Look and Listen

Biography

Margaret Cmelik grew up in Iowa in small towns where she rode her bike, climbed trees, rode horses and caught bugs in jars. Her parents expected her to get a college degree. She bounced around in a variety of majors from Architecture and Chemical Engineering, to Dietetics and Food Technology trying to find a good fit for her personality. After ten years of not finding the "thing" she would love to do every day, she declared Food Technology as a major, received her BS and happily left college. She had a one daughter she raised alone and she says being mother was her favorite job. During that time, to earn money while still being with her daughter, she started businesses in childcare, home health care, pet shipping, sewing and tutoring. She now begins a new venture. Writing. From the five-year diary she started when she was 11, to journals, college papers, essay exams (which she preferred to multiple choice) very long emails and letters she always loved writing. As she puts it "I feel naked without a pen and paper or my net book to write on." She chose humor as a genre because it's what she enjoys reading and she admits she's a clown at heart - "just not the creepy kind." She has written three books, "Ants are Stupid", "Speak Up, Don't Slouch", and "Why the Hell are You Eating so Much?" and plans to write many more in the future.

Inspiration

My inspiration comes from most comedy. Quirky comedy. As a very young child I watched "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In" and "The Smother's Brothers". I love "Saturday Night Live" and shows like "Will and Grace", "Gilmore Girls", "Big Bang Theory", "Better Off Ted". I watch movies constantly, especially comedies and romantic comedies. Books I enjoy are odd humor like "The Far Side", "Loads More Lies to Tell Kids", "Girls Are Weirdos, But They Smell Pretty!", "The Gallery of Regrettable Food", "The Museum of Kitschy Stitches, A Gallery of Notorious Knits" and "How to Tell if Your Boyfriend is the Antichrist".