Matt Bell
@mdbell79.bsky.social
Writer, teacher. Out now: APPLESEED, a novel (2021, @marinerbooks). REFUSE TO BE DONE, a guide to novel revision (2022, @soho_press). He/him.
Pinned
Matt Bell
@mdbell79.bsky.social
· Sep 8
I just found out that REFUSE TO BE DONE is going into its 8th printing! I've heard so many stories from writers whose projects have been helped along by this little yellow book over the past three years. Nothing makes me happier!
Reposted by Matt Bell
Not quite back at it, but testing the waters with an assist from @mdbell79.bsky.social
January 17, 2026 at 5:01 PM
Not quite back at it, but testing the waters with an assist from @mdbell79.bsky.social
Reposted by Matt Bell
@mdbell79.bsky.social I'm cackling because I'm reading your newsletter on how to maximize writing residency time while sitting in the airport after my VSC residency ended this morning 🤣
January 16, 2026 at 9:30 PM
@mdbell79.bsky.social I'm cackling because I'm reading your newsletter on how to maximize writing residency time while sitting in the airport after my VSC residency ended this morning 🤣
Reposted by Matt Bell
There is nothing to root for in my books and what is even worse, no rooters.
—Nathanael West, letter to Edmund Wilson
—Nathanael West, letter to Edmund Wilson
January 15, 2026 at 3:06 AM
There is nothing to root for in my books and what is even worse, no rooters.
—Nathanael West, letter to Edmund Wilson
—Nathanael West, letter to Edmund Wilson
Reposted by Matt Bell
One great verb = cutting five unnecessary words. You can do this exchange for a long long time.
January 14, 2026 at 3:14 AM
One great verb = cutting five unnecessary words. You can do this exchange for a long long time.
Having a beer and writing by lantern in my backyard, the first day of classes done and my favorite constellation looking on. Not too shabby.
January 14, 2026 at 2:23 AM
Having a beer and writing by lantern in my backyard, the first day of classes done and my favorite constellation looking on. Not too shabby.
The first day of my generative novel-writing class at ASU is tonight! I've got my first 8 weeks of lecture topics locked, slowly but surely leading to my favorites:
Introduction
Process
Character
Scene and Dialogue
Drama and Suspense
Research and Invention
Novel Structure
Incomprehensible Abundance
Introduction
Process
Character
Scene and Dialogue
Drama and Suspense
Research and Invention
Novel Structure
Incomprehensible Abundance
January 13, 2026 at 10:02 PM
The first day of my generative novel-writing class at ASU is tonight! I've got my first 8 weeks of lecture topics locked, slowly but surely leading to my favorites:
Introduction
Process
Character
Scene and Dialogue
Drama and Suspense
Research and Invention
Novel Structure
Incomprehensible Abundance
Introduction
Process
Character
Scene and Dialogue
Drama and Suspense
Research and Invention
Novel Structure
Incomprehensible Abundance
Reposted by Matt Bell
Excited to share our latest book!
Technically grounded, hopeful futures tackling a pernicious challenge: the ethics and practicalities of storing nuclear waste. Check out Our Radioactive Neighbors online and download your free copy!
Read it here:
csi.asu.edu/books/radnei...
Technically grounded, hopeful futures tackling a pernicious challenge: the ethics and practicalities of storing nuclear waste. Check out Our Radioactive Neighbors online and download your free copy!
Read it here:
csi.asu.edu/books/radnei...
Our Radioactive Neighbors - Center for Science and the Imagination
A collection of fiction, nonfiction and art that explores how sharing space with a facility for storing nuclear waste might shape a community's future, guided by insights about land, justice, governan...
lnkd.in
January 13, 2026 at 8:39 PM
Excited to share our latest book!
Technically grounded, hopeful futures tackling a pernicious challenge: the ethics and practicalities of storing nuclear waste. Check out Our Radioactive Neighbors online and download your free copy!
Read it here:
csi.asu.edu/books/radnei...
Technically grounded, hopeful futures tackling a pernicious challenge: the ethics and practicalities of storing nuclear waste. Check out Our Radioactive Neighbors online and download your free copy!
Read it here:
csi.asu.edu/books/radnei...
It’s so challenging to draft even one page of good prose, it’s so pleasurable to cross out a whole page of prose you once thought good.
January 13, 2026 at 6:30 PM
It’s so challenging to draft even one page of good prose, it’s so pleasurable to cross out a whole page of prose you once thought good.
It’s the first day of the semester here so I started things off right with an 8-mile run in the desert. Blooming brittlebush flowers in January!
January 13, 2026 at 5:28 PM
It’s the first day of the semester here so I started things off right with an 8-mile run in the desert. Blooming brittlebush flowers in January!
"After each book is done, I look forward to hating it (and I never have to wait long); I get a weird, inverse confidence from feeling destroyed, because being destroyed, having to start again, means I have space in front of me, somewhere to go." —Zadie Smith, "That Crafty Feeling"
January 12, 2026 at 9:07 PM
"After each book is done, I look forward to hating it (and I never have to wait long); I get a weird, inverse confidence from feeling destroyed, because being destroyed, having to start again, means I have space in front of me, somewhere to go." —Zadie Smith, "That Crafty Feeling"
Reposted by Matt Bell
My debut collection of speculative short stories, winner of the 2024 @mooncitypress.bsky.social Short Fiction Award, is now available for preorder and, well, I hope you'll want one when it releases this time next month.
Get it from The University of Arkansas Press:
www.uapress.com/product/bedt...
Get it from The University of Arkansas Press:
www.uapress.com/product/bedt...
January 12, 2026 at 5:18 PM
My debut collection of speculative short stories, winner of the 2024 @mooncitypress.bsky.social Short Fiction Award, is now available for preorder and, well, I hope you'll want one when it releases this time next month.
