Sometime this summer, a friend did me a big favor by referring Meg Tilly to Hop Studios to build a website. Meg — yes, that Meg Tilly — as written several books and the newest one was due to come out in September. Over the phone Meg told me that she wasn’t sure why she needed a website, but her daughter seemed to think it was necessary, and did I have any ideas for what she might do with a website? As a matter of fact, I did.
We’ve done a bunch of author and book websites in the past while: Sam Harris, Christopher Noxon, Barry Glassner, Kim Edwards, Ann Packer. And they’ve been great fun. Authors are terrific to work with, although my favorite part might be that I get to read their books and call it “work time.” Meg’s no different. Together we figured out some areas of her life she might like to explore in the website, and her enthusiasm for the project quickly colored the design work we put together.
The result is a website that feels a bit like a scrapbook, full of personal reminiscences in Meg’s words and photos. For me, her work was full of nostalgia for innocence lost and childhood moments (though you can’t describe her heroines’ lives as idyllic by any stretch of the imagination) and so I tried to create a design that had the feel of the young women she writes about.
At some point in the process we decided to add a blog to the site, and since it launched I’ve learned what happens when you put a blog in the hands someone who loves to write: she’s off and running with blog posts about everything from blueberry muffin recipes to the fed cutting interest rates.
Even better, each of Meg’s books — Singing Songs, Gemma, and Porcupine — has its own section complete with excerpts, press links, and more. The website also has all kinds of stuff about Meg’s film career, and sometime here shortly, there will even be a section with information on buying audio books, read by Meg herself.
So congrats on the website, Meg. We hope you enjoy it!
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