A book in a time of no bookstores.
When my first book came out, I hand-sold a lot of copies. I used to keep a stack of four or five in my bag, and if anybody showed the slightest interest in...
I just got off a cruise ship.
“You’re getting on a cruise ship?” It’s the fourth text I’ve gotten like this. My friends, my boss, members of my family I hardly talk to reach out to tell...
I just got off a cruise ship.
“You’re getting on a cruise ship?” It’s the fourth text I’ve gotten like this. My friends, my boss, members of my family I hardly talk to reach out to tell...
Today is the first day of 2020.
Time is an illusion and the calendar is a compromise, but I am ready to eat up a new year. I have a few traditions I keep. I'm in new underwear and new socks...
Today is the first day of 2020.
Time is an illusion and the calendar is a compromise, but I am ready to eat up a new year. I have a few traditions I keep. I'm in new underwear and new socks...
A series of perfect moments.
I was walking across Golden Gate park and the fallen leaves were as broad as sheets of paper, scraping noisily over the pavement. Cold sunlight shot across...
A series of perfect moments.
I was walking across Golden Gate park and the fallen leaves were as broad as sheets of paper, scraping noisily over the pavement. Cold sunlight shot across...
I saw a ghost on the Queen Mary.
It was a beautiful wedding; Harry Potter themed with magic wands and fantastic beasts. We danced new life on that old boat with old friends in new shoes. The...
I saw a ghost on the Queen Mary.
It was a beautiful wedding; Harry Potter themed with magic wands and fantastic beasts. We danced new life on that old boat with old friends in new shoes. The...
Home again, home again.
A lot of you don't know this about me, but I was homeless as a kid. I lived a long time in those transitional stages that come before real homelessness hits:...
Home again, home again.
A lot of you don't know this about me, but I was homeless as a kid. I lived a long time in those transitional stages that come before real homelessness hits:...
Goodbye to all that.
The temptation to send these out right before getting on an airplane is always quite strong. I'm too dramatic for my own good, and I'm always looking for...
Goodbye to all that.
The temptation to send these out right before getting on an airplane is always quite strong. I'm too dramatic for my own good, and I'm always looking for...
Hot newsprint poured over ice cream.
Last month I wrote you a lot of gloomy feelings about taking a regular job, but I'm pleased to report that it's better than I expected. I've been writing for...
Hot newsprint poured over ice cream.
Last month I wrote you a lot of gloomy feelings about taking a regular job, but I'm pleased to report that it's better than I expected. I've been writing for...
Come what may.
In the space of just a few days I launched a book, celebrated twelve years of marriage, got a job, and stared down my next birthday. I've been working for...
Come what may.
In the space of just a few days I launched a book, celebrated twelve years of marriage, got a job, and stared down my next birthday. I've been working for...
Settle and Seattle
I started the Road to Nowhere books in San Francisco because I knew the city. I had lived here a couple of years, gotten to know the beat of the streets and...
Settle and Seattle
I started the Road to Nowhere books in San Francisco because I knew the city. I had lived here a couple of years, gotten to know the beat of the streets and...
I left something behind.
When I was in Missouri last month, I left my laptop cord behind. I was teaching undergrads at Truman State University in Kirksville. I had a great week; the...
I left something behind.
When I was in Missouri last month, I left my laptop cord behind. I was teaching undergrads at Truman State University in Kirksville. I had a great week; the...
Trying to outrun time.
It is tempting, always, to talk about time. Time is the fire in which we burn, and I'm feeling awfully hot these days. I want to tell you that I am sure, in...
Trying to outrun time.
It is tempting, always, to talk about time. Time is the fire in which we burn, and I'm feeling awfully hot these days. I want to tell you that I am sure, in...
Wait a minute honey, I'm gonna add it up.
I am so ready for 2018 to end. I've had a really good year, in many ways. I sold a novel, I sold a novella, I sold a lot of stories. I traveled all over and...
Wait a minute honey, I'm gonna add it up.
I am so ready for 2018 to end. I've had a really good year, in many ways. I sold a novel, I sold a novella, I sold a lot of stories. I traveled all over and...
