until that point, I don’t
usually have character names or an idea of anything other than how I want them
to meet.
BBJ: What
do you miss most about the US when living in the UK? Can you name 5 things that
you guys do better than us (please, we’re all friends here, so be kind!), and
can you pretty please try and scrounge up 5 things that you could lie about
pretend soft-sell as us doing better?
MEG: Oops, I kind of
answered this in the last one. I miss the US stores the most. Ummmm… five
things…. Food is definitely one of them (sorry). I think proper ranch and
peanut butter are life essentials. Roundabouts and lack of stop signs. I found
this just bizarre, and no one I asked could explain the point of a roundabout.
I think we do street signs better, lol. And movie theatres. I couldn’t wrap my
head around why they kept the lights on and the arranged seating. Very awkward.
As for five things the Brits do better, let’s see: public transportation (the
tube is by far the best and easiest), the theatre (live plays), street
fairs/markets, your historical landmarks are better (imo), and the cost of
education is much better.
BBJ: Can
you tell us what inspired your Christmas novella, Cursed Miracles? Could it be that you’re a secret Bollywood fan,
which features that same theme so much? Come
on, fess up – how many Bollywood movies have you watched, and which is your
fave? We hear you’re a film buff, right?
MEG: Cursed Miracles
actually came about after reading a reincarnation fanfic. It had a completely
different twist (the characters could both remember past lives and always found
each other, and they spent a good deal of time apart because one could remember
them a little too clearly) and it’s one of my favourites. I wanted to do
something different from my past Christmas shorts, and the first proper romance
novels I read were historical Julie Garwoods, so I kind of mix and matched
elements I’d liked throughout the years.
BBJ: How do you feel about the America that’s shaping up for
the next four years following the recent presidential election?
MEG: To say I’m
unhappy with the state of things would be an understatement. There’s a lot of
rage and frustration involved, along with a lot of disappointment and upset to
put it mildly. I think the next several years are going to be very ugly, and
unfortunately that belief grows with every passing day.
BBJ: What comes to mind when you see a guy modelling Andrew Christian
undies? Sexy or something else? This is actually kind of a scientific question
around how the female psyche works, so we need a detailed explanation, please. 😉
MEG: Have you ever
seen Crazy Stupid Love? Because I’m definitely Emma Stone when Ryan Gosling
takes off his shirt in these situations. A lot of hot damn, and how, and just disbelief anyone can look so good.
BBJ:
Which would trust more when considering buying a book, Meg – a 5* review that’s
quite bland/inoffensive/generic-ish or overly effusive or a 3* review that’s
more detailed and critically constructive?
MEG: In general, I
steer clear of reviews, but if I was basing
a purchase on one, I’d say the three star would sell me. There’s a decent
chance, if someone doesn’t like something (movie/book/show/etc.) I’ll like it.
I have a very unique criteria for what I like, and often I find it doesn’t
match up with most others.
BBJ: So, the The Carlisles
series has just spawned Denver's tale, Shifting Views (out on 10th Feb 2017) -
can you let us into some secrets about what comes next? Will any side
characters get their own tale, such as the sweet, lovely Cole who works at the
bakery? Or Eric's hockey mate (who I initially thought would end up with
Denver)? And, will there be a 'tie all the ends up, Bollywood-style' book to
mark the end of the series, if and when you reach that point?
MEG: I don’t like to
say it’ll never happen, because who knows I might get some inspiration or
change my mind, but as of right now I have no plans to continue on in this
verse. For me the tales are told, and the Carlisles are done. As for what comes
next in general, well, it’s a work in progress lol. Life has taken some turns,
so I think 2017 will be a somewhat slow year for me, at least at this point.
I’d like to eventually get another series out, something to do with second
chances maybe.
BBJ: Please
describe your ideal day in the UK, and in the US.
MEG: Hmm, they’re
going to sound pretty similar (boring I know). Both would involve some form of
outdoor activity – going to the zoo, taking a hike, visiting historical sites
(but not museums) – and they’d end with, in the UK’s case, the theatre and the
US’s case a concert or hockey game.
BBJ: Meg,
we’re intrigued about your rather unique style of writing in 1st
Person POV, Present tense and would love to know how this came about, and how
you discipline yourself to stay in this mode when writing, ‘cos that can’t be
easy, right?
MEG: I’m a case of I
write what I’m used to reading. I almost exclusively read fan fiction, and 90%
of that is written in present tense. It’s what I’ve been reading for about ten
years now. Present tense comes very naturally to me, and I don’t find myself
slipping tenses, whereas with past tense I’ll be writing, look up the page, and
somewhere mid-sentence I’ve flipped from past to present without realizing it.
BBJ:
And now, the quick-fire round:
What’s your star
sign and how typical of it are you? Sagittarius, and it’s as
spot on as I think these signs manage to go.
How does a UK
Christmas compare to a US Thanksgiving? Umm, I’d
imagine big meal wise they’d be the same in the family element, but that’s
probably it. I always went home for Christmas.
What’s your
favourite perfume on a woman and scent on a guy? I don’t go for any specific brand, I’m a
fan of vanilla and cinnamon scents on both genders.
Describe yourself
in one word. Awkward.
Finally, what’s
annoyed you most in the UK so far, and what was your reaction? Paying for the restroom. Hands
down, this drove me the craziest. They’re few and far between, and then I never
seemed to have the right change on hand.
Thanks for popping in, Meg. We
hope you had fun and we can’t wait for more books from you (so you’d better let
us know when something’s nearing completion. Or else!).
MEG: Thanks for
having me!
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