Michael Gattis
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mgattis.bsky.social
Michael Gattis
@mgattis.bsky.social
1.2K followers 1.2K following 490 posts
He/him
Aspiring #fantasy #author 📖 🐲
Dad by day, #writer by naptime 🧑‍🍼
#AmQuerying
(I'm just leaving these parentheses here until I think of something clever to say)
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mgattis.bsky.social
Michael Gattis @mgattis.bsky.social · 21h
Holy moly! I just won my first writing contest!

#writing #writingcommunity #writesky #writingprompts

reedsy.com/short-story/...
The Super Pals – A Funny Short Story by Michael Gattis – Reedsy Prompts
Have you ever slept through your alarm and had to skip breakfast? Have you ever wished for more protein in the morning than what bland oatmeal coul...
reedsy.com
mgattis.bsky.social
Holy moly! I just won my first writing contest!

#writing #writingcommunity #writesky #writingprompts

reedsy.com/short-story/...
The Super Pals – A Funny Short Story by Michael Gattis – Reedsy Prompts
Have you ever slept through your alarm and had to skip breakfast? Have you ever wished for more protein in the morning than what bland oatmeal coul...
reedsy.com
January 30, 2026 at 3:41 PM
mgattis.bsky.social
#WIPSnips #Reflex

So...chivalry is dead?

#WritingCommunity #WriteSky #WritingPrompts #Writing
Charlie put her fingers to her neck. They came away bloody. She tried to thank the hero, but she was in shock. The hero slung his bow back over his saddle, clambered down from his horse, and produced a handkerchief. He stepped towards Charlie and she reflexively reached for it. Then the hero wiped his own, sweating brow and stuffed it beneath his breast plate. “Stupidly hot in here,” he grumbled, and stepped past Charlie with barely a glance.
January 13, 2026 at 2:18 PM
mgattis.bsky.social
Today's #WIPSnips #tentacle sees Charlie on her first day at work in the restaurant. No on told her the diners were monsters! Ahhh!

#WritingCommunity #WriteSky #Writing #WritingPrompts
The problem with either decision, though, was the difficulty of escaping all the monsters. She hid behind a pillar and tried decide which option was best. Servers scurried about the dining room. They stood at tables and took orders as if nothing were amiss, even though the monsters didn’t speak at all. One fellow even spoke to them about wine pairings. Idly, Charlie wondered what wine would pair best with her, should one of these monsters get its hands, claws, or tentacles on her.
January 12, 2026 at 1:47 PM
mgattis.bsky.social
Today's #WIPSnips #table shows a battle between a kitchen manager with a hero complex against a malevolent spirit taking the form of a giant mantis.
#Writing #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #WritingPrompts
Luka and the mantis began to circle one another. As they did so, the mantis knocked salt and pepper shakers from the tables and chittered maniacally. “At least it’s a weak one,” one of the dwarf brothers said. Joren or Yoren. You couldn’t blame anyone for getting them mixed up. “Glory!” Luka shouted. He flung himself at the mantis, knocked aside one of its scythes with his trusty spatula, and drove his chef’s knife into the insect’s heart, killing it instantly. At least, that was Charlie’s expectation. But when the knife came out, it was clean. The mantis laughed and flung the KM aside. Then it was on him in a scene eerily reminiscent of what Charlie observed with the garbage phoenix just a few hours ago. He held back the mantis’s scythes with spatula and knife, and fended off its searching mandibles by thrusting his feet upwards, against its thorax.
January 9, 2026 at 1:54 PM
mgattis.bsky.social
Today's #WIPSnips #canvas I have for you a paint of an owl, who is also a wizard's familiar. Why do owls always suggest mouse parts for potion ingredients...?
#WritingCommunity #WriteSky #WritingPrompts #Writing
Upon the wall behind Aremento’s desk hung a painting of black owl. Its eyes took up half the canvas, as if it were attempting to poke lean forward and out of the frame. Unlike the realistic oil paintings in the dining room, the owl was done with watercolors and looked like something a four-year-old might have created. “No,” it hooted. “Eye of worm will make it explode.” Aremento tugged on his beard. “Then what do you propose?” “Easy,” said the owl. “Heart of mouse.” “You always suggest that.” “It always works.”
January 8, 2026 at 1:47 PM
mgattis.bsky.social
In today's #WIPSnips #lock, Charlie is attacked by an automaton. #WritingCommunity #Writing #WriteSky #WritingPrompts
Charlie wriggled under its grip, to no avail. “Get OFF!” she growled. Then, only slightly more wisely, yelled, “HELLLLP!” as loudly as she could. The automaton raised its knife. Charlie saw herself reflected in that knife. It was rather shiny, for having been locked in a closet for who-knew-how-long. So, this was to be her end? She’d survived a garbage phoenix, a malevolent spirit, and a great worm, just to be minced to pieces by some ancient robot. It was tragic, really. If she could have picked a way to go, it would have been the worm. At least that would have been over quickly. (It wouldn’t have. Kyle’s digestive juices worked slowly. Charlie would have died of thirst in one of his fifteen stomachs.)
January 7, 2026 at 2:09 PM
mgattis.bsky.social
Me (an introvert) hanging out with a group of people:

Me: Says something funny, but only one friend hears me.

