The Journal of Michael Merriam

Wow. I haven’t updated since the first of the month. Things have been busy around here, and I’ve been (unsuccessfully) fighting off the ick. Like I said, though, things have been busy, so here is a little catch up post.

MarsCon was a great success. I had a good time, the panels were smart and well attended, and the convention big enough to be interesting and have energy, but still small enough not to overwhelm me. My reading went well, even if it was sparsely attended. All the panels I sat on were good, solid panels, with “Ask a Writer” probably being my favorite, though it turned into “Ask an Editor” for a long stretch, since all the panelist had editing experience. I was able to manage the dealer’s room at MarsCon, and able to move around on my own pretty well. I call it a success.

We left the con on Saturday night for ladysea’s birthday, which was also a success. It was good to be around great friends, and there was good food and conversation. Also, we got to pitch MarsCon to most of them. They are almost all of them in fandom in one way or another, so I’m hoping to have a few more of my friends at MarsCon next year.

We went to Catherine Lundoff’s (catherineldf) reading at DreamHaven Books. She is an excellent reader and her material was quite enjoyable. Afterwards we went out to Merlins Rest for food and drinks. The food and drinks were good, and it was great hanging out with everyone after the reading, but Merlins was too crowded and noisy for my taste. I would be willing to try it again on weeknight, maybe.

The Stoll Baby Shower was also a great success. More good friends, good food and good times. The expectant parents seemed pleased with the gifts and the out pouring of friendship and love from their friends.

The City of Hopkins hosts “The World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade” and they are not kidding. I think it took the whole parade about 5 minutes to pass. After, we went down to the VFW Post for free hotdogs and soda, but not before walking to the Elk’s Lodge by mistake. Luckily Hopkins is small and the two locations were only about four blocks from each other.

We bought new bedding. It is lovely.

Made a trip to Uncle Sven’s Comics Shoppe in St. Paul to spend a gift certificate I’ve had for years. Picked up two collections and one card game. The shop itself is small, cute, and well-stocked with friendly and knowledgeable staff.

This weekend I have Paganicon (http://tcpaganpride.org/paganicon/). I will be doing a reading/storytelling event on Sunday, where I plan to present “Four Minnesota Fantasy Tales.” Hopefully I am over my sick and my voice holds out.

Yesterday, we received fresh snow in Minnesota. It came down in a thick beautiful white cloud, covering the snow that had become dirty with car exhaust and road crud. It was pleasant to look at, though less so when we had to go out and drive in it. Not that there was anything wrong with the snow, just the other drivers. Winter is Minnesota is gorgeous, if a bit treacherous. That said, autumn is still my favorite season in Minnesota.

I have finished the first round of edits on Last Car to Annwn Station, topping them off on Wednesday. I could have charged right into the second round, but I have two more weeks to finish the edits, and this first round is always the hardest and most draining. I have several things planned this weekend, a birthday party, a convention meeting, a Minnspec meeting, and gaming with the regular group My plan is to go to these events and recharge myself for the next rounds of edits, which I will jump into first thing on Monday. I will be reviewing my notes over the weekend and letting my brain stew on what to do. I know I will be writing a couple of new scenes, doing heavy rewrites on a couple more, and cutting one or two, which will involve continuity clean-up. There are several places where I've made notes to myself in the document to fix this or add this scene or explain this better. It looks daunting from here, but I am ever hopeful it will go smoothly in the execution.

We are still having some health issues with the various residents of Merriam Manor, but hopefully things are on the upswing. Right now I think we all need a couple of solid night's worth of sleep. Lack of sleep has been one of our biggest problems lately.

I received a lovely letter from a reader and reviewer, pointing me to her review of Should We Drown in Feathered Sleep: (http://tammys1.blogspot.com/2011/01/should-we-drown-in-feathered-sleep-by.html) Also, I received my postcards for Should We Drown in Feathered Sleep this week. They are gorgeous and act as a coupon should you want to order the book. I will have them to giveaway and sign during this years appearances.

