“Margaret Meps Schulte relishes the revelations that she uncovers while cozying up to strangers.” – Aron Row, San Francisco Book Review
Her full name is Margaret “Meps” Schulte, and she is an author, artist, and public speaker who lives and works in Dunedin, Florida. She blogs occasionally on this site, but she has published countless blogs and hundreds of limericks in the past. You can find her on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter under 1meps.
Here are a few of Meps’ noteworthy creative endeavors and projects:
In 2014, she published an illustrated memoir, Strangers Have the Best Candy, which won the Bookseller Diagram Prize for “Oddest Title of the Year.”
Strangers Have the Best Candy on Amazon
Order an autographed copy
In 2016, she published The Joyful Bear, an illustrated book of teddy bear philosophy for grown-ups. (You need a copy on your nightstand. Trust me on this.)
The Joyful Bear on Amazon
Order an autographed copy
Watch the Joyful Bear video series
Meps is a fountain of creativity, responsible for public art installations, websites, videos,and memes, including the I Am Worthy Collection. Her “Choose ART” and “Dunedin Rocks” installations inspire others to consider themselves artists, and her DDMA commission, “Riding With Freddie” celebrates the life of Dunedin resident Freddie Webb.
In 2021, Meps painted the Young Optimists bench for the City of Dunedin, Florida. Located on Patricia Avenue, just south of Main Street, the bench celebrates the creation of the Optimist sailing pram in Dunedin. The original fleet of boats is still maintained by the city and used for racing by several local groups, including the Windlasses.
As a muralist and the art director for the Burning Man Department of Mutant Vehicles, Meps’ work is prominently placed in a temporary city of 80,000 people.
Meps discovered The Happy Spot and distributes thousands of free Happy Spots a year to absolute strangers, friends, and family members.
She is the creator of the I Smile First initiative, which encourages people to smile at others, regardless of whether they smile first.
She publishes her recipe collection and food articles on the Foodie Gazette. Meps has been blogging since 2003, originally at Meps’n’Barry, a site shared with her former husband, Barry, and now here at 1meps.com.
Meps also runs a creative content development firm that specializes in instructional design and communications for nonprofits, 3 Choices Creative Communications LLC.
Media inquiries | Speaking engagements | Trailer for Strangers Have the Best Candy