You’d Cry Too, If It…

Newsletter 007, January 28, 2022 Hi — About the image above: I took this picture of the Lincoln Memorial on my third visit to Washington, DC. It’s one of the images I used in a short video I created called Lincoln’s Tears. A link to the video is included at the end of the newsletter. …

Read more

Brr, Shiver, Brr…

Newsletter 005, December 24, 2021 Hi — (About the image above) I took this picture while Minay and I were walking through my mom’s neighborhood on Martha’s Vineyard in late-December 2000. She and her husband, Bill Sen, had moved there a few years before. We normally visited her there in the summer, so this let …

Read more

Oh, No! Not Research…

Newsletter 004 – December 10, 2021 Hi — (About the image above) This was taken inside the Grove Arcade in Asheville, North Carolina. It was the first indoor shopping mall built in the city, in 1929. It has been thoroughly remodeled and modernized. Minay and I were in the city to visit my friend, Jerry …

Read more

I Can See for Miles and Miles…

Grand Canyon, AZ, 2003

Newsletter 003, November 26, 2021 Hi — (About the image** above) By the beginning of November 2003 I had already written a scene involving a character named Billie Crowder. The scene was set in a courtroom, but not in any particular time or place.  In the middle of the month I traveled to Arizona to …

Read more

So Excited I Teared Up…

Newsletter 002, November 12, 2021 Hi — (About the image above) I love music, and growing up in the 1960’s the Beatles were a favorite of mine (they still are). When my wife and I went on a vacation to the UK in 2010, I naturally had to go to Abbey Road, walk the crosswalk …

Read more

I Called This Meeting Because…

001 San Diego Portfolio Group, 2004

[This is the first of a series of newsletters I’m sending to my mailing list. The date below was the date it was sent out. I’ll archive them here on the blog a week after they are delivered to my subscribers.] Newsletter 001, October 22, 2021 Hi— About the image above: In the late 1990’s, …

Read more

On Hiatus

Picture of Michael at a NaNoWriMo event

This is just to let everyone know that (aside from a quick update now and then) I won’t be posting anything here for a few months. I’ll be doing final preparations for If a Butterfly through all of October, and it will likely be released in late-November or early December. Michael Standard Disclaimer: Please post …

Read more

What I’m Working On, 3-19-2021

Picture of Michael at a NaNoWriMo event

I’ve been spending far too many hours in front of my computer monitor lately. On December 11, 2020, I published my latest book, Aggravated. I had been working on it exclusively for the past several years, and had set aside several other projects that were in various stages of completion while I finished and published …

Read more

What I’m Reading Now, 3-12-2021

Picture of Michael at a NaNoWriMo event

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, I started re-reading Ian Rankin’s Inspector Rebus novels back in late-December. I’m only on Book Five (titled The Black Book) out of twenty-three, so I’ll be well-supplied for a while. Or will I? Since I don’t like to read books from similar genres while I’m writing or …

Read more

My Profile at the Gutsy Great Novelist

Picture of Michael at a NaNoWriMo event

Recently I was asked to interview for a member profile for a group I belong to, The Gutsy Great Novelist. Here’s a copy of it. Let’s begin with your origin story. When did you first realize you wanted to write a novel? Was there a particular person or experience that inspired you I think I’ve …

Read more