Blog

This page lists all the articles on the blog. You can view a per-category index too, and there are various RSS feeds. There's even a micro blog.

You might also want to read the collection of free mini-stories!

Show mini-stories

Mini-story: Aleph A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Aug 11th, 2025
Mini-story: Mysterious Ways A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Aug 4th, 2025
Mini-story: Timing is Everything A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jul 28th, 2025
Introducing TextIndex I made a simple, lightweight syntax for creating indexes in Markdown and other text documents.	Jul 25th, 2025
Mini-story: Past Midnight A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jul 21st, 2025
Mini-story: The Last Place A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jul 14th, 2025
Mini-story: Heist A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jul 7th, 2025
Mini-story: Take Me Home A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jun 30th, 2025
Introducing FigureMark I made a simple, lightweight syntax for annotating figures in Markdown, and a parser for it.	Jun 26th, 2025
Mini-story: Check Engine A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jun 23rd, 2025
Publishing a novel series with pandoc publish Using my pandoc wrapper to easily build any book in a series, with shared front- and back-matter.	Jun 19th, 2025
Mini-story: TCO A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jun 16th, 2025
Automating novel and anthology publishing Using my pandoc wrapper to build genre-specific anthologies of stories, as well as novels.	Jun 14th, 2025
Mini-story: Career Day A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jun 9th, 2025
Mini-story: Feline Fashion Show A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jun 2nd, 2025
Mini-story: Long Jump A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	May 26th, 2025
Mini-story: Beauty A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	May 19th, 2025
pandoc publish A pandoc wrapper and configuration for exporting Markdown novels as ePub and PDF.	May 19th, 2025
Mini-story: High Hopes A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	May 12th, 2025
emacs Decades late to the party, I discovered emacs.	May 8th, 2025
Mini-story: Mice A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	May 5th, 2025
Rethinking Some thoughts regarding my tech setup for writing.	Apr 29th, 2025
Therapy I'm in therapy. Here's a brief description of how it works.	Apr 29th, 2025
Mini-story: In the Lounge A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Apr 28th, 2025
Mini-story: The Lamb A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Apr 21st, 2025
Stop giving advice I'm trying to use the word 'should' less often.	Apr 15th, 2025
Mini-story: Non-conforming A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Apr 14th, 2025
Mini-story: Patron of the Arts A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Apr 7th, 2025
80% Aiming for the eighty percent solution.	Apr 7th, 2025
Mini-story: The Need-Fire A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Mar 31st, 2025
Mini-story: Round the Corner A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Mar 24th, 2025
Mini-story: The Chinese Room A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Mar 17th, 2025
Mini-story: Still Looking A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Mar 10th, 2025
Mini-story: The Shell of the Material A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Mar 3rd, 2025
Mini-story: Manager's Special A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Feb 24th, 2025
Mini-story: Deadworlds A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Feb 17th, 2025
Just Block Some brief thoughts on blocking people online.	Feb 13th, 2025
Mini-story: Handshake A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Feb 10th, 2025
Back to Mac On returning to the Mac after eight years using an iPad full-time.	Feb 10th, 2025
Mini-story: Deadfall A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Feb 3rd, 2025
Mini-story: Old Enough A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jan 27th, 2025
Mini-story: Natives A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jan 20th, 2025
Mini-story: Conveyancing A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jan 13th, 2025
Mini-story: Fuel A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jan 6th, 2025
Mini-story: Peace and Friendship A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Dec 30th, 2024
Mini-story: Best Behaviour A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Dec 23rd, 2024
Mini-story: At Your Service A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Dec 16th, 2024
Mini-story: Simple As That A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Dec 9th, 2024
Mini-story: The Bridge A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Dec 2nd, 2024
Mini-story: Whatever Is Required A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Nov 25th, 2024
Mini-story: Really Here A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Nov 18th, 2024
Mini-story: Grease A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Nov 11th, 2024
Mini-story: Shuhari A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Nov 4th, 2024
Two hundred stories I've written two hundred mini-stories in my Once Upon A Time series.	Nov 4th, 2024
Mini-story: Inconsideration A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Oct 28th, 2024
Mini-story: Structures A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Oct 21st, 2024
Mini-story: In Evidence A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Oct 14th, 2024
Mini-story: Enlightenment A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Oct 7th, 2024
Mini-story: Fire Service A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Sep 30th, 2024
Writing a Novel episode: Plotting vs Pantsing By all means get started before working out the whole plot, but reserve judgement on whether you'll need a plan for later.	Sep 24th, 2024
