Uncategorized – Michael A. Greco

Updates and Adverbs

Inspiration from William Blake: “The best way — and the only effective way — to complain about the way things are is to make new and better things, untested and unexampled things, things that spring from the gravity of creative conviction and drag the status quo like a tide toward some new horizon.” Welcome readers!Continue reading “Updates and Adverbs”

Magic Beans: Summer — Good Book, Bad Book

Joyful summer salutations to everyone, and welcome back to Magic Beans! In an interview with my snarky muse (SM), we talk about the writing process and what separates good books from bad books.

Magic Beans — April: On my second novel and satire and its use

Announcing my second novel, “Cuckoo Heartfully.” Also, I use a lot of satire in my writing, but what is satire?

Magic Beans Summer Spotlight

This summer’s comic fantasy spotlight is on… Charlie Kaufman!!! Everybody knows Charlie Kaufman, right? He’s an American screenwriter, producer, director. He wrote, among many others, the films Being John Malkovich (1999), Adaptation (2002), and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), three scripts that appear in the Writers Guild of America‘s list of the 101 greatest movie screenplays ever written. In 2020,Continue reading “Magic Beans Summer Spotlight”

Cohesion and Double Mumbo Jumbo in “Hollyweird Needs”

Interviewer: So, you’ve finished your ninth novel. What’s it about? Me: It’s about teens on the autism spectrum who discover time travel. Interviewer: (hissing and arching back) Whoa, whoa, whoa! Haven’t you ever heard of double mumbo-jumbo? Me: This isn’t double mumbo-jumbo. Interviewer: (narrowing eyes) How why not? Me: How why not? Is that English?Continue reading “Cohesion and Double Mumbo Jumbo in “Hollyweird Needs””

Contrast, Pacing and Secrets in Project Purple

SM (Snarky Muse): Why so glum? Me: I’m an Indie writer with marketing blues. Someone’s got to sell the stuff I write, and the family cat (now licking its butt on the windowsill with an impressive leg extension) isn’t exactly volunteering. SM: So, it’s all up to you. Me: Yeah, but I get distracted. First, IContinue reading “Contrast, Pacing and Secrets in Project Purple”

Neurosis and Dialog in “Plum Rains on Happy House”

Me: I have to finish my ninth book, but this one is hard. I think all this alone time is starting to get to me. Snarky Muse (SM): What do you mean alone time? You’ve got me—I’m your inspirational muse. Me: I still feel alone. I’m starting to think it’s unhealthy. All I seem toContinue reading “Neurosis and Dialog in “Plum Rains on Happy House””

Post #6 — juice and Heart (Moon Dogg)

I often mumble incoherently. “Mom says you’re talking to yourself again,” my daughter yells through the door of my small study. I’m an indie writer. I’m self-employed. The mumbling—it’s a staff meeting. Sometimes I have to raise my voice to make a point. But she can hear me in the kitchen, which is directly belowContinue reading “Post #6 — juice and Heart (Moon Dogg)”

What’s a Cuckoo Colloquium?

Hello everyone! Welcome to my fifth post. I know I said I’d try to write every week, and that was four months ago—but the key word there is try. Posts are time-consuming. I can either finish Book three of Assunta (as I’m doing now) or write a post—because they say it’s a good way toContinue reading “What’s a Cuckoo Colloquium?”

The Assunta Trilogy

(From December 2019) Happy New Year, everyone, from Kyoto, Japan! I’m writing this blog in the wonderful week between Christmas and New Years, that time of love and cheer. No one knows what day it is. Time doesn’t really exist. Actually, the whole idea of existence is befuddling. So why not celebrate? People rejoice inContinue reading “The Assunta Trilogy”