The Journal of Michael Merriam

Local author Rob Callahan says nice things about me, Dana M Baird, Joseph Scrimshaw, Tales of the Unanticipated Magazine, and Maggie Koerth-Baker (who I've never met or read, but who sounds awesome!) over at l'étoile Magazine. Go read about some great local Twin Cities talent!

Originally posted at michaelmerriam.net. You can comment here or there.

If I said I was excited, it would be a horrible understatement. This is one of those moments that as writers we work toward, but fear will never happen.

Except sometimes it does.

I’d like to thank my wife, Sherry L.M. Merriam, who was the first reader and helped me edit the manuscript into something I could submit to publishers.

Thanks to Adam Stemple, Alison Ching, Jaye Lawrence, Joanne Anderton, Kevin McIntyre and Hilary Moon Murphy, all of whom read the novel in various drafts and offered thoughts, ideas, occasional smacks to the back of the head and all the encouragement I needed to finish it.

A special thanks to the editors and staff at Carina Press for choosing to publish my novel and helping me polish it until it shined. They are a joy to work with.

Thank you to everyone on Live Journal who cheered me on as I wrote the novel and who, when I described it as “a dark urban fantasy revenge and redemption paranormal romance and supernatural horror novel with mythological and fairy tale overtones and lesbian protagonists, featuring the ghost of the defunct Twin Cities streetcar system,” had a good laugh about me finding my little niche.

And a final thank you to the late Mr. Thomas Lowry (February 27, 1843–February 4, 1909). For the streetcars.

Last Car to Annwn Station is available in ebook format at Carina Press, Barnes & Noble, Amazon U.S., and Amazon U.K.

Line edits on Last Car to Annwn Station are finished and returned to Editor Melissa at Carina Press. It should be a couple of weeks before the CEM arrives. I have a week to finish that, then the manuscript will be complete and delivered. There will be a final proof galley, then at last a book. I can’t wait.

My reading at DreamHaven Books was a success. I started off reading too fast, but got my footing and by the time I read from Last Car to Annwn Station I had settled in. Everyone seemed to enjoy the reading, and several folks said they are looking forward to the novel coming out this summer. We had a great crowd, 41 people by our count.

Super Bowl party was fun, with about 20 people at my house, some of whom cared about the game, many of whom did not, and everyone having fun. There was lots a good food and great company.

Had a nice night out with some other local writer folks. Good conversation, goods people, and a smashing beer and scotch selection at The Muddy Pig in St. Paul.

Speaking of food, we have a new Japanese restaurant in Hopkins, Aji. There is nice review here: http://www.weeklynews.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=8267&SectionID=49&SubSectionID=110&S=1

We went with some friends and found everything cooked to perfection and the sushi bar well presented, with a good selection of excellent and flavorful sushi.

We went to see Bill W. and Dr. Bob (http://www.illusiontheater.org/events/bill-w-dr-bob) at the Illusion Theatre in downtown Minneapolis. This show is well worth seeing, and the discussion after the show with the director and actors was great fun.

The MinnSpec meeting today was a presentation about giving presentations and being on panels. There was some really good stuff, though I feel like we focused a little too much on PowerPoint stuff. I know some people really dig the PowerPoint, but I don’t use it. There was also good discussion about what to do in difficult situations (a cellphone goes off, crying children, that one person in the audience who tries to hijack the panel, that one expert in the audience who asks you the one question you don’t know the answer to, that sort of thing). We talked about different things you can do the make your public speaking better, including joining Toastmaster and taking some basic acting and voice classes. Over all a very positive meeting, plus we figured out the topics for the next couple of meetings.

Getting gear up for Con of the North this weekend. I will be spending my birthday at the Con.

I sent in my panel picks for CONvergence. We shall see what happens.

Speaking of panels, I have my schedule for MarsCon:

Friday, March 4:
6:00-6:45 PM--Krushenko's/Concierge (Room 1332)
Fiction Reading: Michael Merriam

Saturday, March 5:
6:00-6:45 PM--Re(a)d Mars/Taylor (2nd Floor)
Panel: The Woods Are Lovely
How do we create modern fairytales and myths? How do we tap into the primal emotions of fairytales in a modern era?
Michael Merriam, mod.; PMF Johnson, Naomi Kritzer

Sunday, March 6:
11:00-11:45 AM--Re(a)d Mars
Panel: Ask a Writer
Always wanted to know how a novel is born? How does a writer structure their day? Is it all glittering parties and intelligent company? Come ask a panel of working writers anything!
Michael Merriam, mod.; Roy C. Booth, Catherine Lundoff, Anna Waltz

1:00-1:45 PM--Krushenko's
Panel: The Western as Fantasy
Myths about the Old West began before the West was old, making it one of the first shared worlds in American culture. We'll discuss the rise and fall of the Old West mythology, and how it has influenced and lent its energy to current genres including fantasy and science fiction.
David Christenson, mod.; Eric M. Heideman, Michael Merriam

2:00-2:45 PM--Krushenko's
Panel: Writing in a Series: Harmonies and Discords
Writers who have done multiple novels or stories about continuing characters and/or a linked world share their experiences, positive or negative, and their advice to aspiring series writers.
Michael Merriam, mod.; Lois McMaster Bujold, Naomi Kritzer

I’ve acquired shooting scripts from several televisions shows and one from a motion picture. I plan to read and study these, watch several episodes of Being Human, Eureka and Warehouse 13, and then create spec scripts. I am also outlining a feature movie script.