Friend: Proceeds to repeat funny thing.

Group: Laughs at hilarity.

Me: Waits patiently to be given credit for funny thing.

Group: Moves on with the conversation.
January 6, 2026 at 2:43 PM
mgattis.bsky.social
Surprised I have to use vibes for today's #WIPSnips #low. But anyway, here's a giant, interdimensional worm who lives in a restaurant's walk-in refrigerator.
#WritingCommunity #WriteSky #WritingPrompts #Writing
Charlie turned to find the cause of the sound. She’d hoped it was one of the fans breaking down or something. Instead, her eyes locked with those of a giant worm. She barely had time to remember back to biology class, during which they’d studied earthworms. They didn’t have eyes. This one had enormous eyes. Not just black dots like you’d expect in a drawing; they were complete with sclera, blue irises, and pupils. Below its gaping, toothless mouth was a nametag: “Hello! My name is Kyle.” Charlie abandoned her parsnips and ran.
January 6, 2026 at 2:19 PM
mgattis.bsky.social
Happy (belated) New Year, #WIPSnips and #WritingCommunty friends! Had a nice #writing and #WriteSky break over the holidays, but now I'm ready to get back to it!
Charlie put a hand over her own mouth. Jelly was gone? Truly gone? She hadn’t seen the dog until last night, though Charlie didn’t think anything of it. Miss Lucy didn’t bring Jelly to camp last summer until they’d begun auditions for the play. “I brought peanut butter for her,” Charlie whispered. Miss Lucy walked out of the cafeteria without another word, wiping tears from her face as she went. Charlie did the same, heading for the other door. At least no one would remember she’d made Miss Lucy cry. The curse was beneficial in that way, at least.
January 5, 2026 at 2:12 PM
mgattis.bsky.social
You can learn a lot about a person based on who their favorite Muppets is.
December 27, 2025 at 2:42 PM
mgattis.bsky.social
When the restaurant's fancy dishwashing machine doesn't work, it becomes a surface for dirty dishes.
#WIPSnips #silver #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #WritingPrompts #Writing
The machine was named Hogarth after the scientist who’d designed it. Hogarth was silent and still. Any of the machine’s surfaces that were flat enough to balance something were laden with dirty dishes. Against the adjacent wall was a three-bay sink, at which two dwarven brothers, Yoren and Joren, stood. Over the din of splashing water, clinking silverware, and slamming pans, they yelled at one another in a language Charlie had never heard of. (It was a lost dwarven language that only they, being former dwarf princes, knew.)
December 21, 2025 at 3:51 PM
mgattis.bsky.social
December 20, 2025 at 2:20 AM
mgattis.bsky.social
Thought I'd share with the #writingcommunity and #writesky how I'm keeping myself motivated to write the current WIP. Green = Way to go! Yellow = meh. Red = shame. Tuesdays seem to be my toughest days so far.

Would love to see what systems others use!
An excel document showing a table of dates, words written on those dates, and whether or not the daily goal was met
December 18, 2025 at 2:29 PM
mgattis.bsky.social
#WIPSnips vibes for #request.

In salary negotiation, Charlie's holding out for a hero 🙃

#WritingCommunity #WriteSky #WritingPrompts #Writing
“Okay. But we never discussed my salary,” Charlie said. This elicited a chuckle from the KM. “You’re an hourly employee. Standard beginning wage is eight bucks an hour. Time-and-a-half for overtime. Double pay on holidays.” “No health insurance,” Plategleam grunted. “Nor dental,” Spoonshine threw in. “I don’t want any of that,” said Charlie. Luka frowned. “We have to pay you. The Empress doesn’t allow people to work for free.” “Then pay me by finding me a hero.”
December 18, 2025 at 2:06 PM
mgattis.bsky.social
When you spend the day writing, then giddily tell a good buddy you banged out 2500 words, and they respond with a, "That's it?" When all you were trying to do was celebrate...
#writingcommunity #writesky
a man in a red jacket eating a cake with a fork
ALT: a man in a red jacket eating a cake with a fork
media.tenor.com
December 18, 2025 at 12:59 AM
mgattis.bsky.social
Tryna write in a waiting room under the cacophony of upbeat Christmas music like...