Mini-story: The PuzzleUpdated A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Sep 24th, 2024
Mini-story: It Will Come To You A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Sep 23rd, 2024
Mini-story: Brush Your Teeth A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Sep 16th, 2024
Writing a Novel episode: Finding the Idea Story ideas are plentiful; you just need to teach yourself to notice them.	Sep 16th, 2024
Mini-story: The ArchministerUpdated A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Sep 16th, 2024
Jekyll Updated Content Plugin A plugin for the Jekyll static site generator, to list posts and other content that's been updated.	Sep 11th, 2024
Mini-story: Catching Up A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Sep 9th, 2024
Writing a Novel episode: Inspiration Inspiration is something that comes after you start, by writing the next sentence.	Sep 9th, 2024
Mini-story: DiceUpdated A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Sep 9th, 2024
20 years This site is now twenty years old.	Sep 5th, 2024
Writing advice and story readings on YouTube Two new video series, with advice on writing a novel, and author's readings of my mini-stories.	Sep 4th, 2024
Writing a Novel episode: Motivation It's normal to be intimidated by writing long-form fiction, but it's much easier if you treat it like work.	Sep 3rd, 2024
Mini-story: Reading TimeUpdated A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Sep 3rd, 2024
Mini-story: Natural Enemy A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Sep 2nd, 2024
Writing a Novel episode: Believing in Yourself Some endeavours may need special skills or pre-existing talent, but writing a novel isn't one of them.	Aug 29th, 2024
Mini-story: AntisocialUpdated A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Aug 27th, 2024
Mini-story: The Fear Shape A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Aug 26th, 2024
Mini-story: See Slow A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Aug 19th, 2024
Mini-story: Nine Mile BurnUpdated A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Aug 19th, 2024
Mini-story: Insurance A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Aug 12th, 2024
Mini-story: Lost to Time A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Aug 5th, 2024
Mini-story: The Bad Colour A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jul 29th, 2024
Mini-story: Gaslight Pro A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jul 22nd, 2024
Mini-story: Work Wife A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jul 15th, 2024
Micro blog There's now a micro-blog, listing all updates to articles, stories, videos, bonus scenes, and the occasional social post too.	Jul 11th, 2024
Bonus scene for Jinx: In Tandem After the events of JINX, Aldridge and Greenwood's relationship evolves.	Jul 10th, 2024
JINX Bonus Scene and Insider Video There's now a bonus scene and insider video available for JINX too!	Jul 10th, 2024
Mini-story: Point of Origin A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jul 8th, 2024
Mini-story: Repo A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jul 1st, 2024
Bonus scene for Toll: Keeping My Options Open After the events of TOLL, Director Wuyts visits a secret location and the experiment which continues there.	Jun 26th, 2024
Bonus scene for Changer: Saying Goodbye Just after the events of CHANGER, Aldridge and Greenwood attend a memorial service.	Jun 26th, 2024
Bonus scene for Changer: Plans for Christmas Several months after the events of CHANGER, Aldridge asks Greenwood what her plans are for Christmas.	Jun 26th, 2024
KESTREL Bonus Scenes and Insider Videos There are now bonus scenes available for the KESTREL books, and behind-the-scenes videos on what inspired them, how they were written, and other secrets.	Jun 26th, 2024
Mini-story: Body Image A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jun 24th, 2024
Mini-story: Accessibility Settings A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jun 17th, 2024
Mini-story: Suitable Pastimes A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jun 10th, 2024
Mini-story: In the Presence of the Dead A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jun 3rd, 2024
Mini-story: In the Ground A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	May 27th, 2024
Mini-story: The Hands Remember A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	May 20th, 2024
Mini-story: Advantageous A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	May 13th, 2024
Mini-story: Three At Most A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	May 6th, 2024
Mini-story: Sympathy A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Apr 29th, 2024
Mini-story: Need a Lift A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Apr 22nd, 2024
Mini-story: The Pathogen A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Apr 15th, 2024
Mini-story: For Starters A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Apr 8th, 2024
Mini-story: Takeback A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Apr 1st, 2024
Mini-story: Reset A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Mar 25th, 2024
Mini-story: Too Sweet A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Mar 18th, 2024
Mini-story: Be The Adult A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Mar 11th, 2024
Mini-story: Culture Fit A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Mar 4th, 2024
Mini-story: Prayer Room A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Feb 26th, 2024
Trilogy sets of KESTREL books The first three KESTREL books are available as an ebook trilogy set, including an autographed option.	Feb 26th, 2024
Mini-story: Target Demographic A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Feb 19th, 2024
Mini-story: Teletype A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Feb 12th, 2024
Mini-story: Inheritance A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Feb 5th, 2024
