M.M. Schreier's Blog, page 4

Debut Collection: “Monstrosity, Humanity”

I’m beyond excited to announce that my debut collection–“Monstrosity, Humanity“–is scheduled to be released 29 March 2024.

The collection features 25 stories that explore the hidden humanity that can be found in monsters, the monstrosity that lives in human hearts, and how they come together in that liminal place where the lines between them blur.

From the blub:

Monsters. Discover an arachnid that revels in the divinity of aesthetic and creation. Follow the tales of bittersweet ghosts, looking for closure and remembrance. Sympathize with an insane eldritch goddess, who wants nothing more than to sleep the eons away.

Humans. It can be said that people are the true monsters, and the characters in this collection are no exception. From murderous intent to uncanny powers, they prove that true darkness can lurk in mankind’s heart.

Keep your eye out for the upcoming cover reveal as well as pre-order links. I can’t wait to share this with you all!

Podcast – Writing in Progress

I never really saw myself as the kind of person who goes on a podcast to talk about all the things. Aside from being way outside my comfort zone, who would even listen?

But, apparently the “never say never” adage is true, because you can now find me on a brand new episode of the Writing in Progress podcast. I talked about a wide range of writing topics – my journey, process, and inspirations, as well as how to approach submitting shorts for publication and of course ALL the contests.

The hosts, Justin and Jon, were a pleasure to speak with, and I really appreciate them having me on. I was pretty nervous, but it really was like just chatting with two old friends. (Well, one old friend and one new one!) And of course, it also means I get gold stars towards two of my 2024 goals – take more risks and trust myself more.

If none of this entices you to take a listen, there’s more! I make an official announcement while on the podcast about an upcoming project. So, grab a cuppa and have a listen here. Or search Writing in Progress on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hope you enjoy!

Publication Alert: Perennial Press-Arthropoda

I’m super excited that Perennial Press has set a release date for this upcoming Anthology: Arthropoda edited by the fantastic JW Stebner of Hexagon Magazine.

Arthropoda is an anthology collecting the fantastic work of twenty speculative fiction authors inspired by the exoskeleton-equipped creatures which plague our nightmares, and pique our curiosity. With tales of adventure, love, revenge, horror, and fascination, Arthropoda is sure to have you clenching your mandibles and clicking your claws.

You can pre-order now, with a release date of 2/21/24.

I have a very creepy-crawly vengeance story in here called “Black Widow” that is sure to give you the willies. This is going to be a fantastic book, so reserve your copy today!

Resolutions 2024 – Take More Risks

I’m a writing contest junkie. There’s something about the thrill of a deadline, the fun of friendly competition, and the innate, if mildly narcissistic, desire for external validation that appeals. The odds of winning any given contest are low, but it’s still a good time and I have a competitive nature. Besides, it often generates pieces that I’ll go on to publish later, and so the stories get put to work in the long run. It’s great to have a hobby that pays for itself. (I bet all you knitters, in debt to the yarn mafia, are pretty damn jealous right about now.)

You might be asking yourself, what is the point of this little meandering monologue about contests—how does it relate to Take More Risks? I’m getting there, I promise.

Most writing contests have some sort of prompt. It can be a genre, character, setting, theme, an object that must be included…or a combination. Sometimes it is an image or a line of poetry or a snippet of music. There’s a huge variety of prompt types, but one thing that’s universal is that whining about the assignment is part of the process. Bitch, moan, scream WFT?! into your pillow. Trust me. It helps alleviate the angst.

A couple of years ago, I was in a writing contest called Writing Battle. (look it up, it’s lots of fun) They tend to have very unique genre assignments, and I got saddled with “Vampirical Romance.” I’ll admit I didn’t just complain about the assignment, I had a bit of a meltdown. First—Romance? On purpose? No, thank you. Not to mention, Vampires are so overdone they’re practically derivative. There was no way I was going to write some Twilight knock-off drivel. Peace out.

Luckily, I have a pep talk guy. (Highly recommended. It takes a village.) He reminded me that I do my best work outside the box and that I had a knack for taking blasé prompts and bending them to my indomitable will. And so, I sucked it up and wrote a story that had no blood sucker in it, nor an active romance, but still fulfilled the genre requirement. I ended up winning the contest. A risk worth taking.

Later in the year, I wrote a 500-word run-on sentence with no capitalization entitled “when the ice moon rises, and the night is strangely bright.” I broke every single grammar rule out there. The story was not only published at a venue I love, but was also nominated for a Pushcart. Another roll of the dice that paid off in a big way.

These were good risks and remind me that I should do more of it.

