Kickstarter: Reward: Wear Your Face on My T-shirt

Posted on January 18, 2012 by MAL

As the Kickstarter rewards go out, I freaking love getting photos and posts from people who are receiving their rewards, like this one here by Dane:

"I just got my copy of THREE QUESTIONS a novel written by my friend Meagan Adele Lopez. How about this for inspiration - a girl falls in love, moves from LA to the Great Britian, writes a novel, self-publishes it and runs a successful kickstarter campaign to help market it. I LOVE MY TALENTED FRIENDS!!! So proud of you Meagan!!"

Of course, part of the rewards I chose had to do with my collecting photos of YOU. For $199 or more was a photo of your face on my t-shirt for one week. Three people claimed this reward, and the first is being executed as we speak. I have taken it a bit further than originally anticipated. (Two people still need to claim their rewards for this donation – ahem, Amanda and Greg!)

As with most things that I do in life, I went a bit bigger – I couldn’t just wear a t-shirt with a face on it, I had to build a campaign out of it.

Mark Pickett kindly donated moolah, and got this reward. He runs a fantastic startup called Nail Your Mortgage that is looking to disrupt the mortgage space, so we came up with the “Nail It Girl”. She’s a bad ass who runs around the freezing streets of Chicago to take pictures of herself in the “Nail It or Go Home…Actually Do Both” t-shirt in front of gorgeous historical homes.

Today’s photo: (Can you guess where I am? It’s a pretty famous one)

You have to guess where she is, and if you do correctly, the first one to answer wins a $25 gift card!

Just follow the hashtag #nailitgirl on Twitter - it starts at 10AM CST and runs through this Friday! Get your trivia hats on! Hints to follow.

Want some more explanation? Here is the video:

So, two more of these rewards to go! Stay tuned!

Most of the January rewards have gone out – there are still a few things I am waiting to get in the mail. If you haven’t received your January reward (there are some that aren’t due until February), please email me at meagan@ladywholunches.net

Cheers!

What People Are Saying about “Three Questions”

Posted on January 11, 2012 by MAL

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So, I’ve had a few people email me recently with feedback on the novel. I haven’t solicited this, so it makes it even more sweet. I figured I may as well take advantage of it while I can! There can’t be good reviews forever.

Here’s a few tidbits about Three Questions from people who recently read it, my wittle novel: (Other reviews on Amazon.com can be found by clicking here.) (Also, check out this alternative way to use the three questions in real life by Toni Hargis in her blog!)

The barista at Starbucks just asked me if I was ok. I ordered my drink with tears rolling down my face after just finishing your book. I loved it. It was so heartfelt and honest. And real. And raw. I loved loved loved it.

~ Kirsten Hinshaw

Just wanted to say your book arrived yesterday and I couldn’t put it down. Read it cover to cover and I just finished it now … and honestly, it’s fabulous. Good for you!! I will absolutely be recommending my friends read it. I’m so excited to see how this grows and expands for you, you deserve lots of success.

~ Charlotte Bowman

Meagan- I’m not sure if you remember me…. We went to high school together. I was a dance major. I just wanted to take a moment to let you know I read your book, in less then 24 hours, and I LOVED IT!!!! I giggled/ I cried. Congrats to you in your debut novel and I look forward to your next book!!!

~ Krystin McClure Baribault

I just finished the book…and it was beautiful. Thank you. I don’t remember how or why I started following you on Twitter, or how or why I decided to become a minor funder in your Kickstarter campaign, but I’m incredibly happy I found this path. Thanks for bringing such a warm, uplifting story into my life.

~ Matthew Smith

I just wanted to drop you a note and tell you that your book is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING !!!! I seriously cannot put it down and every chance I get to go back to my room between meetings , I’m reading a few more pages! With your book on my lap, the 4 hr flight down here just disappeared. It makes me want to re-evaluate everything!!

~Hanna Uehre

I have to admit the novel had me both laughing and crying; I’m such a softie! Well done, it’s great and your style is brilliant and very easy to read.

