The Journal of Michael Merriam

Starting on April 2nd, I will be going back to work full-time for the first time since 2003. Through networking and word-of-mouth recommendations, I have secured a position as an office manager for Very Good pay.

The work site is in St. Paul, so it's a bit of a commute, but I'm planning to use the time on the bus (until I can get a standing pickup and drop-off order in with Metro Mobility) reading and eventually writing.

I am not so foolish as to think this will not affect my writing, but I know several writers who work full-time and still get the writing work done. I will learn from their experiences as I make this transition. I am a writer. I will write.

The desk:


( See The Rest Behind The Cut )

I realized this morning that I need to get a lot more done on the freelance gig I'm working on, and then I opened my email to find a request for a minor rewrite by one magazine and page proofs from another magazine, so I'll be hunkered down today, nose to the grindstone and all that.

See you all tomorrow!

I interview for a part-time position that would actually pay me more per year than I ever made when working full-time. Would that rock or what? While I would lose my SSDI payment in nine months, I would get to keep Medicare, which would mean I wouldn't be without medical insurance.

In other news, I'm going through one of those low-points every writer suffers from time to time. I hope it passes soon.

Dark Water Blues

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!

Another decent writing day here at Merriam Manor. This writing the pages long hand and then typing up seems to working, for all that it's a trick to help me be more productive. I seem to not worry if it's any good or not when I write long hand, I just get the thing down on paper. Writing first draft on the computer seems so—permanent, which make me worry more about little things and causes me to try editing more while I'm writing.

Which in turns brings the whole thing to a crashing halt.

Now I start worrying when I start transcribing. It's like writing the second draft when I'm working from my long hand notes, so it's okay to worry and fuss. I think this process works for now on this novel.

Dark Water Blues


In other news, I applied for a part-time position with the City of Hopkins, and the Reverend got a little over exuberant while we were playing and took a chunk out of my finger. She seemed surprised and distressed when I yelp and started bleeding, so now she's stretched out in my lap purring.

I wrote about 2000 words yesterday, all long hand in my notebook. I typed them up this morning. I'm pretty happy with that, and hopefully I can get more words tonight. Richard and Holly's already difficult situation took a serious downward spiral in the last scene. My poor hapless characters. Maybe I'll post something over at urbanfantasyfan for Teaser Tuesday.

Dark Water Blues


I'm pursuing a handful of exciting part-time employment possibilities. A couple of them would really rock, being just the kind of things I need to bring in a steady extra income without giving up all my writing time. Wish me luck.

I have proven that I am indeed handy about the house by repairing the freezer, stopping it from making a noise like horny crickets on a sugar high. Granted, all I did was take the coverings apart, clean things, and then reseat all the screws properly, but still, I fixed it!

I am rewarding myself with a Hershey's 5th Avenue bar. And if the freezer starts making terrible noises in a few minutes, I will have consoled myself with that same candy bar.

Also, if you get an invitation to come to my home tomorrow and eat all my food, well, you know what happened.

I have an interview tomorrow at Retail Employees Credit Union. They have a call center here in Hopkins and a branch office in St. Louis Park, both of which I can travel to easily.

My new state issued ID came in the mail today, so now I can rent a PO Box for Drey Books while I'm next out and about. The picture, of course, is about as unflattering as these sort of pictures can be. I look like a fat thug. Seriously. careswen admonished me for not smiling, but I did, is the thing. It's just that their dodgy piece of shite lowest bidder digital camera took a good thirty seconds to take the picture, several seconds of which involved a bright light in my face.

careswen stayed home with a continuation of her migraine today. She seems better now, after a lot of drugs and a nice nap. We walked over to the little neighborhood store and made a couple of purchases, noting on the way that the squirrels and chipmunks are feeling the spring. Mostly this was accomplished by watching multiple fuzzy animals chasing each other around. At one point it looked like a small circus on my patio, with four or five squirrels and a couple of chipmunks dashing around chasing each other. The Reverend is amused by all this.

My sister called this morning. My mother is back in the hospital. I don't have a lot of details yet, and what I do have are sketchy, so I won't say any more until I do.

Made some good movement in on the current WiP, but I really do need to get serious about finding a publishing home for Last Car to Annwn Station.

I also have a couple of short stories I need to rewrite and a couple more I need to finish. And another novel I want to work on after the current one. I need to learn to write faster.

Rija's Tale


Yes, I've increased the projected word count.

I couldn't seem to get any traction as a writer today. I've been a bit moody, or maybe broody, I'm not sure. The Reverend is sick, which makes her moody and cranky as well, and I have the scars to prove it. I opened up the house to let in some fresh air, but now it seems like we have rain moving in. Maybe I just didn't sleep well last night.

I did manage to go into downtown Hopkins today and run some errands, including stopping at the library. I mailed off some manuscripts. I got in a good walk, despite stupid drivers trying to run me down in the crosswalk (X3 no less). I spent a good part of the day working on job applications and lining up which agents to query on Last Car. I should feel accomplished, but all I feel is...blah.

I'm going to try and get a few words in before careswen gets home.

ETA: Nope, didn't get to write, had other things that needed my attention. I guess today is just a wash as far as writing goes. Tomorrow with be better, I'm sure.

I have several possible non-fiction writing gigs up in the air. I'm waiting on a couple of queries and waiting to hear back from a couple of places that asked for writing samples.

I've written four versions of the synopsis: a too-large version (20 page double-spaced Courier 12pt), a large version (12 page double-spaced Courier 12 pt), which turns into a smaller version (9 page double-spaced Times New Roman 12pt) or even smaller version (5 page single-spaced TNR 12 pt), and later today I plan to create the micro version (1 page single-spaced Times New Roman 12pt).

I also sent out several submissions today. You can't sell them if you don't submit them.

Tonight careswen and I plan to do some work on Shimmers & Shadows. Maybe set the final ToC, create the blurb page, and finalize some business stuff.

Somewhere in here I'd like to start polishing up a couple of short pieces I recently finished, maybe get some words on the next novel (or two), and finish a couple of short pieces I've been kicking around. I suspect I will get back to that once the synopsis is done and I've started submitting Last Car around.