Tag: reading

Margerumalia – The First Rehearsal

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – May 29, 2026

The first rehearsal usually begins with a “table read.” That’s exactly what it sounds like, the actors and director all sit around a table and read the script out loud for the first time. 

In a full length production, the table read might also include an assistant director, the stage manager, and possibly a dramaturg, costume designer, or choreographer among others. But “Out of the Abyss” is a short play in a festival of short plays so it was just the three of us. 

We also have limited access to rehearsal space so, for now, I’m making use of my membership in a co-working space where I can reserve meeting rooms to rehearse in. The meeting rooms all have one glass wall, but experienced actors are used to both accepting and ignoring distractions.

I gave some background to the inspiration of the play, which was Ray Bradbury’s “To the Chicago Abyss,” and the tone I was trying to achieve. They already intuited that tone and by the end of the read-through we were all in tears.

Keep in mind that the actors had never even met, but their instincts were spot on and they were entirely enrapt in the story. I told them as much while I tried to swallow back my emotions and I knew we were off to an exceptional start.

We moved the tables out of the way and began blocking the play. What side would Libby enter from? Did Sam absolutely have to sit on the floor? When she strikes him, how should that be staged?

Through discussion and following actor impulses we answered each of those questions and added a few additional moves that “just felt right.” Experienced actors and directors know that those feelings are always golden, and we followed them.

The actor playing Sam has bad knees that won’t allow him to sit on the floor and we agreed that a stage block—a two foot cube painted black—would be in keeping with the dystopian setting, especially if it was dented and battered.

We worked out all those blocking details about half a page at a time and then ran the play from beginning to end. Again—even with scripts in hand—we were choked up and the actors speculated that this will probably happen every time. 

I hope so, because that means they’re “in the moment” and not playing at the emotions. Of course, I’d like to see the audience equally moved. I’m pretty sure they will be.

Opening night is four weeks from the day this newsletter is posted.

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 – Myrtle The Turtle

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – May 15, 2026

On my morning walk a couple weeks ago I got the chance to meet this shy box turtle who wasn’t too keen on me getting so close. I thought about this turtle and as well as the knitted turtle I bought from my friend Em while creating another children’s poem.

I learned a couple things about turtles in my search for correct terminology and I want you to know about one before you read the poem. I use the word Testudines which has four syllables (tess-TOO-din-eez) with the emphasis is on the second syllable.

(Testudines are an order of reptiles made up of turtles, terrapins, and tortoises.)

Myrtle the Turtle 

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Myrtle the turtle was known for her girdle, 

A fine looking girdle, they say.

Most every turtle is known for their shelling,

The patterns that turtles display.

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“Not Myrtle,” the other Testudines said,

“She flounces her girdle with poise,

And she’ll lift up her beak to give you a tweak

If you make any impolite noise.”

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The date of the scute competition arrived

And Myrtle showed up in her girdle.

But how could they tell if her scutes were all cute 

With the girdle creating that hurdle?

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“Get rid of the girdle,” the judges told Myrtle,

“In order to show us your shelling.”

Embarrassed and shy, she moved to comply,

In her eyes the tears began welling.

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Every Testudine looked on in shock 

And saw what the girdle was hiding,

All Myrtle’s scutes were totally plain

With no pattern or marking presiding.

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“The Unadorned Queen!” the judges exclaimed,

All kneeling as best they were able,

The whole shelling crowd then hoisted her high,

To make Myrtle the head of the table.

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Queen Myrtle reigned longer than forty-nine years

Then passed on her girdle to Mortise

His reign lasted almost for ninety-nine years 

Because he, of course, was a tortoise.

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Like the last poem I shared, I added hashtags to separate the stanzas.

I hope you enjoyed it. I was tickled when I discovered the ending. I hadn’t seen that coming.

I had no idea where this poem was headed when I began, just the rhymes of turtle, Myrtle and girdle. It developed as I was writing it and searching for additional rhyming words for the end of each line.

