iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Michael Dean Clark @mdeanclark.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

(Full disclosure: I do not have that beard at the moment, hence the reason I’m looking away wistfully in the photo.)

Michael Dean Clark @mdeanclark.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Over 20 years working with writers taught me a lot about being one. More though, it taught me about the ways looking at the world like a writer can lead to seeing the beauty in living. Come out. Writer or not, I’m pretty sure you’ll find some part of your own story worth telling.

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Michael Dean Clark @mdeanclark.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Never get your hopes up for that reach submission, kids. It’s a reach for a reason. #amwriting

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Michael Dean Clark @mdeanclark.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Car’s in the shop today (in this economy!). Stuck waiting since 8:30, I spent the last few hours writing something I find beautiful (an early draft rarity for me). I’ll take it. #amwriting

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Michael Dean Clark @mdeanclark.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Proof of (published) life! Thanks to the San Pedro River Review for giving this piece a home.

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Michael Dean Clark @mdeanclark.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Writing a book is stupid and hard and why do I hate myself this much and ok I’ll get back to writing…maybe a second cup of coffee is a good idea… This post is brought to you by impending deadlines and the letter y.

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Michael Dean Clark @mdeanclark.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Waking up to an acceptance was a nice reminder (to me) that I’m still here, still writing, still hoping. Thank you, San Pedro River Review.

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Michael Dean Clark @mdeanclark.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

A scene from writing today: The Pet Shop Boys’ “Always In My Mind” plays. Simultaneously, a poodle, shaved to naked save white fur leg warmers, trots by in exact unison with the opening rhythm, high kneed and flopping its head back and forth in time. Gonna be a productive day!

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Michael Dean Clark @mdeanclark.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Nice! All three of my kids went there. Spartan Pride!

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Michael Dean Clark @mdeanclark.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Glendora indeed. And I still see him around town. The grandkids are here.

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Michael Dean Clark @mdeanclark.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Mike Anthony lives in the same town as me so I think about him more than the average person.🤣

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Michael Dean Clark @mdeanclark.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

Once more: my story “Age In” is out and already splitting readers on which character they should be most upset with. Give it a read and cast your vote!

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Michael Dean Clark @mdeanclark.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

In case you missed it, you have reading to do. Link in the op.

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Michael Dean Clark @mdeanclark.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Stoked to see my latest short story is live at Hidden Peak. Age In is a divinely human aftermath to loss. Imperfection in a perfect tribute. Inevitability in our frailties. Or maybe it’s just about a tattoo so brilliant it’s wrong. Give it a read here: hiddenpeakpress.com/2026/05/26/a...

hiddenpeakpress.com

Age In

KELLY LOOKED AT THE DARK BLACK SHADOWS swirling along the inside of his right forearm, repulsed by their symmetry. Wisps of gray shading traced the sharpest lines, adding dimension and depth and… d…

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Michael Dean Clark @mdeanclark.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

Professional Post: Looking for help with words? A story to tell? Ad copy that gets response? Messaging to get right? A project to move from idea to reality? Know someone else who does? Let's make it happen. Reach out: www.michaeldeanclark.com. PC: Andrew Neel on Unsplash

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Michael Dean Clark @mdeanclark.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

And a happy Monday to me! Coming soon, my short story about the tragic mistake of getting exactly what you’re supposed to want.

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Michael Dean Clark @mdeanclark.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

Working on my book and a story of mine I haven’t thought of in a long time came up in a few of my letters to students. If you missed it back in the day, here’s my story of a heroin-addicted pastor with OCD trying to hold it together to perform a funeral. www.foreshadowmagazine.com/magazine/no-...

foreshadowmagazine.com

No One Sees It Yet

'No One Sees It Yet' by Michael Dean Clark

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Michael Dean Clark @mdeanclark.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

Until then, if you see me, feel free to ask how the book is coming, if for no other reason than to push me back to the keyboard where I belong. 3/3

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Michael Dean Clark @mdeanclark.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

A book has been a goal and a dream of mine for more than 20 years, so I am beyond thrilled. I mean, there is the small matter of actually writing the thing…but that’s a tomorrow problem. Stay tuned for more on this in the coming months. 2/3

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Michael Dean Clark @mdeanclark.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

A little news I’ve been sitting on. As of last week, I am officially under contract with One Subject Press for a collection of essays on writing and living built around the more than half million words worth of letters I’ve written my students over the years. 1/3

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Reposted by Michael Dean Clark

David M. Perry @lollardfish.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

Thousands of institutions abandoned programs, ended or rewrote scholarships, closed down clubs and publications, all in pre-emptive compliance. And you know why? Mostly because they wanted to do it if they thought they could blame someone else for it.

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Michael Dean Clark @mdeanclark.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

It has recently come to my attention (today) that I actually grew up in the 50s rather than the 80s…Behold, 12 year old me playing the game I love. Swipe to check the form up close.

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Michael Dean Clark @mdeanclark.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

Been writing and subbing short stories and essays for close to 20 years now. In the last week I’ve subbed to Guernica and Paris Review for the first time…No, YOU’RE drowning in impostor syndrome!

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Reposted by Michael Dean Clark

Keezy Young🌼 @keezyyoung.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

welp, this destroyed me first thing upon waking up

But Liam was scared and frequently asked what they had done wrong, where they were and what happened to the little blue knit hat he wore the day he was detained, Conejo said.

There wasn’t much he could say to his son, “except hug him and tell him everything would be OK,” Conejo said.

Worried about further upsetting his son, Conejo said, he was forced to bite back his own tears.

