Posts

Margerumalia – One, Two, Buckle My Shoe

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – October 2, 2026

Yesterday we entered October Country where things are not always what they seem and the unknown is mysterious indeed. The mystery above, though, is in the capable hands of the famous detective Hercule Poirot, one of Agatha Christie’s most well-known crime solvers.

I read my first Agatha Christie mystery in high school when the Scholastic Books were featured on a four page flyer and you could order a pocket paperback for 75 cents. I chose The ABC Murders and was introduced to M. Poirot and his “little grey cells” long before I delved into my First Sherlock Holmes story.

“It is the brain, the little gray cells on which one must rely. One must seek the truth within—not without.” ~ Poirot

At that same high school, where I substituted just last week, a free-for-the-taking withdrawal cart outside the library held three Agatha Christie novels. Two of them featured Hercule Poirot. I intend to read them all and then donate them to a “little library” I’ve seen around town.

In this story, M. Poirot visits his dentist and observes a young man in the waiting room who he thinks looks like a murderer. Of course, a death does take place and Chief Inspector Japp requests the help of Poirot to solve the unexplained circumstances.

The dentist is found dead in his office, shot apparently by his own hand. Then the patient he worked on last dies at home of a heart attack. Perhaps the dentist realized he had injected too much painkiller and committed suicide rather than face the consequences? Poirot isn’t convinced and starts to investigate a possible murder.

This rather cozy mystery has all the elements of the standard motive-means-opportunity puzzle that seems a little mundane for this detective. Then Poirot learns that there is something far more important going on that has the flavor of an international incident. The scope of the puzzle widens considerably.

I leave the rest for you discover on your own.

(It’s interesting to note that this story was first published in 1941 during the German Blitzkrieg of WWII before the US entered the war with the attack on Pearl Harbor.)

TTFN

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My middle grade novel, The Most Amazing Museum of Los Angeles is available through The BookBaby Bookshop at https://store.bookbaby.com/book/the-most-amazing-museum-of-los-angeles

Margerumalia – Caret, Carat, Carrot

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – September 25, 2026

I submitted the files for my book of children’s poetry last Friday and I wanted to share another short poem preview with you (above). The book also has longer poems but this made for an easy newsletter screenshot. 

Aren’t Andrea Benko’s illustrations perfect? I have to draw your attention to the scale at the top of the illustration: it’s in the shape of a caret (or insertion). It’s a brilliant take on the poem that I just love.

You’re seeing purple lines around the border because those are the boundaries on the template for printing purposes. BookBaby provided us with a template and Andrea loaded it into Canva for—dare I say it—coloring within the lines.

I was so nervous about having sent the right files for the various formats that I composed an email to my contact at BookBaby and asked him to tell me if anything was the wrong format or the wrong color palette. I saved everything that Andrea sent me so I can produce a different version any time.

Yes, I’m dropping names right and left, and I have to compliment them all:

Andrea Benko – a delightful illustrator and work partner

Canva – an app that had far more capabilities than I imagined

BookBaby – these folk did such a nice job with my novel that I trusted them to handle this book as well—no complaints

I’ll let you know when I set a release date, but it should be ready in time for the holidays.

TTFN

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I thought I’d share another caption I created for The New Yorker’s weekly caption contest. I didn’t win, but the three top captions were very amusing so I’m not bummed. I enjoy the challenge.

Oh, King must really like you. He usually insists on playing white.

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My middle grade novel, The Most Amazing Museum of Los Angeles is available through The BookBaby Bookshop at https://store.bookbaby.com/book/the-most-amazing-museum-of-los-angeles

Margerumalia – Project Library

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – September 18, 2026

Last weekend Debbie and I went to New York City to see our daughter Lora perform in a new musical called Project Library.

Her husband, Harry (pictured above with Lora), was on the props team and helped build the set.

The musical was very well done with a lot of fantastic voices, tight choreography, and broad comic moments that brought raucous laughter from the crowd. The story had multiple characters, so I won’t try to give you a plot summary, but the “project” all begins with an overdue book with accumulated fines totaling one million dollars. That kind of money attracts all kinds of people, the good, the bad, and the greedy.

But don’t worry, they all get really great songs!

Lora was a member of the ensemble and played Ruth, a member of the library staff, she also got to be the puppeteer of a dragon. She’s the swing for two characters and on Tuesday, September 15, she got to step into the role of Rachel for one night.

I’m writing this on Tuesday afternoon, but watching the actor play Rachel last weekend I pictured Lora doing a great job with this role and with her song, so I can tell you now, it was a huge success!

We had a great time and if you happen to be in NYC, it’s closing this weekend, so pull up your Eventbrite app and order your tickets while there’s still time.