And now I need to go find us all some lunch, finish my laundry, do my homework for the Minnspec meeting, and prepare to run errands this afternoon.

I wrote my first new words of the year yesterday, about 580 on a new short story that will be about the ghosts of abandoned buildings. I spent a large portion of my writing day figuring out the story, outlining, making decisions. I have become more of a plotter than pantser these days.

careswen and I ran a few errands yesterday, including scoring a Brita tank for the refrigerator at Goodwill. She spent a little of her Christmas money this week as well. I have a couple of things picked out for myself, just need to get to the store.

I am relearning how to cook with good stainless steel pots and pans. I've grown tired of Teflon flaking and tearing despite my best efforts, so went back to stainless. I had forgotten how quickly it heats up and how well it holds heat. I got a good set, so plan on using it for the rest of my life. I still need to pick up a couple of pieces I am missing to make a full set.

Alas, it is time to give the Reverend her sub-q fluids. Wish me luck.

I have finished the draft of the untitled monster-hunting barista novel. It clocked in at 68,000 words, which might be a little thin. I'm glad to be done with this one, and ready to start working on other things.

Had an author's online meeting with the editorial and marketing staff at Carina Press. All of Harlequin is behind the launch of this line. I need to set up an author's page at e-Harlequin. I am bemused that I set out to write a near-future Urban Fantasy and ended up with Paranormal Romance. The working title, "Should We Drown In Feathered Sleep," will probably not survive, but I'm okay with changing it to something marketing thinks will appeal more to the target audience.

I keep pulling out and petting my copies of The Horror At Cold Springs. I am a little boggled that I'll have two stand-alone novellas published this year. Now to sell a novel.

Met with the The Minnesota Speculative Fiction Writers last weekend to talk about the Northern Lights: 20 MinnSpec Tales anthology. Several members did not know the extended history of this project (it was first proposed in 2007). There were a few moments of "Michael squirms in his chair" as I took questions from writers I had rejected. Next weekend I will be presenting at MinnSpec again, this time with cloudscudding and Conrad Zero on social networking for authors.

I sat down today and worked out what needs to be done in order to salvage "Dark Water Blues." I can fix this, though it will mean some serious rewriting. I also realized I only have eight pieces of short fiction out right now, which is a low number for me. Turning more and more of my writing attention to novels has cut into the number of short stories I have in progress, though there are a couple of WiPs I'm excited about.

On the home front, we’ve been hit with several larger repairs lately: a new compressor for the AC in careswen's car, and heating elements for both the dryer and hot water heater. On the positive side, The Reverend Selena seems to be pretty much back to normal, though she still get IV fluids twice a week to help her ailing kidneys. Had wonderful and successful birthday parties for both careswen and greykev and went to dlandon's dance recital, which was a joy to watch.

Preparation for attending 4th Street Fantasy Convention, CONvergence, and possibly Diversicon are starting to rev up. I updated my website, mostly the bibliography page. I am looking forward to seeing everyone. I really need to spend quality time practicing with my bass guitar before music circles at these cons.

Big Update Done!

Ten years ago today, careswen and I arrived in Minnesota, all of our worldly possession in a 36-foot Ryder truck, our car on the trailer behind it.

I had been working at Storm Lures as their shipping manager, and we were bought out by Rapala Lures. They offered to transfer me to Minnesota, but didn't offer enough pay to make the move worthwhile. Instead, I took the severance package, which turned out to be six-months pay. careswen had finished her degree at the University of Oklahoma, and we were looking for a major change. We considered several possible placed to move to, and chose Minneapolis because it had everything we wanted in amenities (parks, theatres, arts, music, museums, etc), low unemployment, a modest cost-of-living, and real winters.

When we arrived, we knew three people: my aunt and uncle, and a former co-worker (who later moved back to Oklahoma). We had six months worth of savings and no jobs. Most everyone back in Oklahoma thought we were making a mistake; that we’d be slinking back to Oklahoma and our families within six months. They tried to discourage us from moving so far away.