Living Outlines An evolved and simplified outlining strategy for novels, after having written a few.	Jan 30th, 2024
Mini-story: In Endless Abundance A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jan 29th, 2024
JINX reviews are in A quick round-up of readers' reviews for JINX.	Jan 29th, 2024
Mini-story: Next Day Premium A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jan 22nd, 2024
JINX is finally here After a long wait, the third KESTREL book, JINX, is out at last.	Jan 17th, 2024
JINX is out now! JINX, the brand new third book in Matt Gemmell's KESTREL technothrillers series, is out now!	Jan 17th, 2024
Mini-story: Menagerie A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jan 15th, 2024
Mini-story: Banshee A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jan 8th, 2024
Mini-story: Addicts A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jan 1st, 2024
Mini-story: Naughty List A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Dec 25th, 2023
Mini-story: Flickers A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Dec 18th, 2023
Mini-story: No Response A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Dec 11th, 2023
Mini-story: The Value of Things A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Dec 4th, 2023
Kindle Scribe Planner A simple day planner template I made for use on Kindle Scribe, or other tablet notepad devices or apps.	Nov 29th, 2023
Mini-story: Role Model A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Nov 27th, 2023
Second Screen My much-belated epiphany that I still need a notepad even when using an iPad as my computer.	Nov 27th, 2023
Mini-story: Talking to the Lights A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Nov 20th, 2023
An Update What's going on with KESTREL these days.	Nov 19th, 2023
Mini-story: Cautionary Tale A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Nov 13th, 2023
Thumb Keys Give your strongest digits more responsibility, and embrace the thumb cluster for layers, modifiers, and whitespacing.	Nov 13th, 2023
Home Row Mods Combine your home-position keys with modifiers for better ergonomics and more accurate typing.	Nov 10th, 2023
Mini-story: The Quiet Carriage A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Nov 6th, 2023
Mini-story: The Lighthouse A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Oct 30th, 2023
Mini-story: Mr. Hideaway A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Oct 23rd, 2023
Mini-story: Early Breakfast A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Oct 16th, 2023
Mini-story: Monkey Mask A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Oct 9th, 2023
Mini-story: Big Boy Bed A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Oct 2nd, 2023
Mini-story: The Award A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Sep 25th, 2023
Mini-story: Flags A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Sep 18th, 2023
Mini-story: Preservative A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Sep 11th, 2023
Mini-story: Women's Studies A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Sep 4th, 2023
Mini-story: When the Lights Came On A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Aug 28th, 2023
Podcast episode: Cover Design How to meet the reader's expectations and give your book its best chance.	Aug 21st, 2023
Mini-story: Chicken A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Aug 21st, 2023
Mini-story: Accuracy and Precision A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Aug 14th, 2023
Podcast episode: Front and Back Matter What to include before and after the story itself.	Aug 8th, 2023
Mini-story: In the Desert A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Aug 7th, 2023
Podcast episode: Themes and Subtext The arty parts of writing don't need to be engineered up-front.	Jul 31st, 2023
Mini-story: The Gifted A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jul 31st, 2023
Podcast episode: Editing How to edit your manuscript, and why you'll need other pairs of eyes to help you.	Jul 24th, 2023
Mini-story: God's Taxi A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jul 24th, 2023
Podcast episode: The First Draft The best way to approach your first draft, and guarantee you'll finish it.	Jul 17th, 2023
Mini-story: Good Causes A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jul 17th, 2023
Mini-story: One Kind A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jul 10th, 2023
Mini-story: The Railway Station A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jul 3rd, 2023
Mini-story: The Window to Winter A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jun 26th, 2023
Podcast episode: Outlining How to outline your story before starting, to make the writing process easier.	Jun 19th, 2023
Mini-story: Choose Your Curse A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jun 19th, 2023
Mini-story: Michael Backwards A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jun 12th, 2023
Podcast episode: Truth Stories should tell lies that are truer than real life allows.	Jun 5th, 2023
Mini-story: On the Lightning A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jun 5th, 2023
Podcast episode: Research Details in fiction aren't about adding information, but rather creating the appearance of knowledge and truth.	May 29th, 2023
Mini-story: A Lot In Common A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	May 29th, 2023
Podcast episode: Chapters You should only start thinking about chapters after you've written the first draft of your book.	May 22nd, 2023
Mini-story: Salinity A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	May 22nd, 2023
Podcast episode: Prologues and Epilogues There's no need to avoid prologues and epilogues, as long as you don't let them get in the way of the story.	May 15th, 2023
Mini-story: Heisenbug A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	May 15th, 2023
Podcast episode: Plot and Structure Stories have a common and intuitive structure, and it's a useful tool for writing a novel.	May 8th, 2023
