Overview
Hello, writer!Thanks for checking out my profile. I work with writers to prepare excellent novels for submission and publication, and I'd love to help you improve your craft. My primary focus is on critique: What's working in this draft, what's not, and what can be done about it.If you're concerned about point of view, character development, showing vs. telling, plot and pacing, you're ready for professional critique.Take a look at the services below and see what looks right for your project. I hope to hear from you soon!Meghan___MINI CRITIQUEA mini critique is an excellent way to get an idea of how your current draft would fare in the wild. Would you get a response if you submitted to agents? Would you get good reviews if you indie-published tomorrow? I'll tell you with a mini critique.Components of a mini critique:+ Lightly annotated manuscript+ Editorial letter outlining my recommendations (2+ pages)+ One-hour phone consultation+ Review of your first developmental editing assignment___COMPREHENSIVE CRITIQUEA comprehensive manuscript critique gives you specific criticism that helps you revise with confidence and clarity. You'll see where I laughed, cried, jumped, and groaned, wanted more, got lost or bored. I'll write a thorough analysis of what's working and what's not, then consult with you on your best next steps. You'll go into your next draft with enthusiasm and an editor in your pocket.Components of a comprehensive critique:+ Fully annotated manuscript, including highlighted flab+ Comprehensive critique letter (7+ pages for manuscripts with over 50,000 words )+ One-hour phone consultation+ Review of your first developmental editing assignment___DEVELOPMENTAL EDITINGFor ongoing guidance through the wilds of improving your writing skills -- both art and craft -- developmental editing is perfect. Must be preceded by a mini critique or comprehensive critique.Components of developmental editing:+ Ongoing conversations about your work in progress+ Assignments that guide you through your next drafts+ Accountability and problem solving as you work toward your goals+ Editing & critique of new material+ Guided research___My current favorite genres: Historical fiction, magical realism, ghost stories, and adventure stories.Please no vampires or spaceships.As of May 1, 2018, I will only accept copyediting projects through Reedsy that I've seen through critique.I'm a member of the Editorial Freelancers Association, the Greater Los Angeles Writers Society, the Missouri Writers Guild, the St. Louis Publishers Association, and the St. Louis Writers Guild. I teach writing, editing, and publishing workshops frequently in St. Louis and annually in Los Angeles.UPCOMING WORKSHOP:Communication Central's "Be A Better Freelancer" ConferenceSeminar: Freelancing 101: Launching and Managing Your Freelance BusinessPossible co-presenter with Ruth E. Thaler-Carter: Build a Better Website to Promote Your Freelance BusinessOctober 11-13,2019St. Louis, MORECENT ADVENTURES:Writer's Digest IndieLAB (attendee)September 2018, Cincinatti, OHBookFest STL (attendee)October 2018, St. Louis, MOBookExpo and BookCon (attendee)June 2018, NYCRECENT WORKSHOPS & PRESENTATIONS:Columbia Writers' Guild's Speaker SeriesSeminar: Developmental Editing for Critique GroupsFebruary 3, 2019Columbia, MOKids' NaNoWriMo Workshop6-week workshop for writers in grades 5-9The Book HouseOctober-December 2018St. Louis, MOMissouri Romance Writers of AmericaWorkshop: Book Description BlastJuly 2018St. Louis, MOSt. Louis Writers Guild's Gateway ConMaster Class: Publishing Paths 101: Traditional, Indie, and HybridWorkshop: Exposition ExposedNovel Development RoomJune 2018St. Louis, MOMissouri Writers Guild's Annual ConferenceWriting MentorMay 2018Columbia, MOSt. Louis Publishers Association's Speaker SeriesWorkshop: Book Description BlastApril 2018St. Louis, MOShowMe Writers Masterclass Mini Series Workshop: Exposition Exposed Workshop: Prioritizing Point of View March 2018 Columbia, MOSt. Louis Writers Guild's Speaker SeriesWorkshop: Novel Revision 101February 2018St. Louis, MOShowMe Writers MasterclassWriting MentorOctober 2017Columbia, MOWest Coast Writers ConferenceWorkshop: Exposition ExposedWorkshop: Book Description BlastWorkshop: Publishing Paths 101Writing MentorOctober 2017Los Angeles, CA________________If you've gotten this far, let's talk.Meghan PinsonMy Two Cents Editing
Services
Non-Fiction
Business & Management
Health & Wellbeing
Parenting & Families
Self-Help & Self-Improvement
Fiction
Cultural & Ethnic
Historical Fiction
Literary Fiction
Mystery & Crime
Languages
English (US)
Work experience
Self-employed
Oct, 2009 —
Present
My Two Cents Editing is a small band of literary specialists who provide expert developmental and copy editing, engaging critique, and fearless consulting to authors of novels and nonfiction manuscripts. It's our mission to guide writers from first draft to faithful readers along indie, traditional, and hybrid publication paths.
