Hey, check out my newest post on #Substack all about the "dogs" we get sold these days: things that are overhyped or don't do what they're supposed to or make us spend more money than we should. #amwriting #WritingCommunity open.substack.com/pub/michbark...

Hi #WritingCommunity. New post is up on my #Substack: michbarker.substack.com/p/work-in-pr... #amwriting

Hi #WritingCommunity. I'll be reading this year at #CanadaFictionFest2026 from my novel, My Long List of Impossible Things. Hope you can join us!

Hello #BookSky #ReaderSky! Fiction Fest is coming this summer and we have an AWESOME schedule of author readings and panel discussions that anyone with an Internet connection can attend for FREE! Check out our event page and register for whichever ones you're interested in: fictionfest.ca/events/

Hey #WritingCommunity. Please join us for this panel at #CanadaFictionFest2026. Always cool to hear where ideas come from. #Booksky

New #substack post is up: open.substack.com/pub/michbark... #WritingCommunity #amwriting

New post is up on my #substack michbarker.substack.com/p/work-in-pr... #WritingCommunity #amwriting #booksky

Ha, let's try that again with a link. Here is a link to my newest substack post: michbarker.substack.com/p/work-in-pr... #WritingCommunity #amwriting #amreading #booksky

Very pleased to have a guest spot on Jane Friedman's blog today with my colleague, @darlingaxe.com David Griffin Brown: janefriedman.com/from-personn... #WritingCommunity #amwriting #booksky

A great post from an editing client of mine who also happens to be in cyber security: open.substack.com/pub/cherylan...

My new post is up on Substack! michbarker.substack.com/p/work-in-pr... #WritingCommunity #amwriting #amquerying #BookSky

Is your reader pleasantly intrigued or annoyed and baffled? When to withhold information, when to tell them - @michellebark.bsky.social at @AngelaAckerman writershelpingwriters.net/2026/05/art-... #writingcommunity #writinglife #authorlife

New post is up on my Substack: michbarker.substack.com/p/work-in-pr... #WritingCommunity #amwriting

New post up on #substack, all about the need to rest after you complete a big project. It might be the last thing you want to do, but for me at least, it's really important to create that buffer. #WritingCommunity #amwriting #booksky

My post is up on Substack! #WritingCommunity #Booksky #amwriting michbarker.substack.com/p/work-in-pr...

I have a new post up on Substack about reading your work out loud, a great strategy for #writers michbarker.substack.com/p/work-in-pr... #WritingCommunity #amediting #booksky

What's inspiring me today: this podcast: www.melrobbins.com/episode/epis... Fantastic!

I am SO tired of reading blog posts that have obviously been written either entirely by AI or with considerable help. Whoever needs to hear this, please know: you're not fooling anyone. AI writing all sounds the same. Your own brand of creativity is far more interesting, so use it! #WritingCommunity

Quote to start a beautiful week. #WritingCommunity #BookSky

The most interesting thing I discovered in my research today: Girls and women in Nazi Germany were seen as "emotional" but were also encouraged to react to things emotionally, creating a convenient closed circle of logic. #amwriting #WritingCommunity

Yahoooooo our new book is out :) :) :) And you can get a free copy—instructions below!

To make your submission package shine brighter, read this post from Resident Writing Coach @michellebark.bsky.social. Enter to win her new book: Fake Query Letters by Dead Authors. Share your query roadblocks in a comment & she'll reply with tips! writershelpingwriters.net/2026/02/subm...

My post is up on the Writers Helping Writers blog, and if you leave a comment, you have a chance to win a copy of our newest ebook, Fake Query Letters by Dead Authors! #writingcommunity #booksky #amwriting #writer #amquerying writershelpingwriters.net/2026/02/subm...

The German Emigration Center is maybe the most incredible museum I've ever visited. Interactive stations bring the history of emigration to life. Moving, effective, eye-opening. #WritingCommunity #Germany

Bremerhaven! What an unexpectedly wonderful little town in Northern Germany. Highly recommend! Plus, it's amazing to finally see in person a place you've been writing about. #WritingCommunity #Germany

Officially this is Day 2 of my German research adventure, but I was too tired to post yesterday. Insight so far: DO NOT trust ChatGPT for directions in a foreign country. The ones it gave me were stunningly wrong, right down to the "landmarks." #WritingCommunity #Germany

#WritingCommunity #BookSky Love the classics!