If you want to get into the poetic weeds with me, the stanzas are pretending to be four lines alternating between four and three feet, but are, in fact, two lines of seven feet each. That’s where the rhymes fall. The very first line informed me how the poem wanted to sound.

Here’s the original turtle my friend knitted.

She sits on our dining room table and lends her soft shell to support my phone. 

Myrtle, they say, is a very good friend,

And she is a really cute turtle.

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 – The Proctor Factor

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – May 8, 2026

I’m proctoring AP tests this week for local high school students seeking Advance Placement for college credit. If they make a top score of 5 they have one less requirement to complete in their college career.

I complimented one student on her crisp new Stanford sweatshirt and asked if she had already been accepted. She had and was very pleased to hear my congratulations. 

I hope her parents didn’t have the same reaction as my mom when I said I got accepted to the University of Southern California for grad school. “So far away?” she asked with disappointment. I appreciated her wanting me nearer to home, but really wanted to hear that congratulations.

Proctoring exams takes a bit of training to be aware of sophisticated methods used to cheat. No longer do students sneak crib notes cradled in the palms of their hands. Nor do they write answers on their arms or their jeans. No we’re talking about technology here.

“Everyone must place all electronic devices on the table at the front of the room. Powered down. Not silenced or in Airplane Mode. This includes tablets, smart watches, and phones.” (I expect by next year they’ll include “smart glasses” on that list.)

The students use a laptop to take the test, but the software will cancel the test immediately if a student leaves the Bluebook Platform for any reason before the test is completed. 

The second part is a written component collected by the proctors.

I wonder if any of them were told to practice their penmanship. I remember reading years ago about an experiment where educators were asked to evaluate an essay. Some were given a version with poor handwriting and some were given a version with good handwriting. Same words in both cases.

Want to predict the outcome?

You’re right. The essays with good handwriting were universally evaluated with high scores while the ones with poor handwriting were lower. Same essay.

My wife and I are currently watching “Suits” on Netflix and those high powered lawyers are all dressed to the nines in every episode. Their clients trust the well dressed lawyers because they look successful. I can’t help but compare that to the penmanship experiment.

On the second day I was the only proctor in a small room of three and I read aloud all of the instructions with very few stumbles. I’m pleased to be able to say my speech is slowly improving, especially in comparison to my Father Of The Bride speech a year ago. I’ll take the win.

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 Happiness Advantage

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – May 1, 2026

Look at that happy baby soaking up the summer sun in his oh-so-debonaire plastic pants! That’s Baby Eric running across the backyard to Mommy who’s holding the camera. He’s a little out of focus but my folks wouldn’t know it until they got the film developed. Today my iPhone would’ve captured the un-blurred enthusiasm in that boy’s face.

Side note: that’s my dad crouching over the garden at about half the age that I am now.  Time is such a surreal phenomenon.

Other side note: look at that old automobile in the neighbor’s carport! That’d be in a classic car show today. 

“You were a very happy baby,” my mom told me.

I was. I am. Happy, that is, not a baby. I’m not wearing waterproof undies anymore. Not yet anyway.

I’m currently reading a book called The Happiness Advantage that the chair of the Communication Department recommended when I was a dean at Vincennes University. The book is all about the advantages of positive psychology and the seven principles of a mindset that “fuels success and performance at work.”

I heard a woman in a recent podcast telling about a job she had as a teen making smoothies for people. She confided to her boss that she was bored and just wanted to go home. The boss suggested that she see every customer as an opportunity to make someone’s life a little better.

When she embraced that idea by being helpful and enthusiastic, looking for the opportunity to bring a smile to the face of every customer, her whole perspective of the job turned around. She enjoyed going to work. To this day, she still remembers that job as her favorite. That’d be the happiness advantage in a nutshell.