Los Angeles Unified School District
Sep, 2006 —
Jun, 2008
(over 1 year)
Subterranean Books, St. Louis, MO
Sep, 2003 —
Jan, 2005
(over 1 year)
The Book House, St. Louis, MO
Jun, 1994 —
May, 2001
(almost 7 years)
Portfolio
All Jane Seymour wants is a husband; but when she catches the eye of a volatile king, she is pulled deep into the Tudor court's realm of plot and intrigue....England. 1535. Jane Seymour is 27 years old and increasingly desperate for the marriage that will prov... read more
A talking tigress.A wandering yogi.A young woman's harrowing journey through an ancient land where chaos threatens gods and mortals alike.A tigress speaks to the outcaste girl Mala, and as she flees in terror, she stumbles upon an irascible old yogi. Though sh... read more
"A dead body is a lousy way to end a first date."So begins In the Country of the Blind, a modern noir tale that takes readers into the world of former attorney-turned building superintendent Zach Brandis. When Zach abandoned his promising legal career, it conf... read more
Is sleeping with Marilyn Monroe worth getting murdered again?When Jack Cade, a down-and-out aging Hollywood actor, is fired from a no-pay production of Hamlet, he has no inkling his next role will be opposite Marilyn Monroe - only forty years back in time, in ... read more
After the tragic romance of Jane the Quene, the second book in The Seymour Saga trilogy, The Path to Somerset, takes a dark turn through an era in which King Henry VIII descends into cynicism, suspicion and fits of madness – and in which mistakes mean death. E... read more
A beautiful warrior princess. A tormented prince. A terrible choice between love, duty, and spiritual freedom.Rebellious Dhara runs away from her Himalayan clan to study with the powerful yogi Mala, a mysterious woman with a violent past. Flung by war onto an ... read more
Extraordinary relationships don’t break the rules, they embrace them.There are thousands of relationship self-help books that offer countless magical techniques for how to get a man: what to say to a man, how to behave, what to do and not do to reach your rela... read more
"This was supposed to be an exciting moment, the announcement that my baby was coming. I realized that I was going through labor, but at the end of it, I would have nothing." (Mis)carriage is one woman's honest, intimate journey through the loss of her child a... read more
Multi-awardwinning, Bestselling Romantic Mystery SeriesSaving Grace kicks off the What Doesn't Kill You series with voodoo, laughs, and suspense.Katie Connell is a high-strung attorney whose sloppy drinking habits and stunted love life collide hilariously duri... read more
Have you ever wanted to climb into a time machine and visit Hollywood during its heyday?Right before talking pictures slug Tinsel Town in the jaw, a luminous silent screen star converts her private estate into the Garden of Allah Hotel. The lush grounds soon b... read more
On a cold February morning in 1967, Sheriff Coleman Grundy finds Betty Lou Mundy dead in her front yard and her husband on the porch with the gun that killed her. It looks like a classic case of revenge on a cheating wife.Until the next murder. And the next. A... read more
USA Best Book Awardwinner in Business: Writing/Publishing, With March 2016 Updates!Relatable and hilarious, you will wear the pages of this book out. Who knew indie publishing could be this much fun? Whether you have published before or are contemplating your ... read more
American scientist, Matt Miller, has been torn from his own century and dumped into Colonial Virginia with only his backpack and his wits. He has come to terms with where he is and when, and has surrounded himself new friends, but has also made an enemy who ha... read more
American scientist Matt Miller is torn from his own century and dropped into Colonial America with nothing except a backpack. His phone, his money and his identity are all useless and he quickly finds that he is foreign and alone in his own country. Matt must ... read more
A mysterious lighthouse. A dark secret. And a boy who changes a town.In a small 1929 town, children who misbehave are sent to a landlocked lighthouse where someone, or some thing, known only as the Caretaker punishes them. Or so the story goes.When 14-year-old... read more
DOES CONSCIOUSNESS SURVIVE?CAN WE CONTACT IT?A man staggers his way through the snow. His final words ignite an international chase that will cross countries, continents, and perhaps even centuries. After a controversial American researcher is murdered in a re... read more
Have you ever wanted to climb into a time machine and visit Hollywood during its heyday?As America embraces the 1950s, that brash upstart called televisionis poaching Hollywood's turf, inch by inch. If the studios don't dosomething drastic, they may lose the b... read more