Just finished reading Hitler's People by Richard J. Evans. Great book. One thing that struck me was the number of high-ranking Nazis who were talented musicians. Like, a lot of them. Music didn't have the power to redeem them. I'm trying to figure out why. #WritingCommunity #BookSky #History

#Writers, what's the best writing advice you've ever gotten? One that's been on my mind lately is: a problem that your character can walk away from is a book the reader can walk away from. #WritingCommunity

#MysteryWriters don't neglect your setting! Here is a post all about how setting can work for you in your mystery novel. #WritingCommunity writershelpingwriters.net/2025/08/how-...

True or false: a #writer is someone who sits in their pyjamas all morning staring out the window and calls it work. #WritingCommunity

Easy, right? #WritingCommunity

#Writers, are you using the weather in your fiction to its full potential? Winter means snow, which means leaving footprints behind. Summer heat can amplify tension. Rain can create delays, reflect mood. Choose your setting with intention. #WritingCommunity

What's the difference between omniscient POV, deep third, and head hopping? It all comes down to control. Ask yourself who's holding the camera? If it's being tossed around indiscriminately, you've got a problem. #WritingCommunity darlingaxe.com/blogs/news/p...

Would love to hear from #writers who do some (or any, or all?) of their work by longhand. Not many do anymore, and I feel like when I make the effort, the work comes out differently. Agree? #WritingCommunity

#Writers, tell me a little about your current work in progress. I'm working my way through the second draft of a historical novel set in Berlin 1938. Filling some research holes, just generally doing it better. Time away from it made me see what it needed. #WritingCommunity

#Mystery writers, if you're interested in structure and are fans of Sue Grafton, here's a breakdown of A Is for Alibi from our ongoing series on mysteries. #WritingCommunity #booksky darlingaxe.com/blogs/news/a...

At McLoughlin Gardens I was often up with the sun. I would grab a coffee, sit out on the deck and write as the sun rose. Couldn't ask for more inspiration than that. #WritingCommunity

Writers in the Vancouver area! Come check out our presentation on narrative structure next month at WriteOnBowen.com 😎 (With @michellebark.bsky.social !)

Sharing another photo from my magical month as writer in residence at McLoughlin Gardens. Sometimes when I couldn't sleep, I'd stand on the deck and look at the stars. No light pollution. It was fantastic. #WritingCommunity

When you finally figure something out, you want to tell everyone 😅. I could never quite explain why head-hopping bothered me so much and how it was different from omniscient POV. Suddenly I got it, so I'm sharing it with you. #WritingCommunity darlingaxe.com/blogs/news/p...

Hey, #writers, if you happen to be on Bowen Island the weekend of September 13-14, there's a great writing festival taking place: Write on Bowen. Come to our workshop! We'd love to meet you and talk story structure (one of our favorite topics). #WritingCommunity

#amwritingfantasy #amwriting #writingcommunity #indieauthor #indieauthors inventingrealityediting.com/2...

Sharing one of my sunrises from the residency I just finished at McLoughlin Gardens on Vancouver Island. Absolutely magical. Great place to get lots of #writing done. #WritingCommunity

Calling all #writers! Great festival coming up on Bowen Island in September. Please join us! www.writeonbowen.com

#Win a Story Skeleton: The Classics #ebook writershelpingwriters.net/2025/05/read... @michellebark.bsky.social #giveaway #writingcommunity

Writers who are interested in story structure, check out my most recent blog post with Writers Helping Writers: writershelpingwriters.net/2025/05/read... Includes a giveaway for our book, Story Skeleton: The Classics #WritingCommunity #BookSky

Great piece on why it's not enough to rely on beta readers for your novel. #WritingCommunity writersinthestormblog.com/2025/05/are-...

Very excited to have a piece in today's @theglobeandmail.com all about the classics. #BookSky #WritingCommunity www.theglobeandmail.com/life/first-p...

BMO Marathon is done! What a day. Here is my race report for anyone who's interested: michellebarker.ca/bmo-marathon... #BMOMarathon #Vancouver #running