In 2024, I want my writing mantra to be: Break the Rules. Not with abandon, but with artistry. Something important to remember, you can’t break the rules until you know them inside and out. I think every writer should spend time learning how to write really good stories that follow the rules before trying to circumvent them. There’s a natural progression from Learn the Rules to Follow the Rules, before you can end up at Break the Rules. Eventually, I’ll get to Make New Rules. Then I’ll break those as well.

Anywho, I find myself most successful when taking risks and thumbing my nose at folks who say this is the way things must be. Writing outside the box requires creative thinking and a willingness to try things that might fail. Experimentation does not always go well, sometimes it falls flat. But I do feel that playing it safe only achieves lackluster averageness. Humdrum, forgettable, colorless, banal, middle-of-the-road boringness.

This year, I’m making a promise to myself to write fearlessly. I want memorable. I want the singular, the fantastical, the unexpected. I don’t want to strike a spark, I want to start a wildfire.

Resolutions 2024 – Learn More

I’ve always believed that continuous learning is an important part of doing anything, so naturally it’s part of my writing philosophy. Whether you are just starting on the journey, or long in the tooth, everyone has something new to learn or they stagnate. It’s kind of the neat thing about being self-aware—that we can always grow and change and become more. Otherwise, we might as well be a mushroom on a log, which doesn’t sound very fun at all.

So, how do I meet the goal of learn more? There’s a million writing classes and workshops that I could take. That’s fine, but also finite and limited by time/schedules and money. Besides, I’m kind of obstinate. I respond poorly when told what to do and how to do it. So, it’s important to find other ways to grow that can be approached a little more organically.

The following self-guided, self-discovery techniques work best for me.

Reading: Reading is a great way to keep learning. No, this is not an excuse to escape into a novel or a slew of short fiction (not that I need an excuse). But experiencing firsthand how a good storyteller crafts their tale is a great way to learn. Bad stories teach too. Seeing what not to do in black and white can help keep the cringe out of your own work. I try to read a wide diversity of authors—genre, voice, identity, background, etc. Reading people who look differently than me, speak differently than me, think differently than me, experience the world differently than me is absolutely critical to growth as a writer. Reading the same kind of thing over and over teaches nothing.

Relationships: Cultivating relationships with other writers who enjoy talking craft is another great option. I’m not snobby about who I learn from. Everyone has a unique perspective and has something to teach. Again, talking to people who aren’t like me expands my worldview. Even people who are new to writing have completely wowed me with their fresh ideas and insights. If I ever become so self-important that I feel I can ignore gems of wisdom based on someone’s experience, identity, background, culture etc., you have my permission to slap me. Perhaps the subtitle under Learn More should be Don’t Be a Dick.

Doing: Finally, trying and experimenting are great hands-on learning exercises. Don’t be afraid to fail. It’s an excellent teacher, even more so than success. Think of it as training. You won’t win a baseball game if you don’t practice the pitching and the catching and…well all the other things. Balls will be dropped. But you pick them up and try again, and before long you start catching more and more of them. (Aaaaand one of my critique partners just got a giggle that I, of all people, just made a sportsball reference.)  

Bringing this back to my Resolution—Learn More—for 2024 I plan to commit to doing these three things. I’ve added some exciting reads from diverse authors to my TBR pile. I’ll allot some of my spoons to building relationships in various author communities. I’ve already helped implement a weekly craft discussion in one of my writing groups. And of course, I’ll keep on writing, trying things, failing, and celebrating what I learn from that.

How do you plan to Learn More in the coming year?

New Year Resolutions 2024 Edition

It’s that time of year when I have the sudden urge to start shouting—new year, new me! Resolutions to go to the gym five times a week and wake up early to write an hour every day get bandied around with pretentious gravity. I map out Big Important Plans to become healthier or how to start down a fool proof path to becoming the next Neil Gaiman.

February comes around and I find myself at the gym less and less. I mean, who wants to compete for equipment with that muscle-bound bro who sneers at my spare-tire jiggle? It’s fucking embarrassing—I can’t wait for him to get old and see how it is. Besides, I can do sit ups and lunges and burpees at home. I won’t, but I can. Maybe later. Soon, I begin justifying sleeping in by promising to write for TWO hours the next day. I’m a middle-aged woman—I really need my beauty sleep. There isn’t enough concealer in all of Sephora to cover the dark smudges under my eyes when I’m overtired.

Before I know it, I find myself with unnaturally orange fingers from eating Cheetos directly out of a party-sized bag and zoning out with a fluffy paranormal mystery novel. The writing can wait until tomorrow.  Or maybe not tomorrow—the book’s just getting good, and I think the siren did it. But I’ll get around to getting some words out. Eventually.