I haven’t finished the book but so far it’s been reinforcing my own worldview—the one I was born with. I look forward to reading about how the seven principles can be applied to life in general. Like everyone, I’ve had my share of bumps and bruises that life dishes out. I’d like to learn the way to keep those setbacks from getting the best of me.

I want to know how to help others accomplish that, too.

Here’s another picture of me a few years later that tells you a little bit more about my personality.

My imagination said, You’re flying, and so, of course, I was. It also helps to have your eyes closed. The reality behind closed lids is even more vivid than the one surrounding you. 

So vivid that my dad would accuse me of playing stupid when I suddenly exited my dream world and wanted to know what people were talking about. I knew better than to explain that I wasn’t playing stupid, I just wasn’t paying attention to the conversation. There’s no good path out of those woods. Either I’m stupid or you’re boring.

Look at the photo again. See how the sleeves are rolled up to accommodate my little five-year-old arms? I continued wearing that costume for years, growing into those sleeves and the rolled up pants. Family friends started calling me Super Eric. I’ve had very few nicknames in my life but I think I like that one best.

“You were such an easy child,” my mother told me, “I could set you down in the middle of the living room with a box of toys and you’d entertain yourself for hours.”

I gave free rein to my creativity and that was always a great experience. I’ve done the same for years in the theatre, and am applying the same approach to my writing. I hope my writing entertains you and keeps you out of boring conversations.

I also hope your creativity gets a chance to play.

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 – The Birds & The Bees

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – April 17, 2026

Photo: Debbie Margerum

Spring has sprung, as they say, and the woods are full of life, so I thought I’d share a bit of it with you.

Debbie is so good at getting nature photos that I’m using some of hers. I tried to capture a bee on a purple flower from just two feet away, but I wasn’t close enough, so she let me borrow hers. It’s an art! The uncredited photos are mine.

This pair of Mallard ducks arrive every year about this time and enjoy paddling around in the stream. I’ve never seen them with youngsters, but this is their mating season. Fun fact: the Mallards are a sub-family of ducks called dabbling ducks. Isn’t that cute? 

Question: Are you a real duck?

Answer: Naw, I’m just dabbling.

The Redbuds are the big show-offs every spring because, you know, they can. Hillsides are covered with these audacious blooms, bringing a symphony of color to the woods before the maples, oaks, and birches can break out their greenery and soak up all the sunlight. 

As I was walking, I was wondering how to describe the color of these trees using only words. It can be really hard to capture—as are taste and smell—but I think I gave it a pretty good go with this sentence: 

The blossoms are a jubilant shade of pinkish purple normally exclusive to the domain of children’s toys and clothing.

Photo: Debbie Margerum

The squirrels are dashing everywhere digging up acorns they buried last fall. How do they know?! They must have a built-in geolocation app. This photo is from a couple years ago, back before we had to have the old oak tree removed. It’s like he posed for this portrait, it’s so perfect.

That old white oak was situated on the lot when my parents decided to build the house so they had the architect draw up plans in an L-shape to preserve the tree. We estimated that it was about 250 years old when we took it down. The hollow inside made it a danger to the house, but it lived a long grand life.

On my morning walks I constantly see red squirrels chasing away grey squirrels like the one in the photo. “Hey,” I say, “why can’t we just all get along?”

The bluebells opened up the other day. Can you tune in your faery senses to hear them ringing? It’s a subtle tinkling noise that calls to the pollinators, “We’re here! We’re here!”

I love that I could capture the morning dew glistening on these flowers. I’ve learned a few things from my talented photographer wife.

And just as the Easter egg is a symbol of fertility for this fecund spring season, our outdoor cats went into heat a couple of months ago enticing several tomcats to haunt the premises. 

That’s Tabitha on the left eating from the bowl. She’s brought us eleven kittens over three years. We’ve found them homes or had them taken to the Humane Society where they were adopted. She’s walking with a distinctive waddle now. We think she’ll give birth any day.