~Lindsay B., Editor

A New Year’s Resolution – quite literally

Posted on January 8, 2012 by MAL

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I was very excited for New Year’s eve this year. Last year, we spent it with Jock’s brother and girlfriend and had an amazing time. See examples below:

So, this year was MY sister’s turn! For Amanda, it had been her first time out on New Year’s for nearly 5 years – being a single mom, and then pregnant last year will do that to you. We also had a fabulous time. See examples below:

During all of this merriment, however, my purse was stolen. Those f&*%ing bastards!!!

Despite the club being a private club where Guillermo (my sister’s fiancé) knew 60% of the people inside, and despite the fact that we had a private table, someone yanked my purse from underneath my coat, and ran off with it. It gets worse – not only was my wallet, new Windows Phone and makeup in there, but Jock’s $200 Hugo Boss wallet with all of his cash and credit cards was in there as well. He never gives me his wallet to put in my purse when we go out out – so this stank even more.

We searched the club up and down for about an hour before we gave up, and decided it was a lost cause. I tried to rationalize – perhaps someone took the purse by accident, thinking it was their own. There was only one problem with that thought – my purse was BRIGHT orange. Jock’s brother had bought it for me for Christmas from Top Shop in London, and I highly doubt there was another purse in that club even remotely similar to it.

So, at 2AM, we went home, and suffice it to say – all that fun we had earlier in the night was sucked out by the fact that neither Jock nor I had a wallet, any money or any credit cards. You start thinking about the little things that you lost in that wallet when you’ve been violated like that – such as the lucky $2 bill that my best friend Courtney gave to Jock, or my USC student ID that never expires, and allows me to get discounts all over Europe, or the one pound coin that we found in our backyard in Bristol that dates back to 1882. The credit cards and ID’s can be replaced, but that kind of stuff can’t.

We called the cops, and I met with them the next day in Baltimore City. At first, they acted as if I were the suspect – asking me questions like, “Well, why didn’t you call us as soon as it happened?” Quenching the urge to cry and yell, “I didn’t steal my own purse, damn it!!”, I simply told them that Guillermo knew the owners of the club, and we decided to wait until the next day to see if it turned up because we didn’t want to waste the police officer’s time.

They liked that answer. We filed the report, they left for ten minutes to “search” for my purse, and came back with no answer.

THANK GOD Jock and I had just been abroad and had our passports in our suitcases, or else there is no way we would have been able to get on that plane the next day back to Chicago. And, as much fun as we’ve had over the last months, we were really ready to get back.

We got back home to Chicago, slightly depressed and really annoyed at what happened. I kept going over and over in my mind how it could have happened – there was always someone by the table, and my sister’s purse was right next to mine, but they didn’t take hers. Then, I decided I would be grateful for what I did still have, and tried to make myself feel better by realizing that it was just a material object.

I kept checking our credit cards, and nothing had been charged. Jock urged me to cancel the cards, but I just had a feeling something might happen. I decided to just carefully monitor them.

Two days later, at 10:15am, I see a call coming in from a number I don’t recognize in Baltimore. My stomach lurches, and I have this feeling…..

MY FEELING IS RIGHT!!! A kind woman and manager of the Professional Arts Building three blocks away from the club (named Charmaine) has found my purse. I should say that the janitor found my purse in the trash chute, and handed it in to her. My business cards were in the purse, and she called me.

I couldn’t believe it!!! She said everything seemed to be in tact, and my ID and credit cards were all in there, as well as Jock’s credit cards. There was even cash in an envelope that my Grandmother had given to Jock as a Christmas present. When we received it two days later (thanks to my incredible sister and mom for picking it up), we saw that everything had been shuffled around, and actually, there was no cash nor any sign of Windows Phone.

So, clearly, someone had stolen the purse after all. I just can’t believe the janitor found it in the trash! The likelihood of it being buried under something, and never being found is quite high. I feel so lucky. You can laugh all you want, but I truly believe I have a guardian angel watching over me.