And you may be shushed by a librarian or two, but feel free to laugh it up in the theatre!

TTFN

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Last week I wrote a few recollections of 9/11 and Project Library opened on the 25th anniversary of those events. So our little four-year-old is now 29 and performing in the same city that we watched on TV. Many police and firefighters displayed their memorials to the heroes who gave their lives to help others. Please take a moment to remember their sacrifices, the victims of that attack, and all their families and friends.

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My middle grade novel, The Most Amazing Museum of Los Angeles is available through The BookBaby Bookshop at https://store.bookbaby.com/book/the-most-amazing-museum-of-los-angeles

Margerumalia – Changes

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – September 11, 2026

PHOTO: Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Everything changed on 9/11 twenty-five years ago today.

My wife called me into the bedroom to see a New York building burning on TV. How did the fire start? Has everyone gotten to safety? Isn’t that one of the twin towers? So many questions unanswered on the newscast.

Then a plane plowed into the second tower. We quickly rushed our four-year-old daughter out of the room to get her ready for school. What was happening?

I don’t have to tell you, of course, you’ll be swamped today by people’s memories and memorials, Thousands of people died that day. My little family was watching it all from a distance in Wisconsin.

I spent most of the day at Carthage College preoccupied with my classes, grading homework and working on the play I was directing. When I went to acting class, I saw Matt who had recently signed up for the army to get his schooling paid for. I asked him if he had been called. Not yet, he replied. The students chose not to go ahead with class so they could spend time on other things. We all wished Matt well and went our separate ways.

I did hear from Matt later that year. He sent me a card from boot camp. He didn’t have much to say.

TTFN

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I’m not writing much this week because my spare time has been taken up with details and decisions about the design of Verses Versus Curses, my book of children’s poetry I told you about two weeks ago. 

We’re down to the little but important issues like the choice of title font and the pagination inside the book. For example, we don’t want the reader to have to flip pages back and forth to see the poem and the illustration, we want the reader to see them both at once on facing pages.

I’m looking forward to showing you more soon!

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My middle grade novel, The Most Amazing Museum of Los Angeles is available through The BookBaby Bookshop at https://store.bookbaby.com/book/the-most-amazing-museum-of-los-angeles

Margerumalia – Dolly Parton Reflections

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – September 4, 2026

PHOTO: NBC

When I was twenty I had little interest in Dolly Parton, her music was too twangy, her costumes were too glittery, and her chest size was too, too big.

That was the year 9 to 5 came out. 

I respected Jane Fonda for her superb acting and I thought Lily Tomlin was hilarious, having grown up watching her on Laugh-In. Okay, so what was Dolly Parton doing in this movie? She probably got in it by writing the title song. Well I guess I can put up with her if she doesn’t have too much screen time.

She won me over playing a straightforward domestic scene with Jeffrey Douglas Thomas as her husband. She wore a simple long T-shirt, without extravagant make-up or a beehive hairdo, and she was real. It was a bedroom scene but she was discussing her boss at work like any other working woman with such honesty and truth that I completely changed my opinion about her.

She became a real person to me in that moment, not just a punchline in a Tonight Show monologue.

Since then, my opinion of her climbed ever higher.

Dolly Parton’s singing was worth listening to, even if it was country music. Her stories about growing up in the hills of Tennessee were all genuine, and her work for charity, her generosity, and her desire to leave the world a better place than when she arrived were all sincere. 

She deserves all the praise and love she’s been receiving.

“If I hadn’t been a girl, I’d have been a drag queen.” – Dolly Parton

The LGBTQ+ crowd adore Dolly for just loving and accepting them. How very simple and profound that is.

I had my drag experience when I was in a musical called The Perfect People of Pepper Street. I played a man who pretended to be his own sister when he needed to be more assertive. He was Dell, she was Delilah.

I felt awkward dressing as Delilah, but I had seen the originator of the role do an amazing job and decided to rise to the challenge. The picture below is of me exiting the dressing room after a quick change. Someone called my name, I turned, and the camera flashed.

Yes, complete with Dolly Parton sized boobs.

I’ll never forget a song from the show called “My Old Friend.” Three men sang the song and my part was a soprano falsetto that I sang as Delilah. At the end of the song I took the high note of the final chord and would hear gasps from the audience when it came out sweetly and purely.

It taught me something about what I could do if—like Dell—I embraced my feminine side.

Powerful stuff.

TTFN

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My middle grade novel, The Most Amazing Museum of Los Angeles is available through The BookBaby Bookshop at https://store.bookbaby.com/book/the-most-amazing-museum-of-los-angeles

Margerumalia – A Sneak Peek

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – August 28, 2026

Screenshot

I’m excited to share some of the pages of my upcoming book of children’s poetry. It’s called Verses Versus Curses, which is also the name of the first poem in the book.

I call it a book of poems for the young and for the young at heart.

I like to imagine a parent or grandparent reading with a child, enjoying the poems together and laughing over some play on words or talking about the characters in the illustrations.

My favorite comment about my middle grade novel, The Most Amazing Museum of Los Angeles, was when a parent told me that her daughter asked how soon they would visit Grandma so she could read “the museum book” to her again. Warms my heart.

I’m thinking her Grandma is a good at reading out loud, too!

This book will be aimed at a younger audience than my middle grade novel, perhaps late elementary school age if the child is reading for themselves. Younger if an adult is reading to them.

I discovered the illustrator, Andrea Benko, when I created my web page on WordPress and decided to follow other creative types on the platform. Her illustrations were as playful as my verses and had a variety of characters, mostly animals, but sometimes something unexpected. She recently used a watermelon slice as a character, complete with a classically shaped mustache.

Not only that, she knows how to use the technology to lay everything out in Canva, asking for my input for her ideas. Most of the time my comments are along the lines of “keep up the good work” but once in a while we go back and forth with ideas until we’ve got it right. I love the collaboration!

We talk by email and through the comments section in Canva which is a good thing because she’s in Europe and there’s a six hour time lag between us. Modern technology has its benefits!

Here’s another short poem she illustrated:

It was Andrea’s idea to separate the four lines of the poem into four squares. I’d never thought of that and I immediately applauded her choice.

We’re aiming for a completion date of about September 1st in order to submit it to the publisher to get it printed for the holidays. If you’re looking for a unique gift for someone you know, add this book to your list of possibilities. It is a gift that’ll keep on giving when it’s read, re-read, and read again.

I know. I had a book of funny poems that I got in elementary school and I wore out the pages by going through it time and time again.

TTFN

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My middle grade novel, The Most Amazing Museum of Los Angeles is available through The BookBaby Bookshop at https://store.bookbaby.com/book/the-most-amazing-museum-of-los-angeles

Margerumalia – Social Prescribing

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – August 21, 2026

Looks kind of intimidating all in caps with red drop shadows like that, but it’s quite the opposite. It’s the prescription for better health through “social connection and community-based activity.” 

I heard about social prescribing through a story on the PBS News Hour podcast and it made me think about how much of it is the opposite of our experiences with social media.

This comes naturally to me, but presents a challenge to others. For me, the solitary task of writing is much farther outside wheelhouse than the prescription to make social connections and get involved in community-based activity. Some of the key prescriptions for better health—both mental and physical—are nature, movement, the arts, service and connection.

I walk every day through the woods. I teach acting, direct plays, write plays, poems, and stories. I volunteer to help out at my public library. And the subbing I do at my local Jr/Sr High School is part payment and part service.

Connection? Oh, yes, theatre is always a group effort and I love the connections I make there. Two writing groups and a monthly lunch gathering at the co-working studio have fostered my connections as well.

Nature AND Connection? I have so many dog friends who welcome my attention and wag their tails enthusiastically as I greet them each by name. I even know the names of some of their humans!

Here’s Lana, who likes to run at me full tilt from fifty yards away!

From what I’ve read on socialprescribingusa.com, these kind of activities are proven to stimulate better mental health and physical health, and they have the data to back it up. I’ve also met many people for whom these prescriptions are fear-filled and triggering. They need to get their prescriptions in smaller doses. 

The introvert may not be keen about the idea of joining the ranks of a theatre company, but maybe they enjoy playing the guitar or a piano. They can do that alone or they can get together with one other person and play together. The introverts I’ve met are usually fine with one-on-one interaction.

And one doesn’t need to visit a kennel of excitable dogs to experience the love of one dog. In fact, people with therapy dogs are siphoning off some of their anxiety through the service animal. That’s a social prescription.

So much rage and fear is jammed into our heads through social media that a quiet calm conversation with another person has been proven to reduce blood pressure, calm the flight-or-flight response, and deepen breathing. If that’s the purpose of the prescription then I’m all for it.

My wife and I returned to watching episodes of Ted Lasso recently and I felt myself laughing with good humor instead of experiencing the anxiety-ridden laughter of so many other comedies.

Please treat yourself kindly and embrace the resulting benefits.

TTFN

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My middle grade novel, The Most Amazing Museum of Los Angeles is available through The BookBaby Bookshop at https://store.bookbaby.com/book/the-most-amazing-museum-of-los-angeles

Margerumalia – Return of the Kitty Mamas

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – August 10, 2026

OOPS! I accidentally tapped on a button that sent out my Friday morning newsletter on Monday afternoon. My bad.

