Writerland

My name is Meghan Ward, and I’m a writer and book editor who recently completed a memoir titled, “Paris On Less Than $10,000 a Day,” a coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of the Paris modeling industry in the late 80s/early 90s. After graduating from UCLA in 1999 with a BA in English, I worked for three years as a newspaper editor and reporter before quitting in 2002 to substitute teach and tutor. In 2004 I enrolled at Mills College in Oakland to earn my MFA in Creative Writing, and, after graduating in 2006, I began renting an office at the San Francisco Writers’ Grotto, where I wrote the first, second, and third drafts of my book.

In 2007, “Paris On Less Than $10,000 a Day” won a scholarship to the Squaw Valley Writers’ Conference, and the chapter “Prêt-à-Porter” was published in the anthology “It’s So You: Thirty-Five Women Write About Personal Expression Through Fashion and Style”. In 2008, the chapter “Can’t Goa Way” won the $2000 Field Report Travel Writing Prize, and I performed excerpts from the chapters “The Palace,” “Rape of the Locks” and “Gymnase Club” at San Francisco’s Litquake, Porchlight and Inside Story Time literary series. In addition to creative works, I write book reviews for the San Francisco Chronicle and have published hundreds of news and feature stories for the San Francisco Examiner and the Oakland Tribune company.

Lesser known facts about me:
1. I am obsessed with making lists
2. I rock climb, or used to before I had kids
3. I love peanut butter and all things nutty
4. I love water—drinking in it, swimming in it, lounging in it. I’m a fish at heart.
5. Sometimes when I’m taking a shower, I forget whether I washed my hair and have to wash it again.
6. I love to play strategy board games like Settlers of Catan and Puerto Rico.
7. I’ve only had two beers in my life, and they were both disgusting.
8. I love to eat.
9. I’m a terrible gardener.
10. I’ve been skydiving, paragliding, surfing, scuba diving and rock climbing, but I’m happiest curled up in bed with a good book.