Mini-story: Nudge A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	May 8th, 2023
Podcast episode: Tools Always use the right tools for each stage of the creative process.	May 1st, 2023
Mini-story: Sweet and Sour Pork A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	May 1st, 2023
Feeds for this site There are several new RSS feeds available for this site.	Apr 25th, 2023
Mini-story: Innocence A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Apr 24th, 2023
Podcast episode: Routine The deep magic of writing consistently is to make the task very boring.	Apr 23rd, 2023
Podcast episode: Plotting vs Pantsing A full plan, or no plan at all, can each be appropriate for different authors or works.	Apr 19th, 2023
Mini-story: Two Lifetimes A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Apr 17th, 2023
Podcast episode: Finding the Idea Noticing story ideas is a skill you can learn, as is finding the emotional centre of a tale.	Apr 16th, 2023
Podcast episode: Inspiration Inspiration is something that comes after you start work, not a prerequisite for it.	Apr 12th, 2023
Podcast episode: Motivation Getting into a working mindset, and striving to be a writer every day.	Apr 11th, 2023
Trouble With Writing Podcast I've started a podcast, called Matt Gemmell's Trouble With Writing.	Apr 11th, 2023
Podcast episode: An Introduction and a Pep Talk What the Trouble With Writing is about, and why you can absolutely write a novel.	Apr 10th, 2023
Mini-story: Fuzzy A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Apr 10th, 2023
Mini-story: The Rose Window A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Apr 3rd, 2023
Authorship Faux-AI can do many things, but it cannot confer credit for creation.	Apr 3rd, 2023
Mini-story: Baby Roberts A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Mar 27th, 2023
Mini-story: Birthday Money A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Mar 20th, 2023
Mini-story: Q-icide A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Mar 13th, 2023
How To Like Things Sometimes you might want to like things you don't like. With some thought and effort, it can be done.	Mar 9th, 2023
Mini-story: The Ferryman A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Mar 6th, 2023
Identifying as an Artist The most liberating thing an artist can do is lay claim to that title.	Mar 2nd, 2023
Mini-story: The Etymology of Magic A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Feb 27th, 2023
Prose Echoes Be vigilant for unintended echoes in your writing.	Feb 23rd, 2023
Mini-story: Dear Sir A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Feb 20th, 2023
Series Bibles If you're writing a series, make an investment in your productivity and sanity by creating a canonical reference right from the beginning.	Feb 16th, 2023
Mini-story: Let's Get Started A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Feb 13th, 2023
Makers Some people just need to create things.	Feb 9th, 2023
Mini-story: A Magnificent Resonance A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Feb 6th, 2023
Write Less Give yourself permission to write less, and keep ownership of your words.	Feb 2nd, 2023
Mini-story: Ray Cats A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jan 30th, 2023
New Gods Praise and emulate behaviours, but worship no-one.	Jan 26th, 2023
Mini-story: Tags A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jan 23rd, 2023
Mini-story: Chain of Evidence A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jan 16th, 2023
Learning How To Learn The oldest pandemic is that of flawed thought, and an inability to rectify the problem.	Jan 12th, 2023
Mini-story: Making Things A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jan 9th, 2023
The Comma Dot Key Wherein I propose combining two common punctuation symbols into a single key.	Jan 5th, 2023
Mini-story: Daughters of the Moon A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jan 2nd, 2023
The Problem With AI All technologies bring opportunity and threat, but the scales are rarely balanced.	Dec 29th, 2022
Mini-story: What You Seek A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Dec 26th, 2022
Atomic Thoughts The key to understanding is to make thoughts irreducible, then connect them into larger structures to produce insight.	Dec 22nd, 2022
Mini-story: The Rehearsal A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Dec 19th, 2022
Four Bars Do just ten minutes of focused work, at a chosen time, and let the larger project handle itself.	Dec 15th, 2022
Mini-story: The Confessional A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Dec 12th, 2022
Practice Modest but regular effort yields rewards far beyond the time invested.	Dec 8th, 2022
Mini-story: So Clearly A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Dec 5th, 2022
One Hundred Tales is out now! The third compendium volume of 100 Once Upon A Time mini-stories is out now as an ebook.	Dec 5th, 2022
Mini-story: My Business A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Nov 28th, 2022
An evolved 34-key layout for iPadOS The latest iteration of my iPadOS-focused layout for a 34-key ergonomic split keyboard.	Nov 27th, 2022
Middleshade Road for Hallowe'en A Hallowe'en-themed sale which frankly missed Hallowe'en by several weeks.	Nov 23rd, 2022
Mini-story: The Portrait Gallery A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Nov 21st, 2022
Mini-story: Sell A Cat To A Mouse A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Nov 14th, 2022
Dot Scot On cultural identity, and the sharing of web links.	Nov 8th, 2022
Mini-story: Consequences A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Nov 7th, 2022
Mini-story: Decisions, Decisions A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Oct 31st, 2022
Mini-story: Going Once A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Oct 24th, 2022
Mini-story: Bordertime A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Oct 17th, 2022
Mini-story: Where the world is broken A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Oct 10th, 2022
