Flood and Fire Woes…

Hi, The previous post was about the next few novels or novel series I intend to work on this year and for several years after that. My main focus at the moment is on trying to finish my novella, Flood and Fire, but it hasn’t been as easy as I originally hoped it would be. …

Read more

What’s Next…

Hi, The previous post, “What I’m Working On,” was about my plans for finishing and publishing my novella, Flood and Fire, and its sequel, The Jagged Man. If I can somehow manage to complete those two books and get them ready for publication this year, I will start working on Murder Between Friends, the first …

Read more

What I’m Working On, 1-26-2026

Hi, If you’ve been following this blog for a while you’ve noticed that I have been (in between all of the household and medical interruptions) trying to complete two particular tasks, finishing my novella, Flood and Fire, and re-editing its sequel, The Jagged Man. Sadly, I haven’t made much progress on either of them. Flood …

Read more

Reunions and EVs – Party of the First Part…

Hi, Medical Update: The ablation procedure (to take a final stab at curing my AFib) will take place on the 21st of this month (less than a week from now). I feel very safe in my doctor’s hands. This is a very common procedure and he’s done a ton of them. But on to the …

Read more

August 9, 2024, Household and Medical Updates…

Hi, [Update: 7-28-2024 — We must sound like walking disasters lately. Our garbage disposal gave up the ghost. Water just pours right out the bottom. One of our plumbers is coming to check it out tomorrow. We’ll have to replace it, of course. The garbage disposal came with the house when we bought it new …

Read more

A Tweener Newsletter

Newsletter 042 – July 14, 2023 Hi, A few of those “life’s little interruptions” I mentioned in some previous newsletters have appeared without warning, so I’m pushing the next “jobs” newsletter (#3 of 10) off for a couple of weeks so I can slip in this extra newsletter about a few things that happened recently. …

Read more

Je Ne Regrette Pas…

Newsletter 032 – February 10, 2023 Hi, Back in December I applied for a writer’s residency at Cove Park, Scotland. Cove Park is an international artists residency center located on a 50-acre rural site about twenty miles northwest of Glasgow. I hope to be granted a four-week residency there to work on my novel, The …

Read more

A High Tide Lifts All…

Newsletter 019 – July 22nd, 2022 Hi, About the image above: This was taken on Galveston Island on January 4, 2014. I was there for a writing retreat. I’ve been to several different types of writing retreats since then (I’ll tell you about a couple of the others in the next two newsletters), but this …

Read more

Being a Self-Publishing Virgin is Scary

Picture of Michael at a NaNoWriMo event

[Originally posted on my former blog, Michael Runs the Gamut] For the past several years I’ve submitted queries (although not nearly often enough), and pitched my novels at conferences, with no success. Okay, I lied at least a couple of times in that first sentence. In 2002, I participated in NaNoWriMo for the first time, …

Read more

Warpy Music

Picture of Michael at a NaNoWriMo event

[Originally posted on my former blog, Michael Runs the Gamut] This isn’t strictly about writing, but it’s something I incur often enough doing research that it’s been on my mind lately. One of the most common connections I have noticed while waiting on hold (on the phone) is that the vast majority of music used …

Read more