On the other hand, this gave me the chance to update you on the ongoing saga of the Kitty Mamas. Which hadn’t hadn’t happened yet. So this gives me a chance to bring you up to date. 

First of all we caught the last of Tabitha’s litter about three weeks ago. Here’s a picture of the final member of her brood:

Looking pretty frightened, I know. We called her BabyTab because she was her mother’s Mini Me.

Tabitha’s accustomed to us taking her kittens when she ready to “push them out of the nest” so she didn’t even stick around to see it.

Rocket, on the other hand, was wide-eyed when I brought Shadow’s cage into the house. She and her remaining four kittens high-tailed it out of there and after three weeks we were resigned to having lost her. Tabitha, too. Total radio silence.

Three weeks! We’ve had them disappear for three days, but close to a month?

On Tuesday morning Debbie stood by the front door and said with disbelief, “I see a cat!” I took a quick look then grabbed the cat food and stepped outside. It was Rocket! And I sat down to feed and pet her.

She was kitten-sized and clearly had been surviving on a starvation diet. She didn’t mind the attention, though, and even pushed her face into my hand to get a little added affection. I asked about her kittens but she ignored my questions.

Then on Wednesday, Debbie looked out on the back deck and spied Tabitha! Here they are, Tabitha on the left and Rocket on the right. 

We’re talking about how to catch both of them to have them spayed, but we also wanted Rocket to trust us and bring her kittens back. They seem to be gone. Caught by someone else? Food for predators? We don’t know.

Oh, we also caught one other fan of kitten food:

He was also a bit frightened and too scared to leave the cage when I opened it up, but I poked him in the behind and he toddled off toward the other side of the deck. He paused there indicating he wouldn’t have minded a bit more kitten food, but I told him the kitchen was closed.

TTFN

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My middle grade novel, The Most Amazing Museum of Los Angeles is available through The BookBaby Bookshop at https://store.bookbaby.com/book/the-most-amazing-museum-of-los-angeles

Margerumalia – The Bound of the Basketballs

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – August 10, 2026

Does that title sound like a pastiche of Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles? I hope it does, because that’s the intent. Here’s how it came about.

During the dress rehearsal of the short play festival in June I was sitting in the audience with my friend Steve Martin (not the Steve Martin you’re thinking of) who, like me, wrote and directed his own short play.

“Did you notice,” asked Steve, that almost every play is broadly comical and very silly except ours?” 

His play was a very affective story about someone who lost a loved one but gets a glimpse of her in a mystical way before losing her again. Mine was the dystopian future of an America without rights or the freedom to speak of such rights.

“Yeah,” I said, wondering where his train of thought was going, “I did notice.”

“Let’s make a pact,” said Steve, “Both of us will write witty inane comedies for next year and submit them to the festival.” 

“Agreed!” I said, knowing he posts puns almost daily on Facebook. We shook on it and the wheels began to turn.

Last week I recommended a Librivox recording of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes mystery The Hound of the Baskervilles. This week I’ll introduce you to my notes for Eric Margerum’s Shirley Combs mystery “The Bound of the Basketballs.”

When I showed Steve my Notes page for this idea he waved it away, grinning “I got it just by reading the title!” And so the process begins.

Since all of Doyle’s novel is narrated by Dr. Watson, my short play will begin with a narration by Dr. Weston. Probably ending the opening speech with a remorseful sentence wishing that the renowned detective were there to help solve the mystery.

“But I am here,” says the voice of Shirley Combs before she steps into the light, “I’ve been here all along.” She enters with a self-satisfied grin in the guise of cleaning woman that is identical to the character that Carol Burnett used to play on her TV variety show.

Substituting for the English Moors will be the Basketball Floors, with an oft repeated adjective like “vast,” “desolate,” or “sinister” to evoke imagery similar to that found in the novel.

And the pernicious murder mystery to solve will be the death of Tracee Park, the young Hoosier upstart fresh out of college who took the WNBA by storm. Her detractors referred to her as “Trailer Park” before her unfortunate demise. “No more free throws for that trailer trash.”

The rest of the cast will rely on one actor quickly changing costumes to present characters like Coach Fanny Bright, Inspector LeStreet, and Concessionaire Morrie Arty.

I’ve given myself one more challenge, to come up with a satisfying resolution to the mystery that makes the audience admire the plotting skills of the writer. If that’s doesn’t happen, I’ll just make it a silly ending that employs a cringe-worthy pun.

Challenge Accepted!

TTFN

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My middle grade novel, The Most Amazing Museum of Los Angeles is available through The BookBaby Bookshop at https://store.bookbaby.com/book/the-most-amazing-museum-of-los-angeles