Writing tips focuses on practical ways to improve craft—refining structure, strengthening voice, and sharpening clarity. These posts offer direct, experience-driven guidance, where technique meets application and small adjustments can reshape how effectively a piece is written and understood.
If your letter is published online and shared across social media, it is already open. Michael Forman delivers a blunt, funny rebuke to writers who insist on stating the obvious, dismantling the tired “open letter” label and urging everyone to stop wasting words—and get back to work instead now.
An Open Letter to People Who Write Open Letters Read More »
Author Michael Forman joins Bree Hartley to bring Linda J Bettenay’s Secrets Mothers Keep to life through theatrical readings. A year after discovering Linda’s search for an actor at Araluen, Michael returns to the gardens for the release of Wishes For Starlight, where he celebrates and enjoys the wine too.
Book release for ‘Wishes For Starlight’ Read More »
Promoting an independently published novel involves far more than posting on social media. An author’s website provides the stable centre: a controlled space where useful articles, topic clusters and internal links help search engines understand the work, attract suitable readers and quietly guide them towards discovering—and ultimately buying—the books themselves.
Promoting Novels Through Online Channels and Self-Publishing Read More »
Story endings matter. They don’t need to be neat, happy, or comforting, but they should feel earned. This piece looks at why some endings fail, why readers search for closure, and how a final page can satisfy, unsettle, or deliberately leave one last question behind.
Finding Ways to End the Stories We Start Read More »
As AI search grows, many bloggers are wondering whether they should change the way they write. After months of declining traffic and endless statistics, I explored what AI systems appear to value, why personal experience may matter more than ever, and whether writing for AI is a mistake.
Should Bloggers Write for AI Engines Now? Read More »
Self-publishing changed the literary world forever, but technology never solved the hardest part of writing: finishing the book. This first-person essay explores storytelling, editing, proofreading, self-promotion, SEO, audience building and the psychological endurance required to survive modern independent publishing in a digital world flooded with content and competing voices.
Self-Publishing Changed Everything — Except the Hard Part Read More »
Writers flood social media with noise, but every word shapes perception. This post explores how careless tweets damage credibility, why readers silently disengage, and how authors can sharpen their voice online. If words are your craft, even a tweet must earn attention—or risk losing it entirely.
Is X (formerly Twitter) More Noise than a Useful Connection? Read More »
Behind every successful site is invisible work. Discover how internal linking, tag refinement, and removing dead links reshape SEO, strengthen structure, and connect the right readers to your content without changing what they see.
Broken Links and Aligning My Site for a More Intimate Browsing Experience Read More »
There are fair and good reasons why a book’s title matters to a book’s success. Choosing the right one may be the make or break for any book’s future. It all comes down to reader psychology.
Considering What A Book’s Title Should Be Before Publishing It Read More »
When writing dark fiction, the villain matters as much as the hero. Without a formidable antagonist, a hero has nothing meaningful to overcome. The strength of a protagonist is measured by the challenge they face. Instead of two opposing forces, imagine one person wrestling with both sides of the moral equation. Could a character pursue
Writing Tips: Villains, Heroes, and the Space Between Read More »