Liam has since been reunited with his hat and continues to wear it, even inside the house, his dad said Thursday. Asked how he might one day explain to Liam everything that has happened, Conejo said he would tell his son that he had become the face of hope and change.

"He was the global figure who did all this so that the voices of the people demanding freedom would be heard, especially those of the children who are still locked up," Conejo said. “I would tell him he was very brave and that I am very proud of him.”

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Michael Dean Clark @mdeanclark.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

Oh yeah, him standing there was so dope. The producers were flipping out but had no way to change it because he refused to have their feed in his ear. And yes, I was a section leader in the choir for Heal the World. A surreal experience for sure. Even met pre-murder OJ as we walked off the field.

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Michael Dean Clark @mdeanclark.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

Hard to top Prince in the rain, if I’m being honest. But since I was in MJ’s, it will forever reside on my S tier of shows.

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Michael Dean Clark @mdeanclark.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

Did you know that the year before Michael Jackson’s SB halftime show (the greatest ever in my UNBIASED opinion), they were the halftime entertainment?

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Michael Dean Clark @mdeanclark.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

But seriously, the marriage of structural similarities between churches with abusive pastors/doctrine and this strain of media culture is bonkers.

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Michael Dean Clark @mdeanclark.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

Reach + narrative control x high demand religion (CN and what used to be fringe right wing politics) = profits at stake. I may not have been good at algebra, but this equation has been on repeat since the Silent Majority days.

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Michael Dean Clark @mdeanclark.bsky.social · 24/01/2026

Ever thought, "I wonder what Michael thinks about AI and creative writing...?" I know, a burning concern. And yet...here you go! I was asked to elucidate on the notion of AI and human creativity for a book on the subject and said book is out now. Check it out here: www.amazon.com/AI-Creative-...

amazon.com

AI and Creative Writing

Amazon.com: AI and Creative Writing: 9783031991004: Harper, Graeme: Books

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Michael Dean Clark @mdeanclark.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

Are we really living in the 21st century without rage engagement though?

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Michael Dean Clark @mdeanclark.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

Man do I wish those people had taken the spread of Covid as *seriously* as they do Trump Derangement Syndrome…

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Michael Dean Clark @mdeanclark.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

For the record and forever: no part of the proposal process feels as manufactured and self-aggrandizing as picking comps.

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Reposted by Michael Dean Clark

noam @noamchompers.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

Merry Explaining How the Academic Job Market Is Going to Non-Academic Family Members Eve to all who celebrate!

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Michael Dean Clark @mdeanclark.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

Creating a home for a wide swath of voices and fostering them all is the most critical work the literary community should be doing. Drunk Monkeys did just that. (10/10) michaeldeanclark.com/blog-1/0p61h7u8oumn2sbow051qy2j7gcurn

michaeldeanclark.com

On the end of a journal I loved

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Michael Dean Clark @mdeanclark.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

n short, I knew who I was working with at DM and that mattered. Deeply. So there is sadness in the end of Drunk Monkeys, but also real appreciation on my part, as there should be. (9/10)

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Michael Dean Clark @mdeanclark.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

And those people are a primary reason I encouraged my students to consider applying to intern there. Publishing, as a broader industry, is so often simply a profit-first endeavor, it makes internalizing the core ethos of relationships and risk critical for those entering the business. (8/10)

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Michael Dean Clark @mdeanclark.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

the one perfect treatment and I made a case for the movie Sunset Park being better than the sum of its parts. It’s the rare journal that allows for this balance of serious and strange, of pop and art. Creating this kind of space is a credit to the people who ran DM all these years. (7/10)

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Michael Dean Clark @mdeanclark.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

After that essay, Sean or Kolleen would reach out from time to time and ask if I had anything for their pop culture series, “One Perfect Episode” and “It’s Good, Actually.” The nerd in me said yes, and then actually wrote what I said I had. CHiPs, Psych, and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air got (6/10)

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Michael Dean Clark @mdeanclark.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

So, when Kolleen and the crew chose to publish it, a switch flipped and I pushed into the rest of the ideas I had bouncing around in my head. In fact, there’s a direct line from “Subsidence” to “Signal to Noise Ratio,” my most well-received essay to date. (5/10)

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Michael Dean Clark @mdeanclark.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

When they said yes, I was ecstatic. At the time, “Subsidence” was a foray into what has become a series of pieces I’m closing in on having a book’s-worth of. And if I’m honest, I wasn’t sure I could pull off the form I was wrestling with. (4/10) www.drunkmonkeys.us/2017-posts/2...

drunkmonkeys.us

ESSAY / Subsidence / Michael Dean Clark I Drunk Monkeys | Literature, Film, Television

It’s the ‘just’ that matters. It makes the experience manageable for people who have no trouble laying down and sinking head-first into an undisturbed pond. Insomniacs, however, know the secret of…

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Michael Dean Clark @mdeanclark.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

He'd recently moved onto the masthead as a section editor during his time in the OC. From there, he connected me with co-founder Matt, a guy I’ve come to like a great deal. I did an episode of his podcast and then, after seeing what DM put out, submitted an essay I cared deeply about. (3/10)

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Michael Dean Clark @mdeanclark.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

Most journals I admire, well, I do that admiring from the outside. From the distance of a reader. Through the mediation of Submittable or Duotrope or New Pages or Chill Subs… But this was not the case at DM. I was first introduced to the space by my former student, now friend, Sean. (2/10)

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Michael Dean Clark @mdeanclark.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

"On the end of a journal I loved" Woke up this morning to the news that Drunk Monkeys is closing its doors. To be fair, I had a bit of a heads from a friend on the staff who let me know it was coming. That foreknowledge actually made the news a little sadder. (1/10)

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