Meg's Diary

25 More Things You Don’t Know About Meg

1.  Meg’s written over 80 books which have been published in 38 countries, including the US, UK, Brazil, France, Germany, Poland, and Japan, among many others.

 

2.  She has over 25 million books in print.

 

3.  Meg was diagnosed with celiac disease in 2008 (it runs in her family), which is sad because most of her favorite foods have gluten in them.

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4.  But don’t feel sorry for her because many of Meg’s books have been #1 on the New York Times bestseller list, in addition to being USA Today, Publishers Weekly, and BookSense bestsellers. So she’s doing OK, except for the gluten thing.  And there is no gluten in wine.

 

5.  Meg wrote and illustrated her first story at the age of 7. It was called “Benny the Puppy.” Benny’s entire family dies in a freak prairie tornado.

 

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6.  Meg’s writing career began in 1998 when her first historical romance for adults, Where Roses Grow Wild, was published under the pen name Patricia Cabot (so Meg’s grandmother wouldn’t know she was writing books with sex in them).

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Her grandmother found out, though, so now all Meg’s books are published under her real name.

 

7.  The Princess Diaries was rejected by almost every publisher in North America with the exception of Avon/HarperCollins.

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8. The American Library Association called The Princess Diaries: “Like reading a note from your best friend.”

 

9.  Meg met her husband when she was 16, but they didn’t start dating until she was 24. They have been married for over 20 years.

 

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10.  Meg’s “Boy” books are popular world wide because of their “short chapters,” “realistic but romantic plots,” and “satisfying” endings.  The “Boy” books are told in text, email, and journal format.


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11. Meg can name all fifty states in alphabetical order in less than 30 seconds and has won quite a bit of money from people who bet that she could not do so.

 

12. Meg’s been blogging since 2003. Her post about her experience on 9/11 has been incorporated into the curriculum of some classrooms.

 

13. Meg’s 1-800-Where-R-You series (now re-titled Vanished) was made into a television series called Missing starring Vivica A Fox and Mark Consuelos. It ran on the Lifetime Channel for 3 seasons.

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14. Meg is an insomniac. That’s how she’s written so many books.

 

15. All author proceeds from Meg’s historical romance novel, Ransom My Heart, are donated to Greenpeace. Meg has also contributed 100% of the proceeds from stories she’s written for anthologies to the Teenage Cancer Trust, War Child, No Strings, Lisa Libraries, Kids Company, the New York Public Libraries, Reading Is Fundamental, The Lower Eastside Girls Club of New York City, First Book, the UN Refugee Agency, and Girls Write Now. To see a complete list of all the books Meg has written, including the anthologies, go here.

 

16. Meg’s mom was an extra in the Oscar-winning 1979 coming-of-age film Breaking Away.  You can read Meg’s mom’s texts to Meg on Meg’s Twitter.

 

17. The summer of 2015 will mark the 15th Anniversary of  The Princess Diaries and Mediator series.  To celebrate, Meg will be releasing two new adult sequels: Remembrance, Mediator #7, and Royal Wedding, Princess Diaries #11. A third book, From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess, will also be available, and will introduce a brand new princess.  Read more here.

 

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18. The best gift Meg has been given by a fan (so far) is a life-size, papier-mâché replica of Princess Mia’s cat, Fat Louie.

 

19.  Meg is a member of the Author’s Guild, the Screenwriters Guild, The Romance Writers of America, and Literati with Lyme, which helps raise awareness about lyme disease, which Meg contracted in 2002. Meg believes everyone should be tested yearly for lyme, even people like her who hate hiking.

 

20. Avalon High, a modern re-telling of the myth of Camelot, was a New York Times and Publishers Weekly best seller; selected by the New York Public Library as a “Book for the Teen Age”; named to the Texas Lone Star Reading List; nominated as an ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers, Kentucky Bluegrass Award, Abraham Lincoln Illinois High School Book Award, and YALSA Popular Paperback; and was made into a Disney Channel movie.

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21. Meg owns a home in Indiana that was made from two converted barns.

 

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22. Meg enjoys supporting young writers and has judged the Seventeen Magazine Fiction Contest several times.

 

23. When Meg was 26, her father passed away suddenly. He inspired Meg’s own love of genre fiction by reading a mystery novel a day, but he died before he ever read a single one of her published works. Meg hopes he’d enjoy them, especially since Suze’s father in the Mediator series is partially based on him.

 

24. Meg likes cats, reading, watching TV, swimming, bike riding, boating, and being in the sun. Meg does not like cars, coffee, cooking, cell phones, or cold weather. But she does not mind people who like these things.

 

25. Meg’s been called “a master at entertaining and amusing readers” by Booklist, but her favorite accomplishment so far is writing books that fans call their favorite “comfort read.” She hopes to continue to keep doing so for a long time.

 

More later.

Much love,

Meg

 

 

 

 

 

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