At the age of 7, I published a newspaper for my sisters and made them buy it for a nickel: lots of articles on how to be a better sister. And since we lived in 35-below winters, I wrote about the weather; I like a good snowstorm.
After college, I became a news anchor and reporter; lots of short stories for television. Then a became a science feature writer, required to crank out 3,500+ pieces on science research.
Now, I write original pulp fiction stories of adventure, mystery, romance, and science fiction.
I rarely exceed 12,000 words in a story. I found it is easier than long fiction in that I can write a short story, very short fiction stories, or a bit of fluff a lot quicker. Some of my stories may end up longer. But so far, short is best.
With Scrivener, I am starting to see the power of the software for novel writing. We’ll see.
Of course, I want to write that novel and I have lots of ideas. I just don’t have a lot of stick-to-it-ness, and so I’m plugging away with about a third of a full 80,000 word novel underway.
I did write a novella, right after a stroke in 2015, and a couple more that you can find here on this website.
Long ago, I became a news anchor and wrote small, spiffy, stories around 70-words for a living and loved it. Then, I thought I should be a more serious writer and took a job as a science feature writer.
My editor thought I should deliver her at least 3,500 words. I sat at the computer for a long time trying to convince myself that jumping from 100 words to 3,500 words was a small leap.
And, that’s how I became an author.
I love pulp fiction; short stories of crime, hard-boiled detectives, science fiction, very short fiction stories, and westerns. Many of my stories have science fiction or fantastical events. I like surprise endings. I love Travis McGee. You will find a lot of these elements showing up as I continue to write for this website.
I have books for sale on Amazon, including my Jake Rutledge series under the pen name of G.T. Garrick.
I am a fiction writer in Las Vegas. You can find me here on this website, and on X, Facebook, and YouTube. Drop me an email at michael.sommermeyer@wordsmithholler.com or tweet me at @wordsmithholler.