Book Blogger Appreciation Week - Have You Met Meg?

Today it is my pleasure to introduce you to my interview partner for BBAW 2011, Meg from write meg!. Below she kindly answers questions about book blogging, books written by women and her literary jobs. In return I threaten all her books with vague danger!

1.) Many book bloggers create their sites because they don't know a lot of readers offline. Did something similar motivate you to become a book blogger, or is your origin story totally different?

That’s pretty spot-on, Jodie! After I left my job as a Borders bookseller in 2008, I was frantic to find a way to still talk about novels with others. My friends and family are awesome and my sister is a voracious reader herself, but few love books the way I do. I didn’t want to lose my outlet to talk about characters and narratives and excellent writing, so write meg! was born.

Though my blog had been up and running for a few months before I quit Borders, it was when I stumbled upon the book blogging community that fall – and started realizing other people were actually as obsessed with books as my little English major self – that the real magic began to happen.


2.) I see a lot of books by female authors on your review list (awesome). Do you make a conscious choice to read lots of books written by women, or do you just find yourself naturally reaching for books by ladies?

I can’t say it’s a conscious choice, but I do tend to gravitate toward authors who are similar to myself. Some of my favorite recent reads have been humorous memoirs by women with whom I can really relate, like Valerie Frankel and Jen Lancaster, and I tend to enjoy living vicariously through my novels. Since reading is what helps me make sense of the world, I tend to prefer books by female authors who often teach me about myself. Though one of my favorite recent reads is by a man! (Matthew Norman with his Domestic Violets. Hilarious and poignant – a winning combination.)


3.) I think everyone is going to want to know a bit more about those literary related jobs of yours, so will you tell me a little bit about your different columnist job and your editor positions?

Sure thing! I pen a personal column that runs twice a week in three newspapers in Southern Maryland, my home of 26 years. It started out as a small project and has blossomed into something I treasure: my humorous take on the world around me. I write about everything from trying to squeeze into a bridesmaid dress to my obsession with sock monkeys, and anecdotes about the first time I tried fried Oreos or destroyed a batch of cupcakes are sprinkled in for good measure. Though it hasn’t made the leap online yet, I’m hoping that’s in the works for 2012.

I’m also the special sections editor with the same set of papers and editor of a newly-launched health magazine in Maryland. I like words -- and spend all day writing, correcting, editing and moving them around. And it’s a point of pride that my coworkers come to me as the arbitrator of all things grammar- and spelling-related! (Though I still make mistakes, like everyone.)


4.) What makes you interested in judging literary contests like Nerds Heart YA and the Indie Lit awards? Do you have any favourite mainstream literary awards and what makes you love them? Are there any other internet great literary awards that you'd like to shout about?

I’ll be selfish and admit that judging in literary contests has helped me pretend I’m still in school. As a bona fide book nerd, getting our summer reading lists in high school and college was the most exciting part of my year. Judging in competitions like Nerds Heart YA and the Indie Lit Awards is like getting a reading list all over again – and it gives me a chance to pick up books I may never have discovered on my own, like last year’s Indie Lit fiction winner Safe From The Sea by Peter Geye.

As far as great literary awards go, I tend to follow the Orange Prize alums pretty closely -- and really enjoyed reading long-listed nominee Tessa Hadley’s The London Train this year. Though I know the awards have inspired controversy, I still think they’re an excellent way to gain further appreciation for outstanding female writers and have found some great reads that way.


5.) I'm going to be a big meanie and end by asking you to name the one book you'd save from disaster if all your bookshelves were in some kind of vague (but deadly) peril. What would you grab?

Oh, the humanity! How could you demand such a thing? You’re a cruel, heartless woman, Jodie. Heartless.

. . . But, okay -- I’m game. Since you’re not asking for the one book I’d take to a desert island or the only book I would be allowed to re-read for a lifetime, I’d have to save my personal copy of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. It’s been highlighted and dog-eared and crumpled up too many times to count, but that’s what makes it so dear to me. Both my sister and I read it in school and it remains the one book I’ve read more than twice.

You can now read my answers to Meg's questions.