I had to wait until the right time to tell you.
I couldn't have written this letter before the midterm elections. I was too nervous, too fixated, and too worried about the outcome. This letter would have...
I had to wait until the right time to tell you.
I couldn't have written this letter before the midterm elections. I was too nervous, too fixated, and too worried about the outcome. This letter would have...
Pumpkin Spice Flavored Rage
It's been a month of collectively re-processing old traumas and offering to hold other people's hurt and asking them to hold mine. There were a couple of...
Pumpkin Spice Flavored Rage
It's been a month of collectively re-processing old traumas and offering to hold other people's hurt and asking them to hold mine. There were a couple of...
Dracula was right.
I have the luckiest and strangest life. I have an inflated unicorn on a speakeasy stage life. I have a do the Time Warp with George R. R. Martin life. A...
Dracula was right.
I have the luckiest and strangest life. I have an inflated unicorn on a speakeasy stage life. I have a do the Time Warp with George R. R. Martin life. A...
The sound of thunder never stops on the glacier.
Before our ship reached Hubbard Glacier, assumed it would be silent there. I am long accustomed to the wonderful quiet of snow and cold places, and beyond...
The sound of thunder never stops on the glacier.
Before our ship reached Hubbard Glacier, assumed it would be silent there. I am long accustomed to the wonderful quiet of snow and cold places, and beyond...
Everything I meant to tell you.
The last Letter from Meg was lost. It will exist in the great one-sock wilderness, where all lost things go. It will lie among the millions of letters lost...
Everything I meant to tell you.
The last Letter from Meg was lost. It will exist in the great one-sock wilderness, where all lost things go. It will lie among the millions of letters lost...
April is the cruelest month.
Yeah, it's the tax thing. But it's also raining deadlines around here, and the weather is one kind of torture or another, every day. This month saw my...
April is the cruelest month.
Yeah, it's the tax thing. But it's also raining deadlines around here, and the weather is one kind of torture or another, every day. This month saw my...
There's no such place as Florida.
Think about it. Think about every Florida Man story you’ve ever shook your head at, trying to make sense of the headline. Think of the miles of coastline...
There's no such place as Florida.
Think about it. Think about every Florida Man story you’ve ever shook your head at, trying to make sense of the headline. Think of the miles of coastline...
I'm used to writing 2018, now.
It takes a long time, sometimes. I still occasionally catch myself writing the date with a 19 in the year spot and I have to stop. That was twenty years ago....
I'm used to writing 2018, now.
It takes a long time, sometimes. I still occasionally catch myself writing the date with a 19 in the year spot and I have to stop. That was twenty years ago....
Let's burn down 2017.
2017 was the year that went too fast, it was the year that wouldn’t end. Being a writer means you had better be fucking patient. There’s no other way to...
Let's burn down 2017.
2017 was the year that went too fast, it was the year that wouldn’t end. Being a writer means you had better be fucking patient. There’s no other way to...
Letters from Meg— October
October is my favorite month. I like spooks and scares, I love when the summer in the Bay finally breaks and gives up its hot, sticky ghost. This October I...
Letters from Meg— October
October is my favorite month. I like spooks and scares, I love when the summer in the Bay finally breaks and gives up its hot, sticky ghost. This October I...
Letters from Meg— September
This isn't something I like to talk about, but I hate to fly. I know that I'm safe on an airplane. I know the odds and the statistics, the likelihood that I...
Letters from Meg— September
This isn't something I like to talk about, but I hate to fly. I know that I'm safe on an airplane. I know the odds and the statistics, the likelihood that I...
Letters from Meg— August
If you come to one of my readings, like this one at Cellar Door Books in Riverside CA, you should be prepared for obscene gestures and profanity. But always...
Letters from Meg— August
If you come to one of my readings, like this one at Cellar Door Books in Riverside CA, you should be prepared for obscene gestures and profanity. But always...
Letters from Meg— July
It's been a banner month... ha ha. The above photo comes from my community college and cradle of my career, Mt. San Jacinto College. I learned important...