Writing is only the beginning. This collection explores the realities of authorship—craft, publishing pathways, and the uneasy balance between art and visibility. From shaping narrative to navigating markets, these posts examine what it means to be an author in a landscape where storytelling and self-promotion increasingly collide.
I thought longer waits for Google Search Console’s Page Indexing reports meant Google was processing more URLs. The records show a strong correlation, but also sharp contradictions. I compare receipt gaps with activity across all indexing buckets and explain what the figures can—and cannot—tell me about my ongoing SEO work.
Pinterest once sent 1,500 monthly visitors to my author website, powered by 25,000 pins about storms, photography, sailing and dark fiction. The platform still offers discovery and analytics tools, but its declining return raises a harder question for writers: is Pinterest worth the time required to make it work today?
At our coastal home, writing dark fiction shares space with beehives, visiting birds and backyard chickens. Using leftover renovation materials, Margo and I built a secure chook pen and welcomed our new laying hens. Now we’re waiting for their first small, richly flavoured homegrown eggs to arrive for breakfast soon.
Backyard Chickens and Fresh Eggs: A Simple Step Towards Sustainable Living Read More »
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 »
Before SEETHINGS had a name, it wore several others while I rewrote the manuscript, tested cover designs, and listened to readers. This old announcement takes me back to the moment everything finally clicked together: the title, the cover, and the nervous joy of publishing a story entirely on my own.
When SEETHINGS Finally Found Its Name Read More »
Anger demands action, but writers can make better use of it. Save the clenched jaw, cruel thought and flash of primitive justice. Distil those sensations into characters, motives and psychological tension. On the page, frustration becomes more than an emotion. It becomes fuel for fiction that knows where darkness hides.
How to Save Your Anger and Frustration—Then Turn Them into Dark Fiction Read More »
AI hashtag generators can scan an image and produce suggestions in seconds, but speed does not guarantee relevance. For authors and book bloggers, the trick is letting artificial intelligence identify possibilities without surrendering judgement. The machine may recognise the photograph, but only the writer understands the story hiding beneath it.
Save Writing Hashtags. Let An AI App Take Care Of That For You. Read More »
Long before SEETHINGS, I stepped onto the stage as Fagin in PRIMA’s production of Oliver! Two contemporary reviews remembered the singing, dancing, costumes and chaos—and kindly named me among the show’s highlights. Here’s a nostalgic glimpse at one unforgettable community-theatre production and the colourful cast who brought it alive.
PRIMA’s Oliver! Musical Production: Review and Highlights Read More »
Finding clear information on improving a website’s search performance is much harder than it should be. The search begins as research and quickly feels like walking into a marketplace disguised as a library. After enough searching, the information starts to feel dirty—polluted by people who benefit from convincing website owners that something is broken but […]
Do Google Search Console Reporting Gaps Reveal Its Indexing Speed? An Author’s SEO Diary 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 »