Have you ever wanted to climb into a time machine and visit Hollywood during its heyday?When the Red Scare ends, paranoia lingers. Can Tinseltown recover to take on television?After an exile from MGM, ousted screenwriter Marcus Adler is looking for hisway back... read more
USA Best Book Award Winner in Narrative NonfictionWho says a whacked sense of humor and animal stories don't mix?Do you rank Where The Red Fern Grows along with Wuthering Heights amongst your favorite books of all time? All Creatures Great and Small with Pet S... read more
USA Best Book Winner in Parenting/Divorce!Blended Families, Blendered StyleMarried couples with children divorce 40% of the time. In less than three years after that divorce, chances are both mom and dad are remarried, and probably each to someone who has kids... read more
LOL Funny Relationship Book Full of Great AdviceDo-Over Tips for First-Time FailuresLet's face it. People keep getting into relationships. Yet over 40% of first marriages end in divorce and up to 67% of second do, too, with statistics becoming predictably more... read more
Are you one of "those" parents? If so, pour a cup of coffee, grab a tissue, and stay for a while. You're in the company of a good friend.A Mother's Tale Of Life With Her ADHD And Asperger's SonThey’re the parents who other people secretly believe must be doing... read more
Women's Health Winner in USA Best Book Awards!Middle-aged Endurance Athletics Meets The Hormonally ChallengedWomen get older, dammit, and sometimes it sucks, especially for women who pride themselves on athleticism and an adventurous spirit. Hot flashes. Weigh... read more
2014 USA Best Book Award Winner, Fiction: Cross GenreGoing for Kona has it all: unforgettable characters, an epic love story, and a page-turning mystery that will keep you guessing until the last page.When her husband is killed in a hit-and-run bicycling accid... read more
Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Quarter-Finalist!Finding Harmony takes you on a high stakes race through the islands, with mystery, suspense, romance, a little voodoo, and laughs.Katie’s already on edge when a dead guy shows up at Estate Annalise and shady loc... read more
Multi-awardwinning, Bestselling Romantic Mystery SeriesLeaving Annalise picks up the What Doesn't Kill You series with more romance, hilarity, and thrills.One unexpected and hotly fought-over little boy, two dead bodies, and a series of home vandalisms throw T... read more
A Time Travelling Romantic Suspense Novel"Beautifully written, this story brings time travel to life!"Upstate New York, 2012. Emily Stanton, a sociology major, graduates from college and is obligated to work for the mysterious company that funded her education... read more
Here are sixteen tales of lust, longing, and lousy fast food.They are told by ghosts who are not dead, and vampires who do not consume blood; by office workers who don't know what they do, and retail customers who don't know what they're buying; puddles of oil... read more
A late-blooming heiress visits her family's mountain lodge with her cute, motel-running neighbors. A strange building follows them, there's some romantic bickering and a cozy camp-out. And, most importantly, the young hotelier takes a stand on a life-changing ... read more
A late-blooming heiress runs a posh hotel next door to a shy guy and the little motel he oversees. Strange things happen, adventures are had, feelings are felt, and cheese dip is eaten.
Focusing on the American alligator in Texas, the updated book offers a brief, but comprehensive, look at this fascinating reptile, including its range and where the public can view gators in the state. The anatomy of the alligator and its life cycle are discus... read more
The term "homebirth cesarean" has only recently entered the birth world's lexicon. The phrase, which refers to a planned out-of-hospital birth that ends in the hospital operating room, now represents new understanding and healing pathways for mothers, families... read more
The ultimate guide for Flack-Hack relationshipsWhat separates effective PR people from ineffective ones? For every public relations professional who lands a story in the industry’s most prestigious trade magazine, some don’t achieve those results.Flacks & Hack... read more
Text. Love. Power. rejects the idea that women should be open and easy-going with their dates, and orders them to put down the smartphone if they want to get their man.In this riveting, controversial dating guide for the new millennium, Vanessa Taylor continue... read more
Dolly Fine called it: “There’s only one mob in San Francisco—the police.” Bordello Politique is a historic crime novel based on the true story of San Francisco’s most notorious madam, a clever and resourceful woman trapped in the police graft scandal of 1937.