My counselor at State Services for the Blind has, in support of my quest for a part-time job, hooked me up with Lifetracks in St. Paul. My worker there has already sent out my resume to a potential employer that looks to be a good fit for me, except it might be too much travel by bus. Still, if they can find me a possible position before I’ve ever had a meeting with them, I’m impressed.

Tomorrow night I will cook Valentine dinner for my Bunnee. We stay in and avoid the crowds on Valentine's Day. There will be good food and small gifts.

Also, still sick. This is the start of week three. I suppose I should go see a doctor.

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 pulled my other WiP novel out yesterday and looked at it again. Though it makes me nervous to say it, I feel like Dark Water Blues is some of my best work. I'm looking forward to working on it again once I've finished Rija's Tale.

I received my contributor's copies and a check from Fictitious Force yesterday. A quick glance showed that I am sharing a ToC with truepenny, and for the second time aliettedb.

Yesterday careswen took me out to the Mill City Museum for my belated birthday gift, where we, among other things, took a walking tour of the Washburn "A" Mill , including going down in the bowels of the ruined mill to places most visitors never get to see. It was damned interesting, and yes, I do plan on using some of this in fiction, eventually.

Gaming was afterward, and while it wasn't a total disaster, I'm starting to wonder if I'm losing my touch as a DM. I have to wonder if it is because my storytelling focus had shift away from gaming to writing. Or maybe I'm just getting old and can't react as quickly to my character's decisions.

One the way home careswen and I got behind a driver who was obviously impaired, weaving and swerving between lanes, speeding up and slowing down erratically, that sort of thing. We called the State Patrol and followed the guy. Over the next thirty minutes we tailed this driver or sat watching him as he sat park on city streets, all the while talking to police on the phone. Every time he got off the highway, the State Patrol switched me to the local city police, but then the guy would get back on the highway.

We followed him around for Thirty Freakin' Minutes as he swerved into other lanes and did other stupid shite, endangering people's lives, with me on the phone giving the police dispatcher a play-by-play of where we were. We followed him until he short down a dark residential street and then got behind us, at which point we decided it wasn't safe and broke off. Did I mention we did this for Thirty Freakin' Minutes? Guess how many cops we saw. Go on, guess.

Right, not a one, even though we were feeding dispatch exact information.

I was supposed to go to the monthly Twin Cities Speculative Fiction Writers Network meeting today, but I woke up sick to my stomach and dizzy, like I'd gone on a terrible bender last night and was reaping the rewards, except I didn't have anything alcoholic to drink yesterday.

I'm feeling a little better this afternoon, so I'm going to get some lunch now, fold some laundry, and work a bit on Rija's Tale.

It looks like we received around 10 inches of snow here in Hopkins, MN. A respectable storm, but not the end of the world by any stretch of the imagination.

Refusing to let a little thing with the weather slow us down, careswen and I proceeded with our packed weekend, spending Friday night at williamofoccam and pezwitch's house, leaving somewhere are midnight.

Saturday morning careswen and I missed the Home Owners Association Special Meeting because – well, because. Saturday night was Game Night. I think it was a good session. I tried to get some much needed information into the hands of my players without just handing it to them. There was plenty of food left over from the last two events, but now it is all but gone. Which reminds me, pezwitch left a partial can of smoked almonds here for the next game session. Sadly, I have eaten them all and will now need to buy a new can by this Saturday. Alas.

Sunday morning I ventured into Uptown for the Twin Cities Speculative Fiction Writers Network meeting. The group has decided to put together an anthology to showcase member's work. I will be on the editorial staff. Except for discussing the anthology, I was pretty quiet and low-keyed. I actually sat quietly and worked on the first draft of a SF poem. Thank you wordswoman for letting me steal your pen and for the loan of paper. I shall never venture out in public without pen and notebook again.

After the meeting, I met careswen at Bryant Lake Bowl for the final performance of "London After Midnight" (yes, there is a theatre attached to the bowling alley.) It was a total hoot. The production company (Hardcover Theatre Company) gives away a hardcover book at the end of each performance by random drawing. I won a copy of The Complete Sherlock Holmes Mysteries, Volume #1. That night we came home and watched the movie Saved!, a slightly dark and off-kilter comedy. It was fun.

Today I have washed clothes, washed dishes, performed cat maintenance, shoveled snow, walked to the store, cleaned house, changed the bedding, paid a couple of bills, sent out resumes, engaged in email correspondence, read a few online magazines, and pretty much avoided the novel.

Yeah, I realized about thirty minutes ago I was actually avoiding the novel. I've hit a difficult stretch in the rewrite and I'm dreading tackling it. So much so that I've decide to call today a wash for writing. I'll finish the rest of the bills and do any other chores that need doing today. Tomorrow I will attack the novel full out.

Okay, I'm going to go and wrap-up my current To Do list so that tomorrow is all about the writing.

In Peace,
Michael