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1. You must write. You must polish it. You should find a workshop or writers group or trusted people to give you critiques. You should rewrite and polish again. You must complete the story. You must submit the story, or it will never be published. And then you must start a new story. 2. You… Continue reading Michael’s Tremendously Simple And Mostly But Not Entirely Optional Not Really Rules More Like Guidelines For Writing and Writers.

We need to start seeing a lot less of each other. I’m sorry, I know this is unexpected. We’ve had some great times together, laughing over silly pictures of cats, taking part in weird memes, filling out polls, becoming indignant over political disagreements, and even–oddly enough–occasionally learning something about the lives of our friends and… Continue reading Dear Social Media,

That’s the number of words hammered out over a weekend in Hershey, PA, holed up in a hotel room while Beloved Spouse was at a professional conference. That’s the number of words needed to finish the first draft of my new Arkady Bloom novella, A Study in Violet. That’s the number of words I wrote… Continue reading 6000 Words

Tonight, 10/10/2012 – Emma Bull and Will Shetterly are reading at DreamHaven Books, 2301 East 38th Street, Minneapolis, MN 6:30 to 7:45pm, as part of the Speculation Reading Series. Saturday, 10/13/2012 – Twin Cities Book Festival at the Progress Center, Minnesota State Fairgrounds, 1265 North Snelling Avenue, St. Paul, MN – 10:00 am to 5:00… Continue reading Events of Interest to Twin Cities Readers and Writers

In my quest to broaden my artistic horizons, I’ve started a new—career is too strong a word—artistic pursuit: spoken-word performer. Now, once upon a time, many many many years ago, I was an actor. I know this probably messes with your perception of quiet, introverted Michael, but there it is. But that was many many… Continue reading This Is The Tale As It Was Told To Me…

Over the course of the next four weeks I need to complete and return three different grant applications. Each of these grants is to help fund individual writers as they pursue their artistic careers. I’ve applied for several of these grants before and have yet to win, but hope always springs eternal. That I know… Continue reading The Season of Open Grant Applications for Writers is Now.

Make tea. Forget to turn off the kettle. Notice cat running around the house frantically, racing between the up and downstairs meowing at the top of his lungs. Finally smell the smoking and smoldering kettle. Run downstairs in the dark, remove kettle from stove, open all the windows. Realize I really need another cup of… Continue reading Hello Friday…

My post and snippet from yesterday evoked a very thoughtful comment about how easily the concept of the character being an African and brought to Victorian England as a child when his village is decimated could go “very badly wrong very easily.” The commenter also pointed that, “If you’re trying to evoke the casual racism… Continue reading Difficult Subject Matter

The “Sky-Tinted Waters” launch party was a grand success, with great food, great conversation, a room full of authors and friends, plus entertaining readings by four of the authors in the anthology. It was also a professional success for me. By the end of the party I sold a short story collection, to be published… Continue reading Starting a New Novella

This is my runner-up performance at the 2011 Tellebration! Story Slam. The audio can be dicey at times because I moved around the stage quite a bit, which meant I moved away from the microphone. On stage that wasn’t a problem, I know how to project my voice out to the audience. In a recording,… Continue reading For Your Listening Pleasure