The Journal of Michael Merriam

The weekend was packed with stuff.

Saturday was all about the gaming, with some writing and housework thrown in. The gaming session went well, I thought, though another character bit the dust, again through nothing I did as a GM, but instead caught in "Friendly Fire" during a particularly nasty battle. That's the second character causality, and we're just now getting to the hard stuff.

On the negative side, I broke a glass at the host's home, and kept walking into people, things, walls, and otherwise stumbling over stuff like some gigantic club-footed blind cow. I know the why of it, but that doesn’t make it any easier to deal with.

The Twin Cities Speculative Fiction Network meeting was good as well. We talked about world building, and as you might guess with a room of over a dozen Spec Fic writers, things got a little weird. I won't talk too much about what we came up with, because I think some members of the group might want to try writing stories in the world we created as a group. More power to them.

My main contribution was, I think, the Giant Space Kraken lurking hidden somewhere in the dark matter of space, coming out in answer to the prayers of the aquatic life on the planet we created and destroying the human spaceships in orbit. Because really, I think most spacefaring science fiction and space opera stories could be improved with a god-like Giant Space Kraken lurking in the dark matter, waiting to pounce on hapless and unsuspecting starships.

Next month we are hosting Lois McMaster Bujold. I'm looking forward to the Q&A.

Sunday night I helped careswen a little bit with her paper for class by going through her textbooks and flagging pages she might need for citations.

I wrote a little bit this weekend, mostly while waiting for buses, though if I am to be completely honest, I wrote a little during the TCSFWN meeting as well.

I talked to my mother, who is much improved from her surgery.

I'm not going to Wiscon this year, not because I didn't enjoy it last year (I did!) but for purely financial reasons. I've picked up 4th Street Fantasy Convention instead, which is local and promises to be filled with coolness.

I applied for a full-time position with a major shipping company, because the pay and benefits were simply too good to ignore. It is unlikely I will even make the cut for an interview, but I have to try. And yes, I realize that I had trouble writing when I was working part-time and given that, working full-time might well stop me cold as a writer, but the siren song of the pay and benefits could not be ignored.

I also applied for a couple of part-time positions, and started writing a short (200-250 word) article on spec for a local news and media outlet that is considering posting short pieces of local Twin City interest on their website.

I feel pensive, sad, and worn. I wonder if I am not the most terribly tedious correspondent in the entire blogosphere. I suspect that I might be whining at this point. I suspect I need a decent nights sleep.

Dark Water Blues


ETA:I bought a French Press. It makes little individual cups of coffee heaven!

I slept about 6 hours last night, which for me is pretty typical. I'm feeling much better today. I mean, I won't be tap-dancing anytime ever, but I'm not loopy to the point of ...

Yeah, I'm not entirely sure where I was going with that one.

Since careswen was also suffering monkey brain (ook-ook), we put an audio version of Roger Zelazny's Unicorn Variations in the tape deck last night to help lull us both to sleep. Lull me to sleep with your smooth, soothing voice, Rene Auberjonois, lull me to sleep.

Now that I'm back to a mostly functional state of being I plan to get back to the program. Today's agenda includes heading into town, sending out submissions, applying for positions, and perhaps reading a little. I might break out one of the pirate stories (I have a space opera story and a fantasy-world story) and start working on it again.

Next week I will give the Phantom Streetcar Novel one last read-through before sending it out to readers. I might give Old Blood's Fate the Jaws for Windows reading treatment as well. Then off to learn how to write a screenplay, all while working on the third novel, Into this Land.

I'm about to ramp up the work load again.

Finally, I just wanted to say that, while I do a terrible job of leaving comments on my friend's live journals, I do read your journals, everyday. Everyone one of you, everyday. Just so you know.

I tried to go back to bed and take a nap, because you know, I haven't slept much and I was feeling shaky and dizzy and I said to myself, "Self, this would be grand time to try and get some more shut eye."

So went upstairs and climbed into the bed.

Yeah. Still awake. The monkeys in my head kept screaming OoK-Ook-OooK! I could not get my Stupid Brain to shut up. So I'm back downstairs again, still a little woozy and all, but alive.

For those of you playing our home game (what? you don't have a copy of our home game?) this is not the worst it has ever been. I once (I think it was in 1990) stayed awake with no sleep for 80+ hours. I don't suggest this to people as a viable lifestyle. Just sayin'

I'm thinking the Cajun seasoned cottage fried potatoes I just ate might not have been the best idea evah.

I tried to read myself to sleep, but I kept reading the same paragraph over and over again and was getting frustrated and annoyed. I'd watch TV, but I'm afraid I'd end up on a shopping network and the next you know I'd own a flow-bee, a bowflex, and a box full of flexible tubing to twist into children's toys.

I have been using this opportunity to catch up on the archives at Scary Go Round.

Really, this a hysterical web comic, made more so by my lack of sleep, I'm thinking. If you are interested in the comic but a fearful at the rather large archive of back comics (it goes back to 2002) there is a wonderful Scary Go Round Wikipedia Entry that will catch you up.

I need to send out some short story submissions, but not in this condition. Because, you know, I want them to get where they're supposed to go. And the right story to get there.

I have been going through want ads and employment sites. I'm bookmarking things to apply for later, again because I'm not sure about actually applying for a position when I can't focus. I doubt I could put together a coherent cover letter and I don't want to accidentally end up working someplace feeding hungry lions raw meat by hand. I'll start applying tomorrow when I can focus my mind on the task oh look a shoe....

Thanks for getting all that sorted out while I slept. It's nice to know you've figured out how to deal with the POV problems from a storytelling perspective. It does seem rather simple doesn't it? Yes, yes, just cause for excitement, even if neither of us are completely clear (though we do have a vague idea) on how the novel should end.

But was it necessary, in your enthusiasm, to wake me up at 3:15 am?

Best Wishes,
The Tired Meat Puppet