The Journal of Michael Merriam

...though it is a bit chilly here in Minnesota today.

I know I've been quiet here on Live Journal lately. I think part of it is that I really haven't had much to write about (at least, nothing that someone else has not already written about and done it better), and I think the other part is: I'm starting to mentally move into my February LJ/Facebook/MySpace/Internet sabbatical.

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of things I'm excited about, starting with, say President Obama. I love saying that! I love hearing it said! Sure, he's just a man, not a messiah. Sure, he’ll do thing I'll disagree with, but after eight long years of that other guy, I can't help but be hopeful.

And this weekend is Super Bowl weekend, a religious holiday in my family. I'll be preparing the traditional Super Bowl dinner of meatball subs and the cheese dip from careswen's mom's recipe. And while I don't have a particular team to cheer for or against, and I suspect the Steelers are simply too good for the Cardinals to handle, I'm looking forward to the game.

I'm looking forward to Con of the North as well, and am hopeful that no one gets sick this year. I've a bunch of games slotted out, probably more than I will actually play, but maybe not.

Though every short story I have in progress has stalled, I'm still moving along on Rija's Tale. I'm in an odd place in that I'm trying to link up a pieces that were written non-sequentially (something I don't usually do), and so I've had a bit of a struggle with the last couple of chapters. I have one more chapter to write, then I will be back to working sequentially again.

Rija's Tale


While I'm taking time off from the internet (I will be checking email, since most of my work is done that way), I'll be trying to finish Rija's Tale and continue marketing Last Car to Annwn Station while getting both Dark Water Blues and Old Blood's Fate submission ready. I also want to write some more short stories. I need to prepare for the teleconference with the blind writers and poets group. I need to start getting ready for convention season. And I'm going to spend time considering what I want to do with this journal in the future, and what I plan to do about (and what I want to get from) attending conventions in the future.

February seems packed already.