Marie Zhuikov—Meander North

Meander North

MEANDER NORTH
Marie Zhuikov
Nodin Press, November 21, 2022, $19.95
ISBN-13: 9781947237476

Zhuikov reports:

This book arose from my personal blog, Marie’s Meanderings. I’d been writing a weekly blog since 2013 -- so long that I ran out of free space at WordPress. I needed to decide whether to pay for additional capacity or stop writing about life in northern Minnesota and Wisconsin.

One night, during a bout of insomnia, I came up with the idea of making a book out of my favorite entries, enabling my blog to “earn its keep.” Unlike some of my other middle-of-the-night ideas, I remembered this one the next morning. A few days later, I drafted a proposal and am thankful that Nodin Press in Minneapolis thought that a book was a good idea, too.

Marie Zhuikov, photo by Hunter Zhuikov

Although I knew I would be working with an editor at Nodin Press, I didn’t trust my own powers of review because I was so familiar with the stories. I hired a member of my fiction writing group, Lacey Louwagie, who is a professional editor. I think that pushed my book up a notch. Meander North earned a silver Midwest Book Award in the nature category for 2023.

My essays, arranged by season, cover a range of outdoorsy and community-based reflections, from an insider’s view of Duluth’s Christmas City of the North Parade, to a spring-cleaning trip to the local dump, to a description of a lawn-mower race.

In my day job, I’m a senior science writer for Wisconsin Sea Grant. I also manage the Sea Grant blog. Although I try to keep the topics separate, sometimes they overlap. In my book, “That Time I Organized a Sea Lamprey Taste Test” describes a work project that I publicized by holding a dining experience for notable community members. “Saving a Sky Rat” takes readers through the adventure of capturing a wounded ring-billed gull at my office and discovering the cause of its malady, thanks to Sea Grant research. Then there was the time the inventor of the Post-It Note visited the office.

All of the stories display my love for my home state, Minnesota, and its seasons and traditions. A grant from the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council helped underwrite this book’s publication.

Contact info:

• MarieZhuikov: 218-348-7133, mzhuikov@msn.com, http://www.mariezwrites.com/, @MarieZhuikov, mariezhuikov
• Book: https://itascabooks.com/products/meander-north, http://www.mariezwrites.com/meander-north.html

NASW members: will your book be published soon? Promote it by submitting your report for Advance Copy.

Tell your fellow NASW members how you came up with the idea for your book, developed a proposal, found an agent and publisher, funded and conducted research, and put the book together. Include what you wish you had known before you began working on your book, or had done differently.

See https://www.nasw.org/advance-copy-submission-guidelines.

View Advance Copy archives at https://www.nasw.org/member-article/advance-copy.

Thinking of writing a book? If you are a NASW member, you may access a list of more than 200 books and online resources to help you craft your book proposal, find an agent and funding sources, negotiate your contract, learn about self-publishing, publicize and market your book, and more at https://www.nasw.org/article/write-book.

Send book info and questions about book publishing to Lynne Lamberg, NASW book editor, llamberg@nasw.org.

Follow @LynneLamberg on Twitter for news about science/medical books, writing, and NASW authors.

Banner image adapted from original photo by Marie Zhuikov.

NASW members: Share photos of your office bookshelves for use on our website. Upload photos to bit.ly/naswpicsubmit.