New slice-of-life short story collection coming soon!

I originally announced this on my author FB page, but I'll also post it here.

November 2011 was my very first attempt at NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). My project was a short story collection with slice-of-life stories all based around a certain event. They all took place in a small and quiet town shaken to its core when a little girl is found murdered and abused. The stories involve adults and kids, dealing with the tragedy. I ended up writing a second draft las...t year, but because real life got involved (and got too real at times), I ended up putting it off for a while and worked on Giggles instead.

After reading Alice Munro these past few months, I decided it was time to revisit the collection and finally finish the second draft. I've sent a very rough version of it to some readers I trust (and who loved my collection In Decline) to see if it was worth going forward. So far, I've heard really good things and it looks like it's going to be a reality sooner rather than later.

Sorry for the long post. But that's what I've been up to with my writing! I'm really excited about this. It feels great to work on slice-of-life stories again. I loved writing horror, but this will always be my true love when it comes to writing.

 

I'm not sure when this will all be completed, but as I've said I don't expect it to take too long. My goal is to have this done within the next few months. Before the end of the year for sure, but I really think it'll be sooner than that.

Reading and writing... and more reading

Even though I haven't had time to do a lot of writing, I've been reading a lot. I think one of the best things you can do when you're not writing is to read. You never know what's going to inspire you. Or give you that creative bug you thought was long, long gone.

After reading a bunch of Alice Munro stories lately (she has become my new favorite short story writer), I'm going back to a short story collection I started a few years back. I've finally finished a second draft. Now, I'm just editing and tightening it before I send it some readers for overall opinions. It's a slice-of-life collection where all of the stories are in a way connected--yet they work on their own.

I know I don't blog here on much, but you can follow me on BookLikes. I post there. A ton. Mostly about books, and sometimes other things. I hope you'll follow me at http://michaelcrane.booklikes.com/.

Sorry I don't post here often. I'll try to do that more, but as you know I'm not very good when it comes to talking about myself, or what I've been up to. But I love to talk about what I'm reading, so that's why I'm so active over there.

BookLikes: My new home away from home

I think I've mentioned in a post somewhere that I've been blogging on BookLikes. It's a blogging site where you mostly talk about books--or anything else you'd like to talk about. I've been blogging there for the past few months, and I have to say it looks like I'm doing a pretty decent job of keeping the blog updated.

I know. Odd, ain't it?

So, if you'd like to visit my new home away from home, click here. I mostly babble about books, but I also talk about other things.

I'm not sure why I'm able to keep up with that blog more than I do over here. Or on my Tumblr. Is there a chance I'll burn out on this new blogging site? Maybe.

Feel free to follow me there!

http://michaelcrane.booklikes.com/

Scary how accurate this is.

BookLikes

I'm terrible at keeping up with blogging. I think we all know this by now. I have a hard time writing about what's going on in my life. I never find myself that interesting. I wished I could be more personable on here, but the truth is I'm not very good at it.

Soo.... I found a new website about a few months ago, and truth be told I've been doing a pretty decent job of keeping it current (at least for now). If you visit my page on Booklikes you'll see that I talk a lot about what I'm currently reading. I even do mini-reviews from time to time. It's kinda like Tumblr... but for books. And I may or may not talk about other stuff as well.

That's it for now. Already have a few followers on there. Feel free to come and visit!

GIGGLES in paperback... soon!

I'm currently in the proccess of transforming my novella Giggles into a paperback. I'm really psyched for this. My cover artist also does interior work for books, and she did an amazing job on it. I should be getting a proof within the next few days or so.

I can't wait to see it in my hands. It's about time I did something that was worthy enough to call for a print version. One of these days, I'll do a Lessons collection. One of these days...

Sorry I haven't been keeping this blog up to date. My wedding is in 18 days, so as you can imagine things have been super busy and hectic (but a good kind of hectic!).

I'm on Tumblr now, and I keep that pretty updated. I reblog a bunch. It's mostly about writing, books, and other stuff. Feel free to follow me!

You can also find me on Twitter. I'm pretty active on it.

That's all for now. I'll be sure to let you all know when the paperback is available. Hopefully in time for Halloween if all goes well!

Bukowski

I’ve been really digging poems by Charles Bukowski lately. I’ve been a fan of his short stories for a few years now, but I’m finally reading his poetry. I’m not big on poems, although I admire the skill it takes to write them. Not an easy thing.

What I love about Bukowski’s poems is they’re deep, and yet they’re not overly complicated. You don’t find yourself having to google to poem later to figure out what the hell he meant. I like that. They read like little short stories, too. Another plus.

He’s written so much. I wished I could be on break right now so I could read more.

Currently reading: