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Brad Barkley

@bradbarkley.bsky.social
491 followers 482 following 53 posts

Novels, short story collections, and YA fiction published by Norton, St. Martin’s, and Penguin/Dutton. New work forthcoming from Regal House. NEA Fellowship. Repped by @jennaschmenna.bsky.social Bradbarkley.com

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Reposted by Brad Barkley
Eric Scot Tryon @ericscottryon.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Just finished! So good! A killer YA novel with a great cast of characters and a narrative voice that makes you unable to put it down! 🔥 Congrats, @bradbarkley.bsky.social!!
Book (THE REEL LIFE OF ZARA KEGG) sitting in the sand on the beach.
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Reposted by Brad Barkley
Regal House Publishing @regalhouse.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Check out this fabulous article by @bradbarkley.bsky.social in @writersdigest.bsky.social #NewRelease www.writersdigest.com/the-stories-...
writersdigest.com
The Stories Inside Your Setting
Author Brad Barkley discusses the challenge and opportunity of sharing the stories inside your setting in fiction.
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Brad Barkley @bradbarkley.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
So stoked! 🔥🔥🔥
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Regal House Publishing @regalhouse.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
We're celebrating the release today of Brad Barkley's THE REEL LIFE OF ZARA KEGG. Happy #bookbirthday, @bradbarkley.bsky.social !!! #yabooks #newrelease regal-house-publishing.mybigcommerce.com/the-reel-lif...
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Reposted by Brad Barkley
Regal House Publishing @regalhouse.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
We're all in on old movie theaters, Godzilla, and young love today! @bradbarkley.bsky.social THE REEL LIFE OF ZARA KEGG releases today! #pubday www.schoollibraryjournal.com/review/the-r...
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Reposted by Brad Barkley
Regal House Publishing @regalhouse.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
The Reel Life of Zara Kegg by Brad Barkley is out in the world tomorrow! #YA #NewRelease regal-house-publishing.mybigcommerce.com/the-reel-lif...
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Regal House Publishing @regalhouse.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Delighted to see Brad Barkley, Author's The Reel Life of Zara Kegg featured on Kids Bookshelf! www.kidsbookshelf.com/reviews/the-...
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Reposted by Brad Barkley
Regal House Publishing @regalhouse.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
A starred review from Kirkus Reviews for @bradbarkley.bsky.social 's THE REEL LIFE OF ZARA KEGG. Congrats, Brad!!!!
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Reposted by Brad Barkley
Regal House Publishing @regalhouse.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Did you know that Godzilla comes to the big screen at the Palace Theater in Frostburg on June 23 to help celebrate the launch of Brad Barkley’s new novel, The Reel Life of Zara Kegg? How cool is that! @bradbarkley.bsky.social www.times-news.com/events/#/det...
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Brad Barkley @bradbarkley.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Book trailer for THE REEL LIFE OF ZARA KEGG. #ZaraKegg #YAlit
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Brad Barkley @bradbarkley.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
Unboxing books! With a little help from my best friend. @regalhouse.bsky.social
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Reposted by Brad Barkley
Flash Frog @flashfrog.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
2x Frog contributor Brad Barkley has a YA novel forthcoming that looks fantastic! @bradbarkley.bsky.social Pre-order link below! 👇🏼👇🏼 regal-house-publishing.mybigcommerce.com/the-reel-lif...
regal-house-publishing.mybigcommerce.com
The Reel Life of Zara Kegg
The Reel Life of Zara Kegg by Brad Barkley
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Brad Barkley @bradbarkley.bsky.social · 15/11/2025
I am very pleased to learn that my short story, “Glen 2.0” will be in the next issue of the wonderful Blue Mesa Review!
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Brad Barkley @bradbarkley.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
🚨 Cover reveal! The Reel Life of Zara Kegg, coming June 2026 from Regal House. ““Brilliant, funny, moving, unputdownable….I wish I had a zillion adjectives to describe this knockout of a book...” —Lesléa Newman Preorder information coming soon! @regalhouse.bsky.social @jennaschmenna.bsky.social
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Brad Barkley @bradbarkley.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
THE REEL LIFE OF ZARA KEGG, cover reveal tomorrow! Stay tuned…, @regalhouse.bsky.social
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Brad Barkley @bradbarkley.bsky.social · 04/10/2025
New novel is officially out on sub! #fingerscrossed @jennaschmenna.bsky.social
media.tenor.com
a cartoon of spongebob squarepants with a hat on his head
ALT: a cartoon of spongebob squarepants with a hat on his head
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Brad Barkley @bradbarkley.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
Thanks for the shout out!