Mini-story: Tea A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Oct 3rd, 2022
Mini-story: Barrier Concept A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Sep 26th, 2022
Mini-story: Encounter A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Sep 19th, 2022
Mini-story: The Orchard A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Sep 12th, 2022
Mini-story: Getting Older A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Sep 5th, 2022
Mini-story: Maybe We Could A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Aug 29th, 2022
Mini-story: Five Possibilities A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Aug 22nd, 2022
Mini-story: Undiscovered A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Aug 15th, 2022
Mini-story: Hitmaker A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Aug 8th, 2022
Mini-story: Warm Rain A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Aug 1st, 2022
Mini-story: The Night Clinic A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jul 25th, 2022
Mini-story: Winner A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jul 18th, 2022
Editing Editing a draft of a novel is easier than you think, and shouldn't be something to fear.	Jul 14th, 2022
Mini-story: Bubby A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jul 11th, 2022
Mini-story: Psychosomatic A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jul 4th, 2022
There's no perfect time Use the time that you have, just to do a little bit of the thing you want to do. Don't wait for later.	Jun 30th, 2022
Mini-story: Madness A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jun 27th, 2022
Write a crappy first draft Your only job is to produce words. Any words.	Jun 23rd, 2022
Mini-story: Goat Paths A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jun 20th, 2022
Accent shame I was embarrassed by my own accent when I was growing up, which is only one of the smaller casualties of unequal cultural representation.	Jun 16th, 2022
Mini-story: Blank A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jun 13th, 2022
Prologues and Epilogues Learn to use them properly, and you'll find that prologues and epilogues are a valuable part of your storytelling toolkit.	Jun 9th, 2022
Mini-story: More Time A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jun 6th, 2022
Supernatural Objects Conceiving of something beyond our understanding can be creatively instructive.	Jun 2nd, 2022
Mini-story: Worship A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	May 30th, 2022
Verisimilitude Authenticity in fiction comes more from economy of mundane details than from exhaustive research or accuracy.	May 26th, 2022
Mini-story: Pretend A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	May 23rd, 2022
30 Keys My continuing adventures in designing keyboard layouts, this time for a 30-key split keyboard.	May 23rd, 2022
Art as Study You learn to make art by making art.	May 19th, 2022
Mini-story: How It Is Around Here A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	May 16th, 2022
Naming Characters A few considerations to keep in mind when naming your characters.	May 12th, 2022
Mini-story: Renewables A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	May 9th, 2022
Faces and Places A quick and easy tip for getting the details right when writing long-form fiction.	May 5th, 2022
Gaslighting To instil doubt in a person's perception of their own mental faculties is an abusive act.	May 4th, 2022
Mini-story: Compatibility A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	May 2nd, 2022
Getting Ideas for Stories We tend to treat creative inspiration as a nebulous, spiritual thing, but it's just a skill that can be acquired and developed like any other.	Apr 28th, 2022
Mini-story: Assembly A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Apr 25th, 2022
Non-Zero Every Day Use Focus modes and Shortcut Automations on iOS to get started with your work.	Apr 21st, 2022
Mini-story: Tactical A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Apr 18th, 2022
Use the Right Tools You should use as many tools as necessary when generating and refining your ideas, because different modes of thinking require a different type of organisation.	Apr 14th, 2022
Mini-story: Late A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Apr 11th, 2022
Content Creation As a creator, you should call yourself what you are. Content is a trivialising and demeaning term for your work.	Apr 7th, 2022
Mini-story: Paradise A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Apr 4th, 2022
Once More Upon A Time is out now! The second compendium volume of 60 Once Upon A Time mini-stories is out now in ebook and paperback.	Apr 3rd, 2022
Mentioning the War It's your own choice whether to deal with real-world events in your writing, or build a different world instead.	Mar 31st, 2022
Mini-story: Erase A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Mar 28th, 2022
Writing Dedications Seeing your words in print is wonderful, but for me the best part of writing novels is the dedication.	Mar 24th, 2022
Mini-story: From Below A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Mar 21st, 2022
Levelling up as a writer On the phenomenon of feeling that your writing improves only between books, rather than during them.	Mar 17th, 2022
Mini-story: To the Bones A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Mar 14th, 2022
Writing Techno-thrillers Some tips and techniques for writing techno-thrillers and getting the details right.	Mar 10th, 2022
New ebook version of Once Upon A Time compendium There's a new ebook version of the previously paperback-only first compendium of 60 Once Upon A Time mini-stories.	Mar 8th, 2022
Mini-story: Musicianship A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Mar 7th, 2022
Scenes Now, Chapters Later A simple technique to create page-turners by deferring the decision about where the chapter breaks go.	Mar 3rd, 2022
Once Upon A Time Volume 6 is out The sixth ebook volume of Once Upon A Time mini-stories is now available.	Mar 1st, 2022