They obviously had no idea who they were dealing with. There were some difficult moments in the beginning, and there have been some challenges since, but neither of us has ever regretted moving here. It is, we think, one of smartest decisions we ever made, second only to getting married (another decision many back in OK thought was a bad idea).

Ten years later, we own a home, have careers and a future, have made many wonderful friends, and cannot imagine living anywhere but Minnesota.

As I look out my patio door on this chilly autumn day, I have to say I've come to love living here. May we have many more happy years in Minnesota, in this charming little city of Hopkins.

1. Helped throw greykev a birthday party this weekend. It was good, and I think he had a great time. Pizza and hoagies were consumed, pictures taken, and games played. My only regret was that I did not get a chance to spend enough time with everyone at the party!

2. I have a Dreamwidth account (http://mmerriam.dreamwidth.org/). I plan to use it as a mirror of my Live Journal, and signed up mostly to squat on my handle and to have it in case LJ goes kablooey for some stupid reason. Feel free to follow me over there or here, which ever works for you.

3. I finished the second-to-last chapter of Rija's Tale last week. I know where it's going, so it's just a matter of making time this week and next to finish the first draft. I'm ready to be done with this novel, though I'm still enjoying it. Especially the part where Rija threatens to cut off someone's ear and they pass out.

4. My washing machine is making a weird, unfortunate noise. I've got my fingers crossed it will continue to hold together a little longer.

5. Finally, most you know how much I like singers Neko Case, Lucinda Williams, Cat Power, Mindy Smith, and Kathleen Edwards, so why didn't any of you point me at Jolie Holland?

I haven't been posting as much lately because it seems like careswen and I are busy busy busy. There's just a lot going on in our lives right now, and I haven't able, or frankly, willing to spend any of the little bits of spare time I have posting to LJ. I have been making little quick hit posts over on my Facebook. Also, I'm going to go ahead and open a Dreamwidth account, since one of my flist was kind enough to spot me an invite code. On the other hand, I'm going to close and delete my MySpace page at the end of the month. I've mostly been keeping it to stay in contact with my family, and they are starting to open up Facebook accounts.

Rija's Tale is nearly done. I need to finish this chapter, maybe have one or two more and then wrap it up. Once I've hit the end of the first draft on Rija's Tale I'll go back and start my rewrites on Dark Water Blues. I'm still waiting to hear back from the agent who asked for the full manuscript of Last Car to Annwn station. Fingers crossed.

In "around the house" news, we had the annual cleaning of the dryer vents and inspection of the fireplace, in accordance with HOA rules. I also had them clean my air ducts and heater vents, which, given the amount of crap that came out of them, hasn't been done in this place in years. I thought the previous owners had done it when they remodeled, so I thought this years was the first time I needed to have it done. That's what I get for assuming.

Besides working on Rija's Tale, I also have my quarterly copywriting gig this month. I should have that one done by Monday. Anyone know any other catalog or mail order places that need a freelance copywriter? No? Time for me to start poking around looking for more work in that field.

I've put in my panel requests for both 4th Street Fantasy Convention and CONvergence. I still need to sort out of I'm doing anything for Diversicon.


Rija's Tale

It is an electrical mystery of epic proportions. It looks like whoever wired up the garages originally screwed it up right royal, to the point that the wrong units are powering the wrong garages. The electrician has gone to talk to the association's maintenance manager.

The compressor was working fine, so I took apart the compartment with the freezer fan, and lo!  the freezer fan was iced over.  I've chipped it off and the fan is running.  If it continues to work, I'll do a complete defrost later.  I think I may have dodged a bullet.  Keep your finger's crossed. 

And sevenmpls , if I don't need that fridge you offered (and I still might), I'll still buy you a drink (I'll probably see at Minicon, if not sooner) just because you were kind enough to offer help.  I really appreciate it.

I think my fridge might be dead...