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Brad Barkley @bradbarkley.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
Very pleased to have my Work appear today in the amazing @flashfrog.bsky.social ! Thanks also to Ali for the beautiful artwork. ❤️
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Reposted by Brad Barkley
Jenna Satterthwaite @jennaschmenna.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
Soooo freaking thrilled about this! I could not put Brad's book down... brilliant social commentary, gorgeous writing, layered characters that felt incredibly real... not to mention it has Bots and we all know I'm a sucker for 'em. 😂 Lit fic editors WATCH OUT. 👀 @stormliterary.bsky.social
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Brad Barkley @bradbarkley.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
I’m thrilled to announce that I have signed with @stormliterary.bsky.social and the utterly awesome @jennaschmenna.bsky.social Happy to find such a smart, passionate partner! www.stormliteraryagency.com/brad-barkley...
stormliteraryagency.com
Brad Barkley
Brad Barkley is the author of Money, Love and Alison’s Automotive Repair Manual , named among the Best Books of the Year by The Washington Post and Library Journal . His short fiction has appeared...
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Brad Barkley @bradbarkley.bsky.social · 06/08/2025
I wrote as a birthday celebration this blog post www.bradbarkley.com/post/advice-....
bradbarkley.com
Advice to my younger writing self
We’re said to soften as we age, like bananas.Maybe, but don’t let aging soften you in your writing. Remember that a shift of perspective is not a softening of will.As you grow older, notice that shift...
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Brad Barkley @bradbarkley.bsky.social · 05/07/2025
TFW you get an acceptance from @flashfrog.bsky.social !
media.tenor.com
a man in front of a green chalkboard with the word yes on it
ALT: a man in front of a green chalkboard with the word yes on it
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Brad Barkley @bradbarkley.bsky.social · 16/06/2025
🎬 Enter the reel life. One year from today, The Reel Life of Zara Kegg hits shelves — a witty, wistful YA novel about grief, love, and 150 inflatable Godzillas. Cover reveal later this summer. 📽️ Coming June 16, 2026, from Regal House Publishing. @regalhouse.bsky.social
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Brad Barkley @bradbarkley.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
“The novel you’re working on right now doesn’t know you’ve written other novels before.” —John Irving
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Brad Barkley @bradbarkley.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
When you write the first draft of a novel, all you’re doing is making clay. After that work is done, you now have a big lump of clay sitting in front of you on your desk. Here’s when the real work begins of sculpting it, shaping it, turning it into something. #amwriting
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Brad Barkley @bradbarkley.bsky.social · 18/05/2025
Writers, you can fix a bad page; you can’t fix a blank one.
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Brad Barkley @bradbarkley.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
New blog post today. I hope you give it a look! www.bradbarkley.com/post/three-n...?
bradbarkley.com
Three Novels, One Brain
I haven't blogged for a while. Here's why.Right now I’m working on three novels at once. Not in a vague, “ideas in the air” kind of way—these are real, active projects, all at different stages. One is...
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Brad Barkley @bradbarkley.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
Write what you know” doesn’t mean limit yourself. It means pay attention. To how people talk. To what hurts. To the weird stuff you remember. Write what you know emotionally.
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Brad Barkley @bradbarkley.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
If revising your novel isn’t hard, you’re not doing it right.
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Brad Barkley @bradbarkley.bsky.social · 10/05/2025
Most writing advice is just disguised anxiety. Be OK with bad first drafts and and write often. You’ll be fine.
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Brad Barkley @bradbarkley.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
The main thing a writer needs is practice. Not inspiration, not a special pen, not a cabin in the woods. Just hours. It’s unsexy, hard to romanticize, but it’s how the work gets done—one page, one bad sentence at a time.
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Brad Barkley @bradbarkley.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
In writing fiction, don’t forget to look inward. Your weird little obsessions? Priceless. Mine them and dig deep.
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Brad Barkley @bradbarkley.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
In non-genre fiction, ghosts aren’t dead people. They’re regrets, mistakes, missed chances.
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Brad Barkley @bradbarkley.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
In fiction, as in life, too much clarity of detail is often a lie.
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Brad Barkley @bradbarkley.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
Writing is mostly trying to sound like you’re not trying to sound like anything.
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Brad Barkley @bradbarkley.bsky.social · 04/05/2025
“Good fiction’s job is to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.” — David Foster Wallace #SundaySentence
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Brad Barkley @bradbarkley.bsky.social · 04/05/2025
The old adage says, “every story is a love story,“ but really every story is a ghost story. Everyone’s haunted by something.
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Brad Barkley @bradbarkley.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
My thesis advisor at Arkansas, and now we share the same publishing season at @regalhouse.bsky.social So happy about this.
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Brad Barkley @bradbarkley.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
Teaser Trailer for THE REEL LIFE OF ZARA KEGG, coming June, 2026! Cover art reveal later this summer!
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Brad Barkley @bradbarkley.bsky.social · 06/04/2025
“He had no dreams himself but from the careless and inexplicable rebuff they encountered on all sides, he could see that dreams, like the mockingbird, might have to be nourished on their own death.” -Denis Johnson, Train Dreams #SundaySentence
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Brad Barkley @bradbarkley.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
“In my experience, writing a novel tends to create its own structure, its own demands, its own language, its own ending. So for much of the period in which I’m writing, I’m waiting to understand what’s going to happen next, and how and where it’s going to happen.” -Don DeLillo
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Brad Barkley @bradbarkley.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
Thank you!
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Brad Barkley @bradbarkley.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
You don’t have to, and probably shouldn’t, spend hundreds of dollars on a developmental editor. Read more! www.bradbarkley.com/post/the-hid...
bradbarkley.com
The Hidden Benefits of Being Your Own Developmental Editor: A Writer's Guide
Writers can (and often do) spend thousands of dollars on developmental editing. It’s one of the biggest investments you’ll make on the way to publication. But before you fork over that kind of cash, t...
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Brad Barkley @bradbarkley.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
New novel release date announced! @regalhouse.bsky.social
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Brad Barkley @bradbarkley.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
New blog post up today on writing craft. If you find this useful, please like and share! #writingcommunity www.bradbarkley.com/post/premise...
bradbarkley.com
Premises and Particulars: A Writing Model
Those of you who know my approach to craft understand that I see fiction writing as one of the most difficult of all art forms—but it’s not neurosurgery. My goal in teaching, always, is to simplify th...
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Brad Barkley @bradbarkley.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
Teaser…. #YAlit #youngadult @regalhouse.bsky.social
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Brad Barkley @bradbarkley.bsky.social · 08/02/2025
New blog post up today. www.bradbarkley.com/post/writers... #Writers
bradbarkley.com
Writers, this is your reminder to keep going
Writing isn’t just about talent. Or inspiration. Or some perfect moment when the words come effortlessly. Writing is about showing up, again and again, even when you don’t feel like it.I just finished...
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Brad Barkley @bradbarkley.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
Me trying to find a home for my 27 page short story in a lit-mag world that mostly favors flash fiction. #writingcommunity
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Reposted by Brad Barkley
Dr. Kay Daly, she/her 📚💙 @kaydaly.bsky.social · 19/01/2025
I recently posted thoughts about writing my second novel. It made me thing we need a new hashtag. With #NovelCraft, I'll be sharing thoughts/discoveries about novel writing. #Writers - Join me and use this hashtag! #booksky 💙📚 #amwriting #writerlife #fiction #historicalfiction #novels
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Brad Barkley @bradbarkley.bsky.social · 07/01/2025
New blog post. @susanperabo.bsky.social you are mentioned. Thanks for reading, everyone. www.bradbarkley.com/post/say-bud...
bradbarkley.com
Say, buddy, what's your process?
What's your process?It's a question that gets asked a lot, or some version of it . Whenever I've done public readings, during the Q&A session afterwards, someone from the audience will ask, Do you wr...
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