Mini-story: Transformations A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Feb 28th, 2022
Any Similarity On the fluctuating line between creativity and catharsis in fiction.	Feb 24th, 2022
On Proofreading I was interviewed for Reproof about how I proofread and edit my writing.	Feb 22nd, 2022
Mini-story: Chugger A short story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Feb 21st, 2022
Welcome to the new mattgemmell.com Introducing a fresh new design for this site, with a focus on books.	Feb 20th, 2022
MIDDLESHADE ROAD is out now! MIDDLESHADE ROAD, the new horror / supernatural mystery novel by Matt Gemmell, is out now in paperback, on Kindle, and on Apple Books!	Feb 16th, 2022
Mini-story: Therapy A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Feb 14th, 2022
Mini-story: Renewal A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Feb 7th, 2022
Mini-story: Exempt A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jan 31st, 2022
Mini-story: Sleep A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jan 24th, 2022
Mini-story: The Attaché A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jan 17th, 2022
A split 34-key layout for iPadOS Designing a split, ergonomic, ortholinear keyboard layout in 34 keys (5x3 plus 2 thumb keys per hand) optimised for iPadOS.	Jan 16th, 2022
Mini-story: Opting Out A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jan 10th, 2022
The Corne Keyboard Creating a layout for a 42-key ortholinear ergonomic split keyboard.	Jan 3rd, 2022
Mini-story: The Way of Things A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jan 3rd, 2022
Mini-story: Joy A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Dec 27th, 2021
Mini-story: Gone A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Dec 20th, 2021
Mini-story: Samaritan A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Dec 13th, 2021
Mini-story: Lens A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Dec 6th, 2021
Mini-story: Just What I Wanted A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Nov 29th, 2021
Mini-story: Ornaments A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Nov 22nd, 2021
Mini-story: Neighbourhoods A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Nov 15th, 2021
Mini-story: To Me, You Are A Window A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Nov 8th, 2021
Mini-story: Customs A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Nov 1st, 2021
Mini-story: Letter E A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Oct 25th, 2021
Mini-story: Me Time A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Oct 18th, 2021
Mini-story: Stakeholders A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Oct 11th, 2021
Mini-story: Infringement A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Oct 4th, 2021
Mini-story: Poignancies A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Sep 27th, 2021
Mini-story: Twitcher A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Sep 20th, 2021
Mini-story: Retrogenesis A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Sep 13th, 2021
Mini-story: Patrol A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Sep 6th, 2021
Mini-story: The Tradesman A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Aug 30th, 2021
Compressing Your Keyboard Moving to a smaller keyboard without losing functionality.	Aug 23rd, 2021
Mini-story: Beautiful Walls A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Aug 23rd, 2021
Mini-story: Undeserving A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Aug 16th, 2021
Mini-story: Like / Follow / Kill A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Aug 9th, 2021
40% Keyboard Layout for Writing Some useful keyboard layout customisations for writers using a 40% keyboard, particularly with the QMK firmware.	Aug 6th, 2021
The Planck Keyboard Using a 40% ortholinear mechanical keyboard, and how I've customised my layout.	Aug 2nd, 2021
Mini-story: Down Deep A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Aug 2nd, 2021
Mini-story: The Tesseract A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jul 26th, 2021
Mini-story: Divergent A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jul 19th, 2021
Mini-story: Paper A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jul 12th, 2021
Mini-story: Biometrics A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jul 5th, 2021
Mini-story: Famous A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jun 28th, 2021
Mini-story: Enantiomorph A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jun 21st, 2021
Mini-story: Familiar A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jun 14th, 2021
Mini-story: Monsters A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jun 7th, 2021
Mini-story: I Remember Everything A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	May 31st, 2021
Mini-story: Slow A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	May 24th, 2021
Mini-story: Look The Other Way A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	May 17th, 2021
Mini-story: Ignite A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	May 10th, 2021
Mini-story: The Magician A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	May 3rd, 2021
Mini-story: Next Stop A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Apr 26th, 2021
Mini-story: Aliens A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Apr 19th, 2021
Mini-story: The Forest A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Apr 12th, 2021
Mini-story: Your Heart's Desire A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Apr 5th, 2021
Mini-story: Burrowers A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Mar 29th, 2021
Mini-story: Piety A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Mar 22nd, 2021
Mini-story: The Hotel A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Mar 15th, 2021
Mini-story: Regarding My Work A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Mar 8th, 2021
Mini-story: Justice System A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Mar 1st, 2021
