Hi! I'm Meghan Olivia Arenz, but you can call me Meg.
I toyed around with many different ideas when I was growing up of what I wanted to do with my life --- first, it was a mermaid. I was staunchly pro-mermaid for a surprising amount of time before I finally let go of that dream. Then, I went down a pretty typical route: surgeon, lawyer, physical therapist. All the while, I was writing. When I was telling everyone I wanted to be a surgeon at 14, I was writing a fantasy novel in my diary. When I was telling everyone I wanted to be a lawyer at 16, I was just starting to get involved in the literary magazine at my high school, and secretly looking forward to those meetings at the end of the day more than anything else. When I was 17, and my creative writing teacher pulled me aside after I turned in my portfolio and asked me where I was going to publish my work so she could read it, I knew I wanted to be a writer.
Writing made me feel that I had something to finally give back to my family. Writing has been the safe space where I can experience anything, empathize with anyone. From reading articles to test our critical analysis skills during my undergraduate career at Nebraska Wesleyan University, to meeting legendary writers and getting publishing advice from the best of professors at Columbia College Chicago, writing has taught me more than anything else I've ever known. Writing has kept me tapped into that wild imagination and deep empathy we all had as kids --- that wonderful reality where a reasonable occupation to strive for was full-time mermaid. I hope to bring that creativity and empathy not only to all of my writing to come, but to everywhere I go.