***Winner of the Compulsion Reads Quality Book Endorsement***Taralie Severin and her three sisters are a powerful coven of modern-day witches who banish mythical creatures in between classes and shifts at the police station. But when Taralie is kidnapped by va... read more
Act first. Think never. Remember nothing.Welcome to Kelly Rockport’s existence at Haysville University, where responsibility is just an elective. After all, fake IDs, alter egos, and one-night stands are all part of the college experience, right? So what if sh... read more
March, 2011 - In the pine forest that marks the No Man's Land along the volatile India-Pakistan border, leopards roam freely across enemy lines, instigating fear in a pair of rival soldiers who are each guarding an illegal post and trying desperately to follow... read more
Evocative and visually rich, Box-Shaped Heart transports the reader to 19th-century Upstate New York, where society is poised on the brink of the modern world. From dusty rural villages to the smokestacks of industry, the American landscape is changing. Newt R... read more
Reader Views Reviewer's Choice Award - 2016When an unrelenting universe threatens to end Earth in an instant, one man could make a difference . . . In a small North Carolina college town, a disillusioned math professor, Drew Bauer, discovers the sun is dying. ... read more
Have you heard the one about the lesbian pixie called Tinker Bull, who takes on a shipload of Roman Catholic pirates without the help of her old friend Peter Plan, who has become an investment banker? Or the one about the Crocodazzi, an insatiable investigativ... read more
A riveting sci-fi thriller from the award-winning author of The Wandering Tree. Wilson Abby is just another happy consumer, a mere transaction away from contentment at any given moment. In a perfect world he might have remained that way. But when his closest f... read more
The second novel in the Time Travel Journal series The second universe is doing fine. But how is the first one faring? When Sam Altair went back in time to 1906, he created a second universe, one with its own alternate future. In this universe, humans surpass ... read more
Paw Tracks Here and Abroad is a book for children ages 6 to 96. It chronicles the adventures of Snickers, a stray dog with a strong will to survive. When Snickers is adopted in Peoria, Illinois, she quickly becomes part of the family--but that doesn't keep her... read more
Being and Awesomeness: Get Rad, Stay Rad is the first book by clinical psychologist Dr. Tiffany Tuttle. In her attempt to take the “sigh” out of psychology, Dr. Tuttle breathes new life into the field by celebrating self-help. She is unapologetic about her sen... read more
Transformed by Postpartum Depression is a poignant tale of 20 women’s journeys through postpartum depression and the growth that they experienced as a result. These women described severe suffering as they had been taken completely by surprise by their depress... read more
Parenting 10-14 years olds can be the most challenging of all the stages of development. Middle school is a time of tremendous change for families. Critical Connection is for parents of young teens who have said:"So much is changing. I just don't get my daught... read more
2014 Foreword Reviews INDIEFAB Book of the Year Awards FinalistWhen two men meet in a maximum security visitation room on May 5, 1968, they have only one thing in common: they both want their lives back. On one side of the window sits Kenneth Deatherage, sente... read more
2016 WINNER International Book Awards & IPPY AwardsAmazon Best-Selling Literary Fiction: Romance: March 2016The second Whippoorwill Hollow novelShenandoah National Park, Thanksgiving Morning, 1967The morning mists are still rising in Whippoorwill Hollow when t... read more
Have you ever wanted to climb into a time machine and visit Hollywood during its heyday?Hollywood history is more than just colorful. It’s dripping with red.As World War II ends, a new boogieman emerges: the Red Menace. When a scandal accuses Tinseltown of bei... read more
Have you ever wanted to climb into a time machine and visit Hollywood during its heyday?At the dawn of 1942, the dark days of Pearl Harbor still loom over Los Angeles. America is now at war, and posters warn home-front Hollywoodites that loose lips sink ships.... read more
Have you ever wanted to climb into a time machine and visit Hollywood during its heyday?Hollywood, 1939: When Tinseltown begins to woo wunderkind Orson Welles, he stashes himself at the Chateau Marmont until he’s ready to make his splashy entrance. But gossip ... read more
Have you ever wanted to climb into a time machine and visit Hollywood during its heyday?Summer, 1936: Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell's first novel, takes the world by storm. Everyone in Hollywood knows Civil War pictures don't make a dime, but renegade ... read more
Finally, a book that will provide you with the answers that change your body and your life! TRANSFORM really is the SECRET TO UNLOCKING THE PERFECT YOU. Once weighing over 200 pounds, Fitness and lifestyle expert Dede Barbanti not only gives you the tools to a... read more
Meghan has 26 reviews
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Quality
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Joseph M.
Nov, 2020
Rob D.
Aug, 2020
Brad H.
Mar, 2020
Barbara D.
Nov, 2019
jim F.
Oct, 2019
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