Mini-story: DNR A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Feb 22nd, 2021
Mini-story: The PuzzleUpdated A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Feb 15th, 2021
Mini-story: The ArchministerUpdated A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Feb 8th, 2021
Mini-story: DiceUpdated A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Feb 1st, 2021
Mini-story: Reading TimeUpdated A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jan 25th, 2021
Not Yet On the birth of my son.	Jan 21st, 2021
Mini-story: AntisocialUpdated A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jan 18th, 2021
Mini-story: Nine Mile BurnUpdated A weekly story from my Once Upon A Time series.	Jan 11th, 2021
Free weekly short stories via email My new free weekly short story newsletter.	Jan 7th, 2021
Once Upon A Time autographed copies Just in time for Christmas, I'm offering autographed copies of my new print anthology of flash fiction, Once Upon A Time.	Nov 17th, 2020
Publishing paperback novels with an iPad Creating and publishing paperback (and ebook) novels using only an iPad from start to finish.	Oct 11th, 2020
Beautiful paperback novels with Ulysses My iPad-only workflow for creating paperback novels.	Sep 24th, 2020
Once Upon A Time Volume 3 Once Upon A Time — An anthology of flash fiction in genres like science fiction, horror, and more.	Sep 22nd, 2020
Tools versus work On reminding myself that the tools are less important than what you do with them.	Jul 16th, 2020
Custom Prompts for Drafts Two open source custom prompts/dialogs for Drafts on iPadOS, iOS, and macOS.	Jun 17th, 2020
Using Drafts as a local Wiki Keeping an offline knowledge repository in Drafts for iPad, iPhone, and Mac.	Jun 9th, 2020
Keyboard-Driven Cross-Linking in Drafts An action I wrote to make the Drafts app's cross-linking feature usable entirely from the keyboard.	May 27th, 2020
Pointer Control On the ability to use a traditional pointing device with the iPad.	May 11th, 2020
In Theory On having children.	May 5th, 2020
Once Upon A Time Volume 2 Once Upon A Time — An anthology of flash fiction in genres like science fiction, horror, and more.	Apr 1st, 2020
Once Upon A Time Volume 1 Once Upon A Time — An anthology of flash fiction in genres like science fiction, horror, and more.	Mar 26th, 2020
An incredible gift The story of one of the most thoughtful and moving gifts I've ever received.	Sep 8th, 2019
Cover reveal: KESTREL Book Three The title, cover artwork, and some tantalising details about the third book in the KESTREL technothrillers series.	Sep 7th, 2019
My new office Creating a home office for myself in our new house.	Sep 6th, 2019
40 I’ve been alive for forty years.	Jun 4th, 2019
The Second Book What I learned while writing my second novel.	Feb 4th, 2019
TOLL reviews are in TOLL has been well-received, and what I've learned from the reviews so far.	Jan 18th, 2019
Mechanical Keyboards On the joy and percussiveness of typing on a noisy mechanical keyboard.	Dec 6th, 2018
TOLL is out now! TOLL, the second novel in the KESTREL technothriller series, is now available!	Dec 5th, 2018
Beautiful ebook novels with Ulysses My iPad-only workflow for creating ebook novels.	Nov 30th, 2018
Using the iPad for: autographed ebooks My iPad-only workflow for making autographed ebooks, customised for each reader.	Nov 23rd, 2018
Autographed ebooks With the help of iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, I can now offer autographed ebooks.	Nov 21st, 2018
The Big iPad I upgraded to the 2018 model 12.9-inch iPad Pro.	Nov 13th, 2018
Points of View in Ulysses Using coloured keywords to track points of view in a novel in Ulysses.	May 28th, 2018
Cli-Fi On climate-change novels, and KESTREL book two.	Apr 22nd, 2018
A Big Phone The iPad is a larger version of everyone's main computer.	Apr 17th, 2018
Breath of the Wild My thoughts on The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.	Dec 21st, 2017
Locations: The Cuypers Library Behind-the-scenes notes on a location from CHANGER: The Cuypers Library within the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.	Aug 21st, 2017
Project Structure for a Novel The project structure I use to organise a novel, and its related materials.	Aug 16th, 2017
Cover reveal: TOLL — KESTREL Book Two The cover for TOLL — KESTREL Book Two.	Jul 24th, 2017
Decaf Why I drink decaf coffee.	Jul 6th, 2017
Laptop Replacement On the preoccupation with laptop-tablet equivalence.	Jun 27th, 2017
One Year On It's been a year since CHANGER was released. Here's a new edition, and a teaser…	Jun 22nd, 2017
Using the iPad for: Taking notes and planning My iPad-only workflow for taking notes, planning, and replacing a paper notebook.	Feb 23rd, 2017
Designing for iPad Power Users Thoughts for iOS app developers who want to cater to iPad power users.	Jan 27th, 2017
Thoughts on Ulysses and Scrivener My reflections on the two premier writing studios on the Apple platforms.	Dec 8th, 2016
Using the iPad for: Writing Novels My iPad-only workflow for writing long-form fiction.	Nov 12th, 2016
Using the iPad for: Web Development My iPad-only workflow for web development.	Nov 9th, 2016
Lifting the Mouse Reflections on the role of the iPad, and why it holds such an attraction for a jaded user of computers.	Nov 8th, 2016
Using the iPad for: Blogging with Jekyll My iPad-only workflow for blogging with the Jekyll static site generator.	Nov 7th, 2016
Rediscovering the iPad After several years without a tablet, I'm going iPad-only.	Nov 1st, 2016
CHANGER bonus chapter: Saying Goodbye A bonus chapter for my novel, CHANGER. Contains spoilers!	Oct 13th, 2016
Regulars On people-watching, and seeing someone else instead.	Sep 5th, 2016
Jangled A recollection from childhood.	Aug 26th, 2016
Omen On the cover of my first novel, twenty-five years ago.	Jul 13th, 2016
CHANGER paperbacks are now available! My novel CHANGER is now available as a paperback.	Jul 11th, 2016
