We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Meg McDonald. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Meg below.

Meg, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you take vacations? How do you keep things going – any advice for entrepreneurs who feel like they can’t step away from their business for a short vacation?

I absolutely take vacations. Sometimes, they’re just vacations from either my day job or my personal projects and not both. Breaks are really important to me because I know I’ll push myself to the point of burnout if I don’t make sure to schedule them in.

Nature gets the whole of winter off to hibernate! Neither my day job nor my creative side pursuits will implode if I’m gone for a week.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

To put it succinctly—I’m a writer who draws sometimes.

Growing up, one of my favorite pastimes was authoring and illustrating a neighborhood tabloid with my best friend on the cul-de-sac. Now, I write for my full-time day job, handling mainly copy for an institutional blog, news articles, websites, and print materials. I write Toad Talk in my off hours, occasionally sneak in some illustration commissions or extra writing and editing work, and, naturally, draw and write for fun, too.

Toad Talk is a weekly-ish Substack newsletter, kind of like a virtual Tiger Beat for weirdos. Since I’m lucky enough to work full time and cover my bills writing during the day, it doesn’t have to be profitable, which means I can get into whatever I want. I do offer subscriptions and have a tip jar, but money is absolutely not the focus, which frees me up a lot.

I’ve actually just paywalled all my old archives and given Toad Talk a bit of a makeover for season three, which I’m really excited about. I’m taking everything that I’ve enjoyed, that readers have enjoyed, and that I feel makes Toad Talk interesting and different, and I’m focusing entirely on that this go-around. I think it’s going to be a good time and–who knows–my fellow toads might even learn some bizarre trivia facts that help them win Jeopardy one day.

This season, I’m discussing Rock of Love, corporate mascot lore, Hello Kitty, where Grimace’s second set of arms went, tchotchkes and trinkets, Burger King video games, and more. I generally do my own illustrations and photography, too, so sometimes issues include a comic or a picture of my cat or some oddities I saw at the antique mall. It’s nothing too serious—I think if I ever took Toad Talk too seriously, it would cease to be the same project at all and I’d probably have to drop it altogether.

The one thing I do take seriously is keeping Toad Talk a friendly space that encourages my fellow toads to grab a little beverage and carve out some chill time while they read. I’m not like, facilitating world peace or anything, but I’m honestly really pleased when I hear back from even one or two readers that I was the catalyst that pushed them to take a break during an overwhelming week.

If folks appreciate Toad Talk or past work I’ve shared, I encourage them to subscribe or reach out to me with creative projects they’d like to work together on!

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding part of being a creative is making things that I love to read, look at, or use, and then finding an audience that appreciates those things as much as I do. It’s always a little anxiety-inducing hacking a piece of yourself out into the world and my readers and the clients I take on have made that process much easier for me.

I’m honestly really lucky to have found the little niche that I’m settled in now. I have a small audience and just a couple clients who really get me and my style, and I’ve made friends, deepened existing friendships, gotten great book and music recommendations, and laughed til I cried at some of their comments and feedback. They’re such a lovely, kind, resilient, witty group and I’m–not to be dramatic–honored that they come back for more of my slop in their troughs every week.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My mission with creative pursuits is always just to have fun and create a space for others to have fun, too, which is harder than it might sound. I’m a big-time perfectionist with an urge to please, so I have to tamp that down, sometimes, and listen to my own instincts. What’s funny to me? What do I find beautiful? What amuses me? At its core, I make all my work for myself now. I either need to enjoy the process or be pleased with the end result enough to make the process worth it. There’s enough drudgery in the world as-is.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://toadtalk.substack.com/
• Instagram: @aheartthatyearns
• Other: I’m also on Tumblr @a-heart-that-yearns! I tend to share smaller stuff and drawings in between issues of Toad Talk. PS: Let me know if you need more/different photos or if you’d prefer me to pull some from past issues of Toad Talk! The archives are all on Substack.

Image Credits
Meg McDonald