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!

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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

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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??

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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.

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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!)

Last chance to win a copy!!

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All this plane flying has given me some time to write a few guest posts on other blogs (stay tuned for another one on Smitten By Britain‘s blog as well).

First up, I got to thinking more and more about why British actors are on our airwaves, and are seemingly better actors than us, the American counterparts.

This is what I came up with on Michelle‘s blog, The American Resident: Are British Actors Better than American Actors?

Then, a year ago, Toni Hargis, a British expat who now lives in Chicago and who met up with us in London during out expat bloggers convention (I’m exaggerating, there were about 6 of us), asked me to write about my repatriation experience.

Finally I got around to writing it: Repatriation: An American’s Story.

She also finished my novel, and wrote a smashing review! (You can read all my current reviews here – be sure to leave one if you haven’t already.)

“Don’t be fooled into thinking this is just another “girls-gone-wild” or chic-lit debut novel. Not only is “Three Questions” the delightful love story of American Adele and an Englishman named Guy- it asks surprisingly searching questions of both the characters and the reader.
From the simple – “What is your favorite meal?” to the scary “How would you describe your mom?”, Lopez delves deep into her characters’ hearts and souls. You’ll be rooting for the lovers throughout the book, and you won’t be disappointed with the denouement.”

8 days left before my Kickstarter ends – help me turn my novel into a screenplay through your contributions, and some great rewards (if you haven’t already). Email everyone you know, tweet out to the world, and post on Facebook! We can do this together!

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I was watching a “Modern Family” episode the other day that perfectly described my relationship with Jock. Bear with me for a moment if you’ve seen it.
One half of the family (we’ll call them the “dreamers”) believed themselves completely able to lodge a pumpkin across the length of a football field. The other half (the “realists”) guffawed at the sheer idiocy of such a ridiculous idea.
The dreamers, not willing to give up their, well, ‘dream’, went to the football field with a rubber launching gadget and a pumpkin while the realists stood back waiting to be proven right.

Of course, the idea was ridiculous, the pumpkin barely got a few feet and splattered all over the ground, and the realists gloated for a few seconds while the dreamers were embarrassed and shamed. That’s when the magic happened (says the dreamer, and smiles).
The realists realized their cruelty (I like to call it “stomping on a poor, starving kitten after he rushed to get the last sip of milk”)…ah hem, anyway…and rushed to help figure out why it didn’t work and figure out a solution.

Now, if I weren’t a dreamer, I would never have written a book, left my job at Kelly Services to start working for a new startup nor would I always want the window seat on a plane simply to finally know what it was like to fly. But if Jock weren’t a realist to bring me back to earth, I would have spent all our money already, I would have published my book many months earlier when it wasn’t ready and I would have made countless other mistakes. Plus, we never have to argue about who gets the window seat. He prefers the aisle with extra leg room.

I like to think that I remind him that amazing things can happen if you let them and that sometimes dreaming makes life that much more exciting.

Here’s to the Ying balancing the yang.

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Sometimes the simplest ideas are the most overlooked.

I titled my book “Three Questions” based on the simple concept that Jock’s friend came up with while they were out and about. His friend, Darrell Kingsbury, used to sit in a pub and go around asking silly questions to the boys – “if you were an animal, what would you be?” “If London Bridge is standing why is there a song about it falling down?” or “Who would you rather…”

When Jock and I met for those 8 hours, we knew that there wasn’t much time to get to know each other in Las Vegas, while drinking and dancing. So, he took his friend’s idea, and brought it to our letters while he was traveling through Africa. He randomly chose “three questions” and the rest is history.

At my book launch, I created these great Moo.com Mini Cards where I took three questions from my book, and created conversation starters.

It was such an integral part to the beginning of Jock and my relationship, that I never really appreciated how special it was. Maybe couples that have long-distance relationships actually have more time to get to know each other because they’re not confused by all the physical and everyday stuff that sometimes gets in the way.

There’s just something so intensely romantic about getting to know someone through letters. Of course, the challenge is making sure that you aren’t projecting false information onto that person.

So, do you think you can get to know someone better by being long-distance, or is it better to be in the same town?

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Phew – it’s been a busy last couple of months, and I can’t believe how much work goes into getting a book out there – this is certainly a project of love (in more than one respect). I’m ready to take it to the next level, but I need your help – but you get cool rewards for helping! Click here to find out how.

As I mentioned in this previous post, Kickstarter is a funding platform for artists of all kinds – just like in the Elizabethan era when artists were funded by patrons, Kickstarter is using that same premise. Not everyone is a JK Rowlings, or a Lady Gaga. Putting art out there costs money.

Getting a Kickstarter campaign up means hours of research – making sure you’re creating the right kind of rewards for the right price, getting your video edited and just right, and being as transparent in what you will do with the money as possible. I spoke to two different people who successfully funded their Kickstarter campaigns – my friend Naomi Kline who did it for a short film she produced, and David Kadavy who is currently touring his book due to his campaign. I’m hoping I can be one of those people!

My research is finished, the project is launched, now it’s time to get funded. I either get it all or nothing – so any donation would be SO helpful! See below for my video explaining the process:

My novel is already published, so why do I need Kickstarter, you may ask? 

It’s to take my novel to the next level. I could only afford so much, and like an interior decorator designs your home (thanks Courtney for that analogy), my book needs some interior love – the formatting needs a professional’s help, as well as the back cover (which I did myself originally).

Also, a book trailer. For the same reason that Kickstarter urges its users to create a video for their project, book trailers are becoming more and more important in the publishing industry. Visual sells.

Finally, I need money for marketing and promotion of the novel, as well as pre-ordering copies for my book signings.

THANK YOU in advance for sharing this with your friends and family.

Also, if you had a moment to tweet this, I would be forever indebted.

Sample tweet: My gal @TheLadyLunches finished her novel, #ThreeQuestions, & is taking it 2 the next level. Here’s her @kickstarter http://t.co/VhrNmvc

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Hello to my lovely readers,

It’s finally time to party!! The book is done, the champagne needs popping, and a few books need signing. You’re invited! Click the invitation to RSVP.

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