Her daughter Rocket—from the second litter—is seated on the Adirondack chair where the old oak tree used to stand, watching the early morning activities of the neighborhood. 

She’s also got a full womb. I know because I pet her every morning while she eats, and I talk to her about finding a good nesting spot away from predators but not too far away so she can still come to eat every morning on our front porch. Gotta be able to produce enough milk. 

It’s her first litter so I figure any information is only going to help.

From past experience we know we won’t see the kittens until about two months after they’re born. So watch this space for some adorable kitty pics in June!

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 – Spring Author Fair

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – April 10, 2026

I’m looking forward to attending another Spring Author Fair at our Tippecanoe County Library where I’ll be doing my elevator pitch about The Most Amazing Museum of Los Angeles and talk a bit about the sequel, The Most Amazing Museum of Chicago.

Because a giant maze is featured in the first book I’ll be giving away free mazes that I found on line (including the website where they can find more). I really enjoy talking to people, especially hearing from children about their interests. Several adults have bought copies of the book to read to their children or grandchildren. That really warms my heart.

I’ve written about a third of MAMCHI including quite a lengthy section where two girls go back in time to The Great Chicago Fire. Two boys, meanwhile, have a rainforest adventure which results in a torrent of water almost pulling them under. And the young teacher and her student find themselves in a toy workshop where unexpected things take place.

Beware The Game Master! He keeps on showing up and making trouble for the young people.

I’ve also been writing more poems for my side project of Verses Versus Curses, a collection of verses that I think children will enjoy. I’ll read a few of them at the Author Fair to anyone who wants to listen.

(My speech seems to be improving, but still gets a little slurry by the end of the day.)

I’m sharing my latest poem with you below. This time I’m inserting a hashtag between the stanzas to give them clear separation.

Thirteen is a Lucky Number

Thirteen is a lucky number, everybody knows,

I have thirteen fingers when I use three of my toes.

A basement should have thirteen stairs if someone builds it right,

I always count my thirteen steps when I go down at night.

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They say to break a mirror gives you seven years of bad

Luck is just a silly notion, or so says my dad.

My black cat’s name is Shadow and her eyes glow in the dark

Sometimes just to scare her I will crawl upstairs and bark. 

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Thirteen is a baker’s dozen, I like snicker-doodles.

Let’s make a batch and split them up, as long as I get oodles.

The seasons each have thirteen weeks and I like autumn best,

Next Halloween I’ll wear a scary mask when I get dressed.

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Poems that have thirteen lines are better than the rest!

TTFN

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Here’s another of my entries in the weekly caption contest by “The New Yorker.”

Yes, a little morning flute music is nice, it’s the midnight drum solos I can’t bear.

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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 – Friends, Lovers, and The Big Terrible Thing

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – March 27, 2026

Matthew Perry and I apparently wore the same Chandler Bing smirk to our photoshoots! Mine was about 1993, Perry’s was published on the cover of his memoir in 2022.

Could our smiles be any more similar?

I yield all future copyright for the Chandler smirk to him, but I want it to be known that my photoshoot was at least a year prior to the debut of Friends. Maybe two. I could hardly copy an expression that I had never seen before.

I bought the memoir shortly after he died in 2023. Ketamine overdose. I finally pulled it off the shelf because my wife found a TV channel that plays about four episodes of Friends back-to-back every afternoon.

Seeing Matty—as he refers to himself throughout the book—grow from a young 25 year-old into a mature 35 year-old over and over again drew me like a moth to his flame.

I had no idea about the intensity of that flame.

He was an addict from early, early, on. At two months, when he wouldn’t stop crying, the doctor prescribed phenobarbital to give some relief to the baby and his parents. Matty spent the rest of his life, taking drugs, drinking heavily, and smoking. Today, a colicky baby is treated with a nice round of probiotics, maybe some baby gas drops, and a warm belly rub. He is NOT given a highly addictive drug in the earliest days of his brain’s development.

Matty’s journey was a tough one and he’s brutally honest about it, but he also treats the reader to insights about his career, his relationships, and his dearest friendships.

The saddest part of the memoir is the conclusion where he’s finally out of the woods, saying that OxyContin will not rule his life again, the daily jugs of vodka are all in the past, and that he gave up smoking. To hear him say those words—literally, if you’re listening to him narrate the audiobook—while knowing he sank slowly into his swimming pool while Ketamine surged through his veins, is not easy when you think of him as one of your Friends.

God bless you, Matty, and may your afterlife provide all the remedies you spent 54 years trying your best to find.

TTFN

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In the spirit of Matthew Perry’s quick wit and love of laughter, I offer you my latest entry in the weekly caption contest from “The New Yorker.” Perhaps I’ll win one of these days.

I mean, it’s like she expects me to be an Everything Bagel!

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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 – Meet-iversary Celebration

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – March 27, 2026

Debbie and I stopped for a selfie beside the movie poster for The Bride! at our local theater. The two monsters are on the right, in case you were wondering. 

A few days later we had another date night celebrating our meet-iversary at our favorite restaurant, The Bryant. The fact that The Bride! and The Bryant almost sound alike is just a lucky coincidence.

We met when a mutual friend, Kat, was celebrating her 40th birthday and invited each of us to a party in a very modern house perched high atop the Hollywood Hills. It wasn’t her house, but it was a spectacular work of architecture with large windows looking down on the lights of Sunset Blvd.

If you want to get a good look at the house where we met, you can find it on YouTube under “Lethal Weapon 2 (9/10) Movie CLIP – Bringing Down the House (1989) HD”. Don’t worry about the fact that Mel Gibson drags the house down the hillside, that’s just a model. We visited the house a couple years ago and it’s still there.

Debbie was Kat’s massage therapist, and Kat and I were both in the same acting class. Kat knew I was working as a bartender at the Pantages Theatre and she offered to pay me to pour wine at her party. I offered to gift my services in honor of her birthday and she thanked me, telling  me to consider myself a guest. “There will also be single women there,” she added with a smile. (As a friend of my ex-fiancee,  she knew I had been single for about a year.)

Kat’s comment to Debbie was similar: “There will also be single men there.”

Debbie came down the stairs and smiled at me, and I thought I’d like to be the one who kindled that smile for years to come. She, in turn, has said many times that her first thought was “Oh, there’s my future husband.” We talked throughout the rest of the evening and got married a year and two months after that. 

Is that a classic Hollywood meet-cute or what?!

Someone gave us a photo of Debbie and I from that night and it sits in a place of honor on our mantle. That’s me on the left, mid-sentence, talking to my acting teacher. Debbie is in profile holding the wine I poured her. No one knows who the skinny-tie-guy is, but he’s holding an empty wine glass so that might explain his expression of exasperation. 

Not my fault, I had just met my future wife!

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 – The Bride!

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – March 13, 2026

Our daughter’s appearance in The Bride! came at the very end during the closing credits. That’s Lora holding the ax.

We thought the movie was over and her scene had been cut. Two proud parents watching the whole movie only to realize that their daughter’s scene was left on the cutting room floor (or whatever the digital equivalent may be).

BUT THEN the credits continued over Lora’s scene just as she described it! The picture above is her second appearance, the first came right at the very start of the scene, as her Dad shouted “There she is!” Good thing the matinee was practically a private screening and the music played loudly enough that no one else heard me.

Speaking of music, there were two spots in the film that made me laugh at Gyllenhaal’s choice of music. For the end credits they played the old Halloween favorite “The Monster Mash” which reflects the theme of Mary Shelley’s monster who never got a name of his own. It also reflected the story’s trend of idolizing the two monsters. 

The other musical homage was a full blown dance number to “Puttin’ On The Ritz,” which was also used by Gene Wilder in Young Frankenstein. In fact, Christian Bale yells that titular phase during the dance with the same inflection that Peter Boyle’s monster had used. Nice touch!

The movie was not a horror movie. In fact, I only averted my eyes for about 10 seconds twice so I wouldn’t see what I was afraid I was going to see. (I’m sort of talking around those two moments to avoid a spoiler.)

The Bonnie-and-Clyde dynamic I mentioned last week is an apt comparison, but the significant difference is the number of camera angles where women react to The Bride’s rants. In one such rant she even repeats “Me too!” several times. It’s clear that she’s having an impact which will gradually grow stronger. It also motivates the scene Lora is in, where women have adopted the look of The Bride and flaunt the weapons they carry to defend themselves.

It’s a film where the monster is a kind and loving man contrasted by many other men who are truly monsters.

I wouldn’t have gone to see the movie but for Lora’s appearance, but now I’m recommending it for you to go see. I think you’ll be glad you did.

TTFN

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Two weeks ago I shared my poem “Emerson Aaronson Sat By The Sea” and took it to my writing group for feedback. I thought you might be interested to know about its next stage of development.

Woody, a member of the group pointed out two lines that made him stop and re-read. They were: 

A fish from the ocean that flies through the water 

Or an eagle up-soaring just like her dad taught her.

Emerson is a boy and the female gender of the eagle caused confusion. After all, Emerson was imagining himself as the eagle. The reason I had done so was to enable the rhyme of water and taught her. Taught him wouldn’t work. We discussed the possibilities and Woody suggested making Emerson a girl instead.

I wasn’t sure if people would understand Emerson to be a girl’s name, but SURPRISE, in 2024 the girls named Emerson outnumbered the boys by about three to one. 

I went through the poem changing every he to a her and every himself to herself and it works really well! Thanks, Woody! 

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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 – Movie Night!

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – March 6, 2026

That’s our daughter Lora showing us her make-up for The Bride! 

I’ve been sitting on those pictures for almost two years, but now the day has come!

You may have seen trailers for the film already. Lora’s make-up follows the theme of the title character played by Jessie Buckley under the direction of Maggie Gyllenhaal. Christian Bale plays Frankenstein’s monster.

It’s described as a horror-romance film set in 1930’s Chicago where the monster and his bride spark a radical social movement in a Bonnie-and-Clyde-esque outlaw story. Trailers can be found on line.

I’m not one for horror movies, in fact I’m a big coward*, but I’m not gonna miss my daughter in a major motion picture! I’ll just hunker down over my bucket of popcorn and breathe deeply.

[*Seriously, I played the Cowardly Lion in high school! Type casting, anyone? “I DO believe in spooks. I DO believe in spooks…”]

I’m reminded of my grandfather who’s father clung to the mast in a terrific storm in the North Sea, promising God—in Norwegian—that he would dedicate his life to His service if he would just save him from this tragedy. Great-Grandpa survived the storm and his son was brought up to shun movies because they were made in Hollywood, the Sodom and Gomorrah of the time.

My grandfather felt he had to honor his father’s wishes by not going to see any movie in the theaters.

“But Grandpa,” I said when I was in my 20’s, “you’re the one who told me that if you could go from a farm boy to a lawyer during The Great Depression then I could make it as an actor.”

“I still think so.” 

“So wouldn’t you and Grandma go to a movie to see me?” 

“Oh, yes, of course we would. That’s different.”

“Thanks Grandpa.”

Those lawyers, they know the spirit of the law is different from the letter of the law.

In that same spirit, I will face my heebie-jeebies to see my daughter in a horror movie.

…But I still reserve the right to cover my eyes during the scary parts. 

TTFN

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I recently spotted a copy of my book on the “Local Author” shelf of the county library. They’re going to hold a Spring Author Fair on April 18th and I’ve already agreed to attend. Last year I sold about a half dozen of my books, maybe this year I’ll sell a few more.

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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.