My thoughts before the purse being sent back: 2012 is going to be a really shit year.

My thoughts after receiving purse in the mail: 2012 is going to be the best freaking year of all time – I’ll get a book deal, a movie deal, and SocialKaty will become the best social media marketing company in the country! I’ll get engaged, grow my hair really long, and get in kick-ass shape. Hell yeah – bring on 2012!!!

Clearly, I was very excited. I know it seems crazy, but this has made me truly remember how good people can be (and how bad), but mostly how good they are. What a whirlwind of a week.

What are your goals for 2012? And do you have any crazy stories from the holidays??

Not Worth Knowing

Posted on December 20, 2011 by MAL

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I never thought I’d say this, but here it goes. I’m f*&%ing sick of fairy tale endings.

I have hesitated in saying anything about my book because I wanted for people to experience it for themselves, but the realization hit me half way through a Lauren Weisberger novel (you know, the woman who wrote The Devil Wears Prada?).

Don’t get me wrong, chick lit novels are enjoyable, and easy to read, and I have been quick to tell people that my novel is a chick lit novel. I used to love them! However, while lounging on a, well, lounger, in the pool of a Dreams Resort in Punta Cana (believe me, the irony isn’t escaping me here) and almost finishing up the novel Everyone Worth Knowing, I had an epiphany – my novel isn’t chick lit AT ALL.

Women’s fiction – yes. But is there a fairy tale ending where the girl ends up with the guy she’s been pining over for months? Well, yes…but there’s a twist. Just like in real life, not everything works out exactly as planned, and shit happens, and the girl has to deal.

Sometimes the real truth and beauty is when a woman picks up the pieces and is able to find happiness despite all the shit that hits the fan. I remember once talking to a beautiful woman from Italy who was completely at peace with the world, exuded confidence and never once had a single negative thing to say about anything. I found out months later from her that her husband had died six months earlier.

I was shocked. Why wasn’t she depressed and spinning out of control, binge drinking and pining away? She told me that their love was pure, of course she missed him, but she was alive. What happens in life is beyond your control, so you must appreciate who is in it when they are in it.

Of course, this sounds utopian, and unrealistic, but why can’t that be the case? Why can’t we deal with the issues that come up and appreciate what we’re given, when we’re given it? That – to me, is the essence of a fairy tale ending. Not succumbing to what society makes you believe is a fairy tale. Because that’s bullshit, and makes women grow up to idolize unrealistic expectations. Instead of being taught to appreciate the love that is around in the moment, we’re taught to yearn for the unrequited love that could possibly never be.

How ridiculous is that?

And this is what is making me mad after reading Weisberger’s novel. I won’t discuss how little actually happened in the book, because I wouldn’t want to bore you. But I will discuss how I think I’m just beyond the cookie cutter novel where everything happens exactly as you imagine. I found myself, by the end, hoping that Bette and Sammy never got together – that she figured out her career, moved in with her best friend Penelope, and they had a long, exciting life where they traveled from country to country and eventually died while holding each other’s hands diving off Machu Picchu. Now, THAT would be a better story.

But alas, not to ruin the ending, but trust me, you already know it – Sammy and Bette live happily ever after.

Somehow, I can stomach the romantic comedy as a movie. Perhaps because I acted for so many years, and appreciate the distinctive qualities that each actor brings to their character. I just expect more from writers. It’s our job to entertain simply through words – let’s keep at it.

What question would you ask to get to know someone?

Posted on December 16, 2011 by MAL

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It’s the last few hours to enter to win a free copy of Three Questions! All you have to do is answer the question: “What question would you ask to get to know someone?” in my comments or Nathan’s.

Nathan Agin, over at Nonstop Awesomeness, was kind enough to interview me about my book, what practices I used to stay disciplined while writing the novel, and how I came up with the idea. He’s not just a great blogger, he and I acted together in a play in college called The Big Funk.

(I won’t be reposting his photo on my blog of us in the play – oh dear!)