Michelle Barker

Quote from the Great Gatsby on a backdrop of rocky shore, ocean and blue sky.

Quote to start a beautiful week.
#WritingCommunity #BookSky

Quote from Baruch Spinoza, "If you want the present to be different from the past, study the past," on a background of ocean, rocks and sky.

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!

Hierarchy of a Submission Package & Giveaway! All aspects of a typical submission package are important to make a good first impression, but certain elements rise to the top.

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...

Hierarchy of a Submission Package & Giveaway! All aspects of a typical submission package are important to make a good first impression, but certain elements rise to the top.

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...

Ohh, thanks! Didn't know about that one.

Museum mockup of people from the 1900s waiting to board a ship to America.

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

Row of tugboats docked in the ocean with grass in the forefront

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

a man in a suit is standing in front of a building with a sign that says guinness ALT: a man in a suit is standing in front of a building with a sign that says guinness

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

Quote overlaying a photo of the ocean with a rocky beach and a ship in the distance, blue sky.

#WritingCommunity
#BookSky
Love the classics!

Sadly true

Good one!

Haha don't worry, I was describing myself.

Here you go :-) My coauthor and I deconstructed 21 classic novels to reveal the method behind the magic. It's a master class in narrative structure for authors.

Cover of Hitler's People by Richard J. Evans, mostly black with red in the middle

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

a cat is laying on the floor in front of a robotic vacuum cleaner . ALT: a cat is laying on the floor in front of a robotic vacuum cleaner .

#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

Colonel Mustard in the Ballroom: How Setting Shapes Mystery Setting is important in any genre, but especially mysteries where it can limit suspects, suggest motives, provide clues, and shape the crime.

#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-...

Ha, yes.

a poster for the la guarimba film festival ALT: a poster for the la guarimba film festival

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

Person sitting at a desk by a window that looks out onto the ocean. Caption: Just sit down and write.

Easy, right?
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Congratulations!

pouring rain on a wooden porch with grass and trees in the background

#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

POV: Who’s Holding the Camera? Intentionality is how you earn readers’ trust.

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...

Couldn't agree more. I try to encourage my editing clients to be patient with the process but more often than not I'm also talking to myself 😅

Ha, this looks about right.

Sounds fascinating!

I agree, poetry by hand. I write some fiction by hand as well, but it gets so messy with all the crossing out, arrows... and my terrible handwriting 😳

Ha, sometimes I'm not sure.

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

a person is writing in a notebook with a pen on top of it ALT: a person is writing in a notebook with a pen on top of it

#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