A Dreamy State

 As I sat in a bookstore last night watching Michael Perry, who is arguably my favorite Wisconsin author, I thought to myself, he's where I want to be someday. It may never happen, but even if I continue with what I call my "Sub-Atomic Micro Fame" it is still more than I ever dreamed. I cannot say how excited I am about what the future holds in my writing circles. Much of it is unknown, but I am having a great time at the moment.

Having said that, a writing/book update is probably in order, so here goes.

The dates are set for both a Wisconsin launch and a Minnesota launch for The Portland House: A 70's Memoir. They are as follows:

  • Book Release!: January 23rd. The book will be available on Electio's website as well as Amazon, Barnes and Noble and iTunes. Note that if you purchase a paperback on the Electio website, you get the eBook version as well, FREE.


  • Minnesota Launch: Saturday, March 10th from 7:00 - 9:00 PM at Subtext Books in downtown Saint Paul. 
I am also currently looking at dates for a signing at Paperbacks Plus in North Saint Paul as part of their Friday Night Cruisers author events. 

It's funny how it seems like I just geared down from the Dirty Shirt/Written Life promotion and now am starting all over again. It is a labor of love however and the best part is that I've established many connections, so that part of the job should be much easier the second time around.

I am approximately fifty pages into my next book which will be another memoir about my high school days. I attended an all male, military Catholic school which presented enough stories just by that alone. It is bringing back some great memories and some reminders of how stupid high schoolers can be.

Additionally, I've been submitting some of the stories from The Portland House to the Saint Paul Almanac, a journal that has been around for a long time. If they are accepted, they will be a good source of exposure to the book in the St. Paul area. 

Mike Perry Signing Books
The Portland House book trailer continues to progress too. The music portion is nearly completed and then we can layer the voice track over the top of it. Then it's just a matter of doing the video portion - no small feat. I am hoping to muddle my way through that part, but am looking for a good video editor who will work for beer, just in case.

And finally, I continue to write poetry when I feel led. It is a great outlet for me and continues to stretch me as a writer. I have a couple of chapbooks out for publication consideration, so we'll see if anything comes of that. Stranger things have happened.

So, that's the dream I'm living right now. Pretty lucky and eternally grateful for the support and encouragement from friends, family and my readership. Life is good.

Blogging off...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Portal To The Past

Image
It is a warm August evening in 1989 and my girlfriend and I are sitting at the bar of Wolski's Tavern on the lower East side of Milwaukee. We are awaiting our friend, Bill, for a couple of drinks and maybe a game of darts, the real steel-tipped kind with chalkboard scoring. The music system, complete with octagonal shaped speakers that hang from the ceiling, belts out hits of the day by REM, New Order and The Cure. Flags of foreign countries and other places cover the ceiling in parachute fashion and the cash register is the old fashioned kind whose keys requires a two handed forceful push, followed by the drawer opening and a ca-ching. Everything about the place has an old Milwaukee feel to it and it is a recent favorite haunt of mine since I moved to the East Side. I am drinking a Point Beer because it's cheap and a nice change from Miller products. Donna is on her second or third Gin and Tonic and is getting that dreamy look in her eyes. She has a bit of a grin on her face
Read more

Genetically Blogging

Image
It seems I have another book in the books, so to speak. I finally got my cover for my newest chapbook, Genetically Speaking: Poems on Fatherhood , from my publisher, Local Gems Press. After the last of my textual edits, they've sent it off to press and I should be receiving my copies in three weeks. Huzzah! For those who don't know, my other collection, Thoughts from a Line at the DMV , came out a couple of weeks ago. (It's been a very good year). I was waiting for this one to come to completion so I could schedule a dual-book release in November. Watch for details on that, tentatively pending for Nov. 16th or 23rd. The book came about through a NaPoWriMo contest by Local Gems Press back in April. Poets are encouraged/obligated to write a poem a day for the whole month. Then, at the end of the month, we were supposed to submit our manuscripts for consideration. I was a "honorable mention" that also got an offer of publication. Thus, Genetically Speaking was
Read more

A Day Unlike Other Days

I celebrated my 58th birthday a few days ago. As one gets older, birthdays are more and more just another day at work, albeit with a little special edge to it. This one was no different. It was one of those days where work was one meeting after another with a holiday party thrown in at the noon hour to make it just a little more upside down. The nice thing about the busyness was it made the day go by quickly. But as I said, there were some things that made it special, like: Cupcakes from my wife for both the GIS staff and the County Christmas party. Everyone deserves cake (or pie) on their birthday.  A text from my daughter wishing me a happy birthday. A call from Ben in Madison, wishing me the same. When I got home a gift from Sarah awaited; a much-needed pair of slippers! Over 100 Facebook birthday wishes. There is much to hate about social media and Facebook in particular, but it does serve this purpose very well. I very much appreciate my Facebook friends and love scrolli
Read more