#writing #writingcommunity #writesky
a person peeking out from behind a red curtain with a blue curtain behind them
ALT: a person peeking out from behind a red curtain with a blue curtain behind them
media.tenor.com
December 17, 2025 at 7:15 PM
mgattis.bsky.social
Had a dream in which the kid woke up at 3am and I'd forgotten to put presents under the tree. It ended up okay, though. Wife took her bowling while I corrected the error.

So. This is a nightmare at 36...

#Parenting
December 17, 2025 at 1:45 PM
mgattis.bsky.social
We all like our tuna salad #moist, right?

#WritingCommunity #Writing #WriteSky #WritingPrompts #WIPSnips
Charlie followed Miss Lucy’s gaze. The cafeteria lady, Miss Beth, had begun transferring the leftover tuna salad into clean pans and covering them with tin foil. “I’m sure I’ll get it at dinner.” All they served this year was tuna salad sandwiches. Charlie missed pb&j, the meal of choice from last summer. But this year, one of the new kids had a peanut allergy, so everyone had to eat tuna. It wouldn’t have been so bad, but the cafeteria staff had run out of mayo, and someone had had the brilliant idea of using the juices from the can the tuna came in to keep it moist.
December 16, 2025 at 2:07 PM
mgattis.bsky.social
A little late with today's #WIPSnips. Vibes: #blanket = covers.
#WritingCommunity #WriteSky #Writing #WritingPrompts
“I saw a goblin,” said Charlie as casually as someone might remark on glimpsing a squirrel. Unlike many folks, who would likely be trying to rationalize away these strange events, Charlie was quite willing to accept what her eyes had seen. She and her sister had shared a deep love of fairytales, so Charlie was primed to believe in all manner of things she’d read about. In her mind, it made perfect sense that things like goblins and trolls would exist on earth. After all, someone had to have seen them at some point. Creatures like those couldn’t have been dreamed up from nothing. Becky sighed with all the drama of a pre-teen being personally wronged by someone who didn’t realize the world revolved around her. She knew all this about Charlie. “Shut the door, princess freakshow,” she grumbled, and drew the covers over her head.
December 15, 2025 at 10:57 PM
mgattis.bsky.social
Jelly is the name of the dog set to play Toto :)
#WIPSnips #smash #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #WritingPrompts #Writing
Last summer, Charlie auditioned for Dorothy in the camp’s Wizard of Oz play. It was Ellie’s idea. She’d said being the lead in a play would help Charlie realize her curse was nonsense. “No one forgets Dorothy,” she’d claimed. Charlie was into it, of course. Ellie could have suggested she smash her face in a tray of hot donuts fresh from the oven, and Charlie’s only question would have been what kind of filling they had. Ellie’s ideas were always great, and led to fun things, so Charlie trusted her sister. And besides, she’d have done anything to get to spend more time with Jelly. The audition had gone fine. Charlie had remembered all her lines and delivered them with “zesty zeal.” So said Miss Lucy. But the other kids who’d auditioned had brought an equally zealous zest to the stage, and they didn’t have a curse to contend with.
December 12, 2025 at 1:56 PM
mgattis.bsky.social
Gramsay, god of restaurants and narrator of my current WIP, makes his first appearance for today's #WIPSnips #full.
#WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts #WriteSky #Writing
“Your hand is on my cutting board,” I said. She snatched her fingers away just before I diced them, along with the red onions currently at my mercy. “Sorry,” she sniffed. “And I’m not crying because I’m sad or anything, if that’s what you’re thinking.” “I know,” said I, rocking the knife with godlike speed and precision. “It’s because of my face.” “No!” said Charlie. She wiped some snot on the back of a hand. If she’d had orientation, she’d have known to go and wash her hands right away. “It’s the onions.” “Really?” I leaned over my assembled row of third pans, all full and heaping with perfectly diced red onions. “What did you say to this poor girl?” I asked them. “It’s nothing they said. It’s how they smell.” I gave her a horrified look and put my hands on the sides of the pans, as if covering their ears. “Don’t listen to her. You smell just as onions should, my darlings.”
December 11, 2025 at 1:51 PM
mgattis.bsky.social
#WIPSnips vibes for #design today! Here we see the MC facing off against a garbage phoenix.
#WritingCommunity #WriteSky #WritingPromprs #Writing
“Want it.” The phoenix nodded. “Instead of eating me,” said Charlie. She pointed to Luka. “And him.” “Eat you and plastic both. Give.” Charlie looked to Luka, hoping for some sort of instruction, or for him to chime in and help her bargain. He was too busy keeping the phoenix’s boney wing from crushing his larynx. From the sweat beading on his forehead and the vein pulsing at his temple, the kitchen manager didn’t look in any position to offer instruction. “Now,” snapped the phoenix. “Give. Hand over.” Then Charlie did something smart. Not that she’d planned it or anything, but the result was the same. She tossed the plastic bottle into the air.
December 9, 2025 at 2