Hello!
I'm Mickie,
an author, surfer, & sommelier, + the owner of The Buzzed Word bookshop, natural wine shop, & bar in Ocean City, Maryland.

My memoir, Mother, Ocean, is forthcoming in spring 2028 from Trio House Press. It’s about the first 18 months I learned to surf following my mother’s sudden death from pancreatic cancer, and how the practice not only healed my grief and loneliness, but restored hope after heartbreak, and helped rebuild my life. Surfers will love it, but it’s for anyone who has ever lost and needed to find strength, or themselves, again.

The book was borne from my monthly-ish newsletter, Wax On, about the practices of life through the lens of surfing. It’s honest, personal, and unflinching. I’ve been told it helps people, too. You can read or subscribe to it for free :)

I also write essays for other magazines and media places, often about my area of Maryland or nearby Virginia. You can find examples here. I have a novel on submission, and two more in the works. I hold an MFA in Fiction from The New School, where I was a Creative Writing Fellow. (For inquiries, see my agent’s information below.)

I spent 12 years in New York City, where I was a creative copywriter and editor for many brands; the Events Director for Guernica, where I also did interviews and book reviews; the co-host of the writer's variety show, Same Page, at KGB Bar; and host of a literary/wine reading series called Books & Bottles based on an Instagram, The Buzzed Word—which would become my physical store.

I moved back to my hometown of Ocean City in 2020, and opened my store in July of 2021 to champion diverse books and natural wine. You can visit it here, and read about that journey to open it here. You can find me there, bartending and book-slinging, most days, and surfing every moment I’m not. This is the only social media I have.

I am represented by Lauren Bieker at Fine Print Literary Management.
For book inquires, please contact her: lauren@fineprintlit.com
To work with me on feature stories or events:
mickie.meinhardt@gmail.com
For anything The Buzzed Word-related:
info@thebuzzedword.com