Reviews are in for CHANGER My new action-adventure novel, CHANGER, is getting some great reviews.	Jun 30th, 2016
Stranger than fiction That feeling when you release a pro-Europe action novel two days before the UK votes to leave the EU.	Jun 28th, 2016
CHANGER is out now! My novel CHANGER is now available.	Jun 21st, 2016
Announcing CHANGER My novel CHANGER will be available this month.	Jun 5th, 2016
Shelf 7 On the place I'm always drawn to in bookshops.	Apr 28th, 2016
Writing in Markdown My new mini-ebook, Writing in Markdown.	Apr 5th, 2016
Conduit On the power that names hold.	Mar 29th, 2016
Superstition On growing up surrounded by belief in the supernatural.	Jan 2nd, 2016
Elsewhere On the one morning each year when our living room door led to another place.	Dec 21st, 2015
Remember Sometimes, I can almost remember how.	Oct 28th, 2015
Emotional There's nothing shameful about feeling.	Oct 21st, 2015
Sharing your words On the natural fear we feel when allowing others to read what we're written.	Oct 18th, 2015
Autumn On the season that heralds change, and reminds us of the work we've yet to do.	Sep 20th, 2015
Obsession On the spark of fresh inspiration, as both the ally and nemesis of creative output.	Aug 7th, 2015
Eulogy If you have praise to give, don't wait until it's too late.	Jul 21st, 2015
Voice Two The other voices inside us, and the one I turn to in times of trouble.	Jun 21st, 2015
Sci-Fi On science fiction, and how it embodies hope.	Jun 2nd, 2015
Points of View in Scrivener Labelling scenes with points of view in Scrivener.	May 29th, 2015
Bailing My shifting relationship with money, during the major changes in my life.	May 20th, 2015
Junctions On the points in life when we make decisions that define our future.	Apr 27th, 2015
Façades We show versions of ourselves to others, to help us hide.	Apr 24th, 2015
Whisky There's no finer substance than single malt whisky.	Apr 17th, 2015
On blogs Thoughts on what blogs are, and how our words for them are trivialising.	Mar 18th, 2015
Mask On death, and its true face.	Mar 14th, 2015
Smoke The power that smoke has to evoke my memories.	Mar 3rd, 2015
Permalinks Why you should get rid of the cruft from your site's URLs.	Feb 24th, 2015
Work When you're doing what you're meant to do, it doesn't seem like work.	Jan 22nd, 2015
Patronage If we don't support the artistic output we enjoy, it will inevitably vanish.	Jan 19th, 2015
Heroes and Miracles We need stories.	Jan 5th, 2015
Haunted On the interplay of imagination and fiction.	Dec 11th, 2014
Aurora Chasing the Northern Lights, and finding wonder in our world.	Dec 7th, 2014
Craft Some thoughts on incorporating themes, symbolism and motifs into writing.	Nov 25th, 2014
Formerly I wasn't always called Matt Gemmell.	Nov 20th, 2014
In Winter My dark dreams as the year draws to a close.	Nov 6th, 2014
True A writer's job is find the lie that's truer than real life.	Sep 23rd, 2014
Sultans Sultans of Swing has accompanied me through my life.	Sep 17th, 2014
Fan Fiction On the importance of fan fiction as literary output.	Sep 16th, 2014
Anthologies in Scrivener Using Scrivener to create ebook anthologies of essays, short stories, poems, etc.	Sep 2nd, 2014
Raw Materials: Collected Essays An anthology of my personal essays, on the Kindle Store.	Aug 21st, 2014
Writing a novel: resolving plot issues e-book The new e-book version of my technique for resolving plot issues in fiction, and tackling the second draft.	Aug 17th, 2014
Writing a novel: resolving plot issues My technique for resolving plot issues in fiction, and tackling the second draft.	Aug 13th, 2014
Genre shame Coming to terms with writing in a pulp genre.	Aug 7th, 2014
Writing a novel: first draft My experiences writing the first draft of a novel.	Jul 31st, 2014
Relative Lessons I've learned about pain.	Jun 17th, 2014
Letting go Finding focus by opting out of distractions and negative experiences.	Jun 3rd, 2014
Staying creative Maintaining creativity over long periods.	May 29th, 2014
Thinking slowly Analogue tools apply a drag force that helps us think before creating.	May 13th, 2014
Working from home The challenges of working from home full-time, and some tips on how to do so effectively.	May 6th, 2014
Taking credit Taking credit can also mean taking responsibility.	Apr 24th, 2014
Paths I am one possible version of myself.	Apr 4th, 2014
Profanity In defence of the judicious use of profanity in writing.	Mar 26th, 2014
Own your words Publish your words on your own site, not someone else's.	Mar 24th, 2014
Empathy Everything is about other people's reactions.	Mar 20th, 2014
Raw materials Writing about what you know isn't always easy.	Feb 16th, 2014
Making changes I'm making a big change to my career.	Jan 20th, 2014
Structuring Your Novel A chart of the advice in K. M. Weiland's book on Structuring Your Novel.	Dec 6th, 2013
Wishes It's easy to disdain wishes until you have something to wish for.	Nov 9th, 2013
Fear My experience with anxiety and panic attacks.	Oct 27th, 2013
Nets Our nostalgia traps us.	Sep 20th, 2013
Fiction Style Guide A brief summary of my preferred style guide for formatting fiction.	Sep 1st, 2013
Content as Medium Whether digital or print, publications are most appealing when they respect the content and reader, not the medium.	Aug 29th, 2013
Writing tips Some tips on writing fiction.	Aug 27th, 2013
Legacy My compulsion to leave something behind, and be remembered.	Jun 6th, 2013
How I Write Notes on my own writing process, including planning, editing, and dealing with block.	May 31st, 2013
Staying Afraid Reading (and writing) horror fiction controls the fears we already have.	Jan 22nd, 2013
My Stories Rediscovering the short stories I wrote as a teenager.	Dec 31st, 2012
Writing Fiction Online Tips for formatting your fiction.	Feb 16th, 2010
The Unconsoled Thoughts on Kazuo Ishiguro's novel, The Unconsoled.	Jan 19th, 2009

Mini-story: The PuzzleUpdated

Mini-story: The ArchministerUpdated

Mini-story: DiceUpdated

Mini-story: Reading TimeUpdated

Mini-story: AntisocialUpdated

Mini-story: Nine Mile BurnUpdated