Spotlight: Megan Edwards - author, editor, traveler and survivor

Megan Edwards

Today’s Spotlight is on Megan Edwards—author, traveler, editor, entrepreneur and survivor. We’ve all heard the expression “making lemonade from lemons.” Megan’s story is similar, but a little different. She carved an amazing career from tragedy. No “poor me” when there were some very dangerous curves in her road, Megan tells how she literally rose from the ashes.

Megan, where did this incredible journey begin?

My professional writing career began in 1993 with a weekly column in a Los Angeles newspaper. The day before my second deadline, a wildfire burned my house down. Had this happened later in my career, I think I would have immediately recognized a great excuse. Back then, though, when getting published was the end of my rainbow, I didn’t see it that way. The next day, I was houseless, “stuffless,” and short on clothes, but I had a byline.

 

If you were homeless, how did you manage to file your column? That must have been a real challenge.

I filed that column every Wednesday for five years. This was back at the dawn of the Web, when most newspapers were shutting their eyes and wishing it was all a bad dream. My editor was one of the few who embraced new technology and let me submit my work by email. This came in very handy when my husband and I decided to take advantage of the sudden simplicity the fire had thrust upon us. We hit the road, thinking we might travel for six months or so and decide what to do next. Six months turned into six years.

That’s why I added survivor to the way I described you. When most people would have been holding their head in their hands, wondering “what next?” you and your husband took to the road. How did that jump-start a new career?

Our open-ended road trip resulted in my first book and a Web site: RoadTripAmerica.com. RoadTrip America “went live” on Valentine’s Day, 1996. In its first incarnation, the site was what would now be called a blog. At the time, however, there was no Blogger or WordPress to help out. I created the whole thing from scratch and HTML. I acquired a wildly expensive digital camera that could store a whopping seven tiny, fuzzy pictures at a time. I downloaded them – very slowly – to my state-of-the-art laptop, which was less than half as capable as my current cell phone. Using a mysterious and supposedly cutting-edge black box, the laptop could (on clear days when Mercury was not in retrograde) communicate with our server via an analog cellular connection.

You were ahead of the curve with those “powerful devices.” Sometimes we forget how different things were just ten or fifteen years ago.

It was crazy and expensive, and it sometimes required driving to a mountaintop to get a signal, but that’s how my husband and I updated the site every day for over a year. As mobile technology and Web software improved, the site evolved. Now, RoadTrip America serves upwards of three million page views a month and is the premier Web destination for road trip planning in North America. Ironically, now that the site has grown, we spend far less time on the road and far more in front of our computer monitors. Several dozen freelance writers contribute to RoadTrip America, and I spend a fair amount of my time in editor mode.

Edwards' platform sold this book

So from a tragic fire, you became a web entrepreneur and wrote books. What an inspiration that is to anyone who has suffered the unexpected.

My first book, Roads from the Ashes: An Odyssey in Real Life on the Virtual Frontier, was published in 1999. I was fortunate to receive some very nice reviews. I did a coast-to-coast book tour that kicked off at BookExpo America in Los Angeles and ended in Las Vegas after a whirlwind journey to New York with stops in all the major media markets and a few out-of-the-way ones. I learned quite a lot on that tour. Probably the most surprising thing was that I realized I wanted to try my hand at fiction.

That isn’t an easy transition because there are some different guidelines for what works in each genre. I know. I’ve done the same myself. Just because you’re a reporter and write non-fiction doesn’t guarantee a great work of fiction. Tell us what changed in your life at that point.

My first novel is the reason I now live in Las Vegas. While I was working on it, I realized I would never be able to bring the protagonist – a Las Vegas native – to life convincingly without spending some time in southern Nevada. I figured six weeks or two months would be enough, but I was way off. I’m still here, ten years later. During that ten years, I’ve written four novels, countless newspaper and magazine articles and travel pieces, and continued to develop RoadTripAmerica.com. I also launched Living-Las-Vegas.com, a Web site for Vegas locals and prospective residents. Living-Las-Vegas.com showcases the work of a dozen local writers.

So here is my stock question. What advice to you have to offer to aspiring writers?

When aspiring writers ask me how to get started, I usually share what worked best for me with this analogy. Imagine you’re walking along a sidewalk next to a tall fence. You take your wallet – the one stuffed with credit cards, PINs, your Social Security number, loads of cash, and your driver’s license – and you toss it over the fence.

Oh, my God! Now you have no choice but to do everything in your power to get it back. You must climb the fence or find a gate or dig under – something. That’s how you have to feel about your writing. You must find an unavoidable reason to write, and to finish what you start. Otherwise, you will be among the legions of would-be writers who wish and want and dream, but never actually park themselves in a chair and get the work done. Incentives abound. Back when I began writing, I had to convince a newspaper editor to take a chance on me. Nowadays, Web site and blog owners are everywhere, and many of them are looking for contributors. Rather than start your own blog – if you’re like me, you’ll be the worst boss you ever had – make a commitment to someone else. If you do your best and meet your deadlines, you’re a real writer. If you get paid, no matter how much or little, you’re a professional writer. It’s as simple – and as challenging – as that. If you keep at it, you’ll not only be building a portfolio and an audience, you’ll be building a platform.

How does a platform work? When do you know you have something that an audience of fans will buy?

My second book, Caution: Funny Signs Ahead is an excellent example of how your “platform” can sell a book. I’ve always loved funny road signs, and when we hit the road, I made a point of taking a picture whenever I spotted one. My snapshots, enhanced with appropriate captions, became the basis for an instantly popular photo gallery on RoadTrip America. Over the years, other photographers have contributed images, and the galleries have grown to include hundreds of signs from all over North America and beyond. We never “pitched” a book to a publisher, but several approached us. Caution: Funny Signs Ahead was released in 2008 and remains popular – especially among those with a “middle school” sense of humor.

What’s next for Megan Edwards?

My goal right now is to place one of my novels with a major publisher. I have a wonderful agent, and I keep writing. I try to get better. I enjoy the process. I’m still my own worst boss, so I still look for deadlines I’ll be forced to meet. If my house burns down tomorrow, I might use it as justification for missing one. On the other hand, everything I’m working on right now is backed up on a server in California. I’d still have no excuse.

For more info: Morgan St. James and her appearances: www.morganstjames-author.com 

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Every Tuesday: Spotlight shines on people, organizations or events involved in the Las Vegas writers community as well as literary visitors to our city. Recent Spotlights -Introduction to First Chapter Plus and two new books, Sabrina Sumscion helps spread the word, Highlighting some previous Spotlight columns; Author/reporter Frank Mundo's homage to Chaucer

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