But seriously, concrete resolutions are inherently flawed for people like me. I put ridiculous expectations on myself to succeed. It’s become tied pretty strongly to my sense of self-worth. And I accomplish just enough that I fool myself into thinking that I should be successful all the time. The problem is that my stupidly puffed-up notion that I can do means that failing to meet my goals can knock me right off my high horse. When you’re all of 5’2”, that’s a long fall.

If I tell myself that I’m going to send out 100 subs in a year, but life gets in the way (as it inevitably does for anyone who, you know, has a day job and responsibilities and relationships, etc,) and I only do 99, I’m going to spiral, even though 99 is still pretty damned good. The tantrum will be ugly. A full on, Princess Buttercup, “I will never sub again” sulk.

So, for 2024, when it comes to writing, I’m going to stop self-sabotaging with goals that have the potential to make me the unwilling MC in a psychodrama. Instead, I plan to commit to shifts in behavior and attitude. Here are the Big Three:

Learn MoreTake More RisksTrust Myself More

See, I said more. That’s not as quantifiable, but far less likely to send me down the dark road of disgust and self-loathing. Hey, at least I’m self-aware!

For those of you who are still here reading this diatribe, may the Eldritch Gods bless you. Thanks for sticking around—your eyes only look a little glazed over. Over the next few weeks, I’m going to be discussing what those three things mean for me. Maybe my Three fans will follow along, but it’s mostly for me to keep myself engaged in the process. But if you are one of the Three, or even a potential Fourth follower, I hope you’ll pipe in and share your thoughts in the comments as well.

Stay tuned and Happy New Year! What are your goals for 2024? How do you plan to become your best writing self?

Publication Alert & Pushcart Nomination

I’m thrilled to announce that Tales of the Strange, a Writer’s Workout Anthology will be released on December 9th. You can pre-order the ebook at Amazon now. (Print on release day.)

The book includes a poignant little story of mine called “Adrift,” that explores loss and grief in an unexpected and mystical way. If you need further encouragement to pick up a copy and read it, “Adrift” also features both murderous and friendly sea monsters. And I think we all know that sea monsters make any story better!

I’m also very appreciative that the amazing folks at the Writer’s Workout, have nominated “Adrift” for a 2023 Pushcart Prize. Being published is an amazing thing, knowing the venue enjoyed your words enough that they are willing to share them with the world. It’s humbling for that same publisher to choose your story as one of the their very best and favorite pieces out of the stories they’ve loved and published over the year. Thank you WW!

While you are waiting for your copy to arrive, check out the other books in the Writer’s Workout “Tales” series. They are really fun themed anthologies, and proceeds help a great organization provide resources, workshops, contests, etc. for the writing community. If you grab “Tales from the Cliff” (all stories that end on cliffhangers!) you’ll get another story from yours truly–“Nor’easter”–a creepy little tale that will make you check to make sure you locked your doors before going to sleep.

Publication Alert: Intredpidus Ink

I’m super excited to share this story with you, live today at Intrepidus Ink.

“The Wise Internal Voice” is a story that I identify very strongly about. Not the pixies or wind spirits, but the idea that society has expectations on who women should be. There’s a script, and if you don’t follow it, you are shamed and belittled and mocked.

It’s freeing to be your authentic self, and I hope this story inspires every girl, every woman, to decide for themselves who they want to be.

Publication Alert: Uncharted Magazine

I’m really excited to have a new short story published today at Uncharted Magazine. The story – “To Join a Brotherhood” is a piece of short historical fiction based in the Viking Era of Norway.

Historical fiction isn’t really one of my go to genres, but I do love the culture and religious mythos of this era so it was a lot of fun to write. I think for those of you who follow my work, you’ll see my trademarks of a richly descriptive narrative voice coupled with a strong woman protagonist.

Historical Fiction is a new category over at Uncharted and I was really excited to have the opportunity to be one of the early acceptances of the genre. Hope you give it a read, and don’t forget to check out all the other amazing stories in the magazine–they are always top notch!

Publication Alert: The Best of MetaStellar Year Two

I’m pleased to announce the release of this new anthology: The Best of MetaStellar Year Two. (Get the paperback here, and ebook here.)

I have a very smol but creepy tale in this book about the predatory nature of online dating that asks the very important question: who is hunting who?

If you are looking for some awesome speculative stories, make sure to check this one out. It’s always a pleasure to be published alongside some of my fabulous writing friends like Aeyrn Rudel and Trey Dowell.

MetaStellar is a fantastic, prorate venue for speculative fiction, and profits from the anthology are split between the authors and to help continue paying authors for new stories in the magazine. Definitely worth the price of the book, so go order yours today!