Get it from The University of Arkansas Press:
www.uapress.com/product/bedt...
Get it from The University of Arkansas Press:
www.uapress.com/product/bedt...
Reposted by Matt Bell
Trying a new thing this semester on day one: Instead of introductions, going over syllabus, etc., I walk in, put on Guns n' Roses "Welcome to the Jungle" at ear-splitting volume, and when it's over pack up my things and walk out. Whoever shows up on day two is ready to learn.
January 12, 2026 at 3:52 PM
Trying a new thing this semester on day one: Instead of introductions, going over syllabus, etc., I walk in, put on Guns n' Roses "Welcome to the Jungle" at ear-splitting volume, and when it's over pack up my things and walk out. Whoever shows up on day two is ready to learn.
Spent a beautiful chilly morning in the Superstitions with my backpacking crew!
January 11, 2026 at 5:55 PM
Spent a beautiful chilly morning in the Superstitions with my backpacking crew!
Last month my "free" ASU copy of Office 365 updated to a version including the Copilot AI that could not be turned off or even removed from constantly being onscreen by any method I could find. Frustrated, I paid $150 for Office 2024, which has no AI and turns out to also be faster and more stable.
January 9, 2026 at 9:24 PM
Last month my "free" ASU copy of Office 365 updated to a version including the Copilot AI that could not be turned off or even removed from constantly being onscreen by any method I could find. Frustrated, I paid $150 for Office 2024, which has no AI and turns out to also be faster and more stable.
I know there’s some thematic crossover/ continuation between my second novel Scrapper (pubbed in 2015) and the novel I’m finishing, which will be my fourth. This morning, on a long run, I listened to the first 80 pages of Scrapper, something I’ve never done: no rereading of past books before this.
January 9, 2026 at 7:29 PM
I know there’s some thematic crossover/ continuation between my second novel Scrapper (pubbed in 2015) and the novel I’m finishing, which will be my fourth. This morning, on a long run, I listened to the first 80 pages of Scrapper, something I’ve never done: no rereading of past books before this.
Time to punch up some dialogue! Because right now, there’s nothing in this book that beats Ethan Hawke drawling, “I'm saying a faint heart never fucked a bobcat.”
January 9, 2026 at 5:25 PM
Time to punch up some dialogue! Because right now, there’s nothing in this book that beats Ethan Hawke drawling, “I'm saying a faint heart never fucked a bobcat.”
Reposted by Matt Bell
nice short stories you got there. would be a shame if someone suggests you turn one of them into a novel
January 9, 2026 at 4:48 PM
nice short stories you got there. would be a shame if someone suggests you turn one of them into a novel
Seen on my run: Fog on the canals at first light. Maybe only the third time I’ve seen fog in Phoenix in 11 years.
January 9, 2026 at 4:02 PM
Seen on my run: Fog on the canals at first light. Maybe only the third time I’ve seen fog in Phoenix in 11 years.
A very common edit for me: deciding the last sentence of a paragraph is really the first sentence of the next one. My drafting paragraph break isn’t the same as my revision one.
January 9, 2026 at 1:44 AM
A very common edit for me: deciding the last sentence of a paragraph is really the first sentence of the next one. My drafting paragraph break isn’t the same as my revision one.
I’ve been editing my novel on my e-reader all week. I just turned it on to find a page of perfect, energetic, lovely prose. I thought, “God, when did I write this?” And the answer was: Never. I’d forgotten I opened a Lauren Groff book at lunch 😂
January 9, 2026 at 1:12 AM
I’ve been editing my novel on my e-reader all week. I just turned it on to find a page of perfect, energetic, lovely prose. I thought, “God, when did I write this?” And the answer was: Never. I’d forgotten I opened a Lauren Groff book at lunch 😂
Reposted by Matt Bell
So very proud of this book. I'd truly appreciate your support! (And also recommend you order directly from @stanchion.bsky.social) 💚
@tcboudreau.bsky.social's Love You, Miss You, Goodbye Forever is now available to pre-order from wherever you like to buy books, but the best way to support author & press is to order directly from Stanchion.
www.stanchionzine.com/product-page...
amzn.to/3N74upX
bookshop.org/p/books/love...
www.stanchionzine.com/product-page...
amzn.to/3N74upX
bookshop.org/p/books/love...
January 8, 2026 at 7:26 PM
So very proud of this book. I'd truly appreciate your support! (And also recommend you order directly from @stanchion.bsky.social) 💚
Well, here's a first: a reader tracking me down to send me an angry email not about one of my own books, but about a book I reviewed. Some people have all the time in the world.
January 8, 2026 at 5:40 PM
Well, here's a first: a reader tracking me down to send me an angry email not about one of my own books, but about a book I reviewed. Some people have all the time in the world.
Stopped in the middle of my run to email my agent with the exact date I’m going to send him my finished novel. (If not earlier.) I’ve had the date in my head for a bit but suddenly felt it was time to commit. Books take as long as they take but I love a self-imposed deadline at the right stage.
January 8, 2026 at 5:05 PM
Stopped in the middle of my run to email my agent with the exact date I’m going to send him my finished novel. (If not earlier.) I’ve had the date in my head for a bit but suddenly felt it was time to commit. Books take as long as they take but I love a self-imposed deadline at the right stage.
Had a $4,515 beer at the airport yesterday, thanks to an airline error that stranded my party. ($1500 in plane tickets, $3000 in nonrefundable hotel rooms, one $15 airport bar tab.) Wild days.
January 7, 2026 at 10:56 PM
Had a $4,515 beer at the airport yesterday, thanks to an airline error that stranded my party. ($1500 in plane tickets, $3000 in nonrefundable hotel rooms, one $15 airport bar tab.) Wild days.