Tag: MAMCHI

Margerumalia – Thesaurus Anyone?

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – August 1, 2025

PHOTO: Facebook @ForReadingAddicts

Have you had it up to here with hearing the word “unprecedented”? I have. 

The other day a news anchor interrupted herself to apologize for using the word before she said it. Again. When “unprecedented” becomes attached to “sorry for using this word so much” it’s time to stop using it. Don’t ya think?

It’s like the commercials on TV that cause us to dive for the remote and desperately stab at the mute button so we don’t have to hear that annoying voice yet again. 

I don’t do that with Progressive commercials because they’re so creative and humorous, and they’re usually replaced before I can grow weary of them.

Using my Merriam-Webster Thesaurus app, I found several substitutes for unprecedented. Words like fresh, new, novel, original, pioneering, and trailblazing all have a degree of admiration that might be too much praise for a news program, but words like unconventional, unheard-of, and even unique would be welcome replacements.

Notice in the paragraph above I referred to synonyms by mentioning a thesaurus and then used the words “substitutes” and “replacements” rather than using “synonyms” several times over. 

This is the joy of the English Language! We have so many options with so many shades of meaning. 

The other day I started a short story completely unrelated to my drafting of The Most Amazing Museum of Chicago and I couldn’t quite find my way into writing it until I tried it in second person (using the pronoun “you”). Suddenly it landed just right, creating a mood I didn’t even know I wanted. But that word “you” tripped me up a bit. There’s no alternative word in second person, even first person has the variance of I/me. 

That’s my challenge as a writer. What are my options? How do I solve this puzzle so my reader doesn’t dive for the remote. I don’t know yet but I’ll be working on it.

It’s strange, it’s novel, it’s new. Just not unprecedented.

By the way, precedence just means it happened before. It’d be okay to say “nothing like this has ever happened before.”

We have a saying in theatre: less is more. 

Would less use of “unprecedented” be more than I could hope for?

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 – Local Author Fair

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – April 18, 2025

BOOK SIGNING

Tomorrow is the Local Author Fair at the Tippecanoe County Public Library and I’ve been practicing a short reading from Chapter 6 of MAMLA. It’s the part where Maria and her mom take an elevator up to the clouds and have quite the ride getting there!

I wrote in my January Margerumalia about a resolution to retrain myself to speak with the kind of clarity I’d developed as an actor, and I’m just a little nervous in spite of daily practice. I know I’ll be my own worst critic, but it’s because I used to be able to do this so easily.

I have a remarkable confidence about getting up before a group of people, and I’m continually surprised now when I stumble over my words. The words that I can hear so clearly in my head.

Please keep me in mind and send me good vibes so I can give my listeners an entertaining piece of the story.

If you’re nearby, the Local Author Fair is April 19th from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM. I’ll be signing books, and giving away mazes and bookmarks. There ought to be many more interesting authors to meet and greet as well.

SOPHOMORE EFFORT

As a freshman in college everything is new, everyone seems to know so much, and it’s all you can do to find your place in the scheme of things. 

Returning as a sophomore you now know how all the pieces fit together, and you laugh with superiority at the foolish freshmen who are so hopelessly lost. 

By the time you hit your stride in your junior year, you’re working hard and have more than a little compassion for the new class of hapless frosh. 

Senior year brings the stunning reality that you’ll soon be leaving this safe haven, and have to earn a living in the big bad world. 

I’m reminded of this quotation of Dōgen, the 13th Century father of Zen Buddhism: 

“Before one studies Zen, mountains are mountains and waters are waters; after a first glimpse into the truth of Zen, mountains are no longer mountains and waters are no longer waters; after enlightenment, mountains are once again mountains and waters once again waters.”

In writing The Most Amazing Museum of Chicago, I’m suddenly aware of my sophomore effort. I want the sequel to be able to stand alone, but also bear a resemblance to the first book. I thought I knew how to proceed. “Hey, I’ve done this once already!” But now I’m starting to realize how much I don’t know about how I did it the first time. 

The mountains and the waters are so much more than merely mountains and waters. I’m on a journey to see them once more as just mountains and waters. 

My acting teacher used to remind me, “Anything can happen.” If I take that Zen-like approach without the loaded expectations, I can still forge ahead.

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If you received this email because it was forwarded to you by a subscriber, welcome. You can subscribe as well by following the link on my website: ericmargerum.com. A free story awaits you there.

Margerumalia – April Fools’ Week

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – April 4, 2025

This was the line I submitted for the New Yorker’s monthly caption contest. I hope you enjoyed it. Mine wasn’t chosen, but I like trying my hand at the game.

My wife laughed out loud when she read it and she doesn’t give up those LOL’s easily, so it’s already a winning caption in my book.

I thought a bit of humor would be a fun theme for April Fools’ Week. 

ADDITIONAL WELLNESS CENTER FOLK

I described eleven different types of folk at the Wellness Center in my Feb. 21 Margerumalia. Since then, I’ve come up with three more: 

Tippy-Toe Trudy: No exaggeration, this young lady is walking around the track on the balls of her feet! I’ve seen her leave the oval walking flat-footed, but she walks several laps on the balls of her feet. Is she building up her calves for high heels? Who knows. 

The Bond Villain: A middle-aged man with close-cropped salt-and-pepper hair gave me a steely-eyed look when I said good morning as he was putting on his shoes. He said nothing, just stared, and the voice I heard was saying, “No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die.”

The Loving Couple: These two are on Cloud Nine, hands clasped and walking at a pace better suited for the seashore. Maybe that’s the world they’re actually walking in. I remember making out with a girlfriend in a parking lot when a passer-by in a car yelled at us to get a room. We broke out of the embrace both laughing. No shield like love.

A BIT OF PARODY

You may know the famous first line of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. No? Oh, go look it up, it made me laugh when I read it at fifteen. (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42671)

On a recent quick trip I packed a single bag in order to avoid additional airline fees and I came up with this thought in imitation of Jane Austen: 

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a traveler in possession of a good bag, will be in want of adequate space for the same possessions on the return trip. 

BUTTS ON THINGS  

I got this page-a-day calendar from a member of my writing group. She’d gotten it for her husband and he was kind of indifferent about it. It tickles the same little boy in me who giggles at fart jokes. I now enjoy a giggle every day. (You can find more of his silliness at briancook.net.)

MAMCHI HUMOR

In The Most Amazing Museum of Los Angeles I made a point of letting my readers know how to say the MAMLA acronym by way of the docent, Doris Weatherton. For the sequel I decided to provide the readers with a similar moment with the MAMCHI docent, Morris Weatherton, but with a humorous twist: 

“I am MORRIS WEATHERTON.” He continued his speech with large gestures and dramatic tones that belonged in the center of a three ring circus. “I am your DOCENT. Your guide to MAMCHI.” He pronounced the acronym “MOM-chee.”

“I’d have said it MOM-shee,” Tamara said to the others.

“Or MOM-shih,” added Brock, “because it’s short for SHIH-cago.”

“No, that doesn’t work,” said Yesta. “It sounds too much like you’re gonna say sh—”

“CHILDREN of all AGES,” said Morris Weatherton quickly…

BOOK SIGNING

No joke. The Tippecanoe County Library invited me to participate in a Local Author Fair on April 19th from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM. I’ll be signing books, giving away mazes, and giving a 15-minute presentation about writing and about my book. 

If you’re nearby, I hope you’ll swing by and say hi. 

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If you received this email because it was forwarded to you by a subscriber, welcome. You can subscribe as well by following the link on my website: ericmargerum.com. A free story awaits you there.

Margerumalia – A Movie Trailer for MAMCHI

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – January 24, 2025

PHOTO CREDIT: KeyifaDesign on Etsy

A few years ago when I was reviewing the edits for The Most Amazing Museum of Los Angeles I had a little daydream of a movie trailer for its sequel, The Most Amazing Museum of Chicago. I wrote up that daydream and I thought you might like to see the way ideas germinate in my writer’s mind.

I have my wife to thank for reminding me, “Write them down!” when I describe such visions. She knows that in a few short days those ideas will wash away like a sand castle at high tide. (It’s so good to be with someone who knows you that well!) 

Lately little snippets of ideas have been knocking at my mental door and I’m starting to take note of them, so I’ll share more in the weeks ahead. 

MAMCHI TRAILER

We see five young teens exploring the Museum of Science and Industry, sketch pads and pencils in hand, shouting with excitement at each new discovery. Their young teacher—who we only see from behind—hushes the loudest of them but seems tolerant of their enthusiasm. Suddenly one student, Brock (the jock) shoves another student, Jennae, into the bar of a door that should set off a fire alarm. Instead it swings open and we hear glorious harp music from the darkness beyond. Brock, Jennae, and the three other students are drawn irresistibly into the darkness. Their teacher rushes after them before the door can close.

When the door slams shut, pinpoint beams of colored light stream through the darkness. The students step into or wave their arms through the light and discover that they are plucking the sounds of the notes they represent. Each note reverberates on top of the next, pleasantly at first, but soon becoming discordant and loud, one continuing to play as another is added.

The noise level increases and the young teens try to avoid the random beams by jumping, pivoting, rolling, and practically dancing in an effort to avoid adding to the noise. They eventually retreat around their teacher in the middle of the room, the eye of the hurricane, where the lights and sounds keep their distance.

“What gives, Teach?” asks Brock breathlessly.  

“What’s going on?” says Jennae, pulling her hands from her ears. 

“Yeah,” says another student. “What is this?” 

“I think,” says the teacher as the camera circles the group and reveals her to be Vanessa Shafer. “I think this is the part where everything will become…” She breaks into a smile… “amazing.”

TITLES: The Most Amazing Museum of Chicago, coming to theatres this summer.

BLACKOUT

Fun, huh? I liked that it was similar to the Howl of Mirrors in MAMLA but different enough to still be unique. I also enjoyed the reveal of the actress playing Vanessa, perhaps three years older than she was in the first movie, but instantly recognizable. 

No one is knocking on my door to make a movie of the first book but I sure see one in my head, so writing this up as a movie trailer feels apt. 

TTFN 

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If you received this email because it was forwarded to you by a subscriber, welcome. You can subscribe as well by following the link on my website: ericmargerum.com. A free story awaits you there.

Margerumalia – Mini-Games

Eric Margerum

Newsletter: September 20, 2024 

I had my first close encounter with a middle grade MAMLA reader recently. As I said last week, my wife and I were out of town seeing family and my book had been gifted to a 12-year-old family member I’d briefly met a year ago—let’s call him Max—and I could tell at the picnic that he wanted me to see him reading my book. Earlier I had watched him solving a Rubik’s Cube at warp speed and knew he was a pretty darn smart 12-year-old. I found my way over to Max and asked him if he had gotten to the section about the Circle Room yet. 

“You mean the big room with all the mini-games?” asked Max. 

I should have called them mini-games! That’s straight out of Mario Party. Thanks to our Gen-Z daughter, I’d played plenty of mini-games on her Game Cube. 

“Yes!” I said enthusiastically. “Which one was your favorite?”

“The one with the ball pit,” he answered immediately, “and then that maypole where you run around it and swing in a circle.” 

“I love that one, too” I agreed, sounding a bit like a 12-year-old myself.

Max and I agreed that Tornado Alley was a bit haunting. Creepy, I think he called it. Then he described how the people inside ran away and the tornado wiped out their town. Max totally understood why Ryan didn’t take the gold coin and said he wouldn’t have taken one either. It felt wrong.

Nailed it, I thought. He completely got it.

When we talked about Eveningwhere I showed him how the dog on the book cover just happened to match the photo of Angel on my phone. He thought that was really amazing. 

Currently Max was reading about how Maria and her mother were visiting the Cloud King, just having met the Cloud Carver. 

“Here’s something fun to know,” I told him. “I needed a name for the Cloud Carver and I thought of one of my favorite short story writers, Raymond Carver, so I gave him the name Raymond.” Max thought that was really cool.

Later, Max gave me a detailed demonstration of how to solve the Rubik’s Cube, having me hold the puzzle and patiently explaining how to determine what I was looking for and telling me what row or column to rotate and why. It’d probably take me the rest of my life to master that puzzle but he never made me feel dumb. What a gift! 

I felt like I could confide in Max about my plans to develop The Most Amazing Museum of Chicago, and he had several great suggestions based on his love of STEM in school. He quickly embraced my suggestion to adapt STEM to STEAM by including the arts and we were off and running with even more ideas for MAMCHI. (Get out your score cards, because I’m officially adding that word to my lexicon of new contributions to the English language.) 

Who knew talking about my book would be so much fun?

By the way, I’m in discussions with a school librarian in Crawfordsville to schedule a reading and discuss my writing process. My chat with Max was an excellent warm-up!

TTFN!

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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