I mentioned recently that I attended a Book Faire (with the extra “e” so you know it was classy) at the Boise Public Library! and met some new authors—most of them will be appearing here in the coming weeks to talk about their perspective on being a writer in the area (maybe all of them well, the jury’s still out). First off is Merri Halma—who was lightning-quick in responding to me both about the invitation to participate and with her responses. If you’re looking for your next YA Fantasy read, you should get to know her for sure.
Before we get into things, why don’t you give the reader a brief introduction to you and your work.
I’m author Merri Halma, author of the YA fantasy with metaphysical visionary elements series the Indigo Travlers (so far there are four books, the fifth is with two editors). They are about teens with gifts, who travel to other worlds with their magical, mystical animals assisting them with their problems, and they each learn more about who they are and how they fit into their world back home. I also have a paranormal/romance for adults. Amazon Author page, I’m on Facebook, Instagram, Ko-fi, Bookbub and LinkedIn. Though I haven’t updated the last three sites for several months. My books are also available at local stores: Green Avenue Books & Publishing in Meridian, Earth Brite Mineral, Rock, & Gem Shop in Meridian & Rubaiyat in Caldwell, Idaho.
What brought you to Idaho in the first place? (answer whichever question applies) What is it about Idaho that keeps you here?
am originally from Washington State. My husband visited Idaho with the company he was working with twenty-four years ago. He liked it and wanted to move. I agreed. I miss Washington and would like to move back, though I don’t have family or close friends there. I’ve made some friends here. Most of them are writers, editors and belong to some of the same fan groups I follow. Not all understand my love of Doctor Who, Ghost and Moody Blues nor follow the same authors I do (Brandon Sanderson, Neil Gaiman, are a few). I also try to be active in the metaphysical community, though that has changed over the years. My husband doesn’t want to move back to Washington.
Are you tied into some sort of local author/bookish group/culture? If so, tell us about it and how it helps you as an author. If you’re not, is there a reason for it?
A friend of mine and I started the Treasure Valley Authors, and it helps to keep me active by running the meetings. We do one large community festival together, the Nampa Festival of the Arts where we all sell our books and support each other. One or two of the fantasy authors and I also do comic cons together, or some other local fantasy related festival once or twice a year. Recently, I joined the Green Avenue Fantasy Book club. We chose a monthly book, read it or listen the audio and then meet to discuss it. This month, we’re reading Legends and Lattes. I enjoyed it. Next week, I will be attending an Authors Read book club in Star. I was invited a few months ago.
How have I missed that at the Festival of the Arts? I’ll keep an eye out for you! Talk to us a bit about the Treasure Valley Authors—what does the group do other than host a spot that I have missed?
The Treasure Valley Authors is a combination of social group and a place for authors to come together every other month to talk about their books, events, and, in theory, assist each other to troubleshoot our stumbling blocks for our books, promotions, etc.
The Treasure Valley Authors usually has a 20 x 20 or larger booth at the Nampa Festival of the Arts every year. It is strictly for the authors who attend our meetings and are active in our Facebook group. This past year (2023), we had roughly six or seven of us. Next year, I hope we will have eight or more.
What kind of events in the area do you attend—either to sell/promote your books or to network with authors? Are there any outside of this area that you hit regularly and wish we had something like it here?
I attend the Treasure Valley Authors in person meetings every other month to network and discuss either our next events, or see where each person’s writings are at where their needs are. I try to attend the Idaho Creative Authors Networks Coffee (ICAN) Chats when they have them to network. I also like to attend their conferences and writing retreats because it is a great way to meet with authors of a wide range of genres and the leaders of the ICAN offer good ways to assist each author with their problem areas. For selling, I attend the Border Town Comic-Con in Ontario, Oregon that usually takes place in March every year, In 2024, I will be with three other fantasy authors (Treasure Valley Fantasy Authors) at Gem State Comic-Con at the Expo Idaho in April, I also hope we do the Beltane with the Idaho Renaissance Faire people, Nampa Festival of the Arts, Renaissance Faire and the Boise Festival of the Comic-Arts with the Boise Library. My son and I attended a conference in Latah, Utah in 2019 that was a literary conference for fantasy writers, authors, readers, and podcasters. We watched Brandon Sanderson and his friend record one of their Intentional Blank Pages podcasts where they interviewed an author. I did my first workshop for readers and artists on the importance of journaling and writing for mental health. Attendees cosplayed their favorite characters from books. I included art, too. I would love for a conference similar to this come to the Boise/Treasure Valley area.
A conference like that sounds great—add me to the list of those wanting one around here!
What’s the breakdown of your audience—do you have a strong local base, or are your readers from other parts of the world?
My audience is middle readers to young adults. On one hand, I’ve saturated the Treasure Valley area, and yet there are still people and readers that don’t know my work. I have a very narrow base because I’m aiming my readers to those who feel different and are searching for where they belong. I would love to have more readers from across the nation and in other countries read my work. My next book will be published through Green Avenue Books & Publishing in Meridian, so I hope it will reach other countries and states. I also hope to republish all of my books with Green Avenue, too.
How do you expect (hope?) that Green Avenue will expand your reach? Do you have any other ideas for that? Getting exposure is the biggest hurdle for so many, and I love to hear what strategies people come up with (or how’re they’re stumbling along blindly)
I hope Green Avenue Books & Publishing will assist me to expand my distribution through their reach. They use Ingram Sparks, so there is a possibility to reach across the nation and hopefully to other countries and get it translated into other languages. I hope Green Avenue Publishing will also give more of a team to polish and improve my writing. They have a set number or arc readers, too.
Promotion is the hardest part of self-publishing.One has to have a talent for graphic drawing, creating the marketing phrases and knowledge of how to use the ads to draw attention. I’ve been at this for ten years, or more, and I still haven’t gotten the pattern down well. If an author has the financial ability, I suggest they hire professionals to assist them.
Having Green Avenue assisting me, though, will free up my time to focus on learning more of the promotions, I hope. I still hope to get the hang of using Canva and other sites like that to create signs, ads, and so on. I also hope to start a YouTube channel.
Do you think there are particular challenges or advantages to being a writer in the Treasure Valley? (possibly both)
The challenges for me is finding a critique partner that understands my work. One of my books, Lynx on Fire, has a scene where Lynx, a werecat shapeshifter, meets his inner cub and is directed to hug him, and accept him with all his scars and hurts. This speaks to each person having a hurt inner child. The critique partner I had at the time couldn’t handle the idea of the inner child and it scared and repulsed her. I mix psychology and fantasy, perhaps it is more arm chair psychology, but it works. Another partner I had couldn’t handle the fires Lynx had to walk through to discover his true body image. Again, he had to accept his true body with all the visible scars from his cubhood. The other challenge is that traditional published authors don’t accept those authors that publish their own works. They say there has to be a special quality, and if a self-published author doesn’t meet their standard, then they won’t work with them or even socialize with them. The advantages are there is some acceptance and support among those who self-publish and are niche writers, like I am.
Do you bring Idaho (or some sort of Idaho-sensibility, assuming one exists) to your work? Whether or not anyone else sees it, can you look at some aspect of your writing and think “That’s Idaho” or “I would do ____ differently if I was a Kentuckian or from Illinois?”
I usually have my main characters living in Nampa and name factories or places Nampa residents would know, like the Sugar Factory that has the iconic smell of burnt peanut butter or Lake Lowell. If I was living in Kentucky, I’d mention the local places, too. I’d likely have the characters living in Smith’s Grove, where my mom grew up and my characters would explore the Mammoth Caves and go shopping in Bowling Green or Elizabethtown.
One final question, is there a book (or two…or 18, if you get really carried away), that embodies Idaho/the Idaho spirit to you to recommend to my readers?
I think most of my books say something about the Idaho spirit, because I do use the local schools, Columbia High School, East Valley Middle School and the next book I renamed the green house on Greenhurst Road to Ashwarth’s Nursery and Landscaping, so it’s owned by my main character’s father. But my main character are also from Washington State, so they talk about Outlook, Sunnyside, and surrounding areas I knew growing up.
I haven’t read many books that take place in Idaho. But I have read Patricia Briggs, who lives in Arizona and has a book series based in the Tri Cities, Washington State, called the Alpha and Omega Series. I love her books because she mentions towns, streets and parks, like the parks along the Columbia River that I used to go visit and sit by to journal and daydream when I lived back in Sunnyside. Mrs. Briggs used to live in that area, I think. One of my high school friends told me about the series several years ago. He has met her and gotten her to sign some of his books.
Stephen King, who was raised in Maine, often sets his books in his hometown, or neighboring cities. It makes sense for an author to do that.
I need to read some Michael Collins Brent books, because he is a local horror writer who has made a good name for himself. I’ve read Anthony Doer’s work, but he seldom sets his books in Idaho. I haven’t read his most recent books, though.
Thanks for your time and participation! Hope you enjoyed it!
Thank you for stopping by my table during the Boise Library! Bookfest and inviting me to take part in your interview.
Okay, folks, go click on one or all of the links above—particularly Merri Halma’s Amazon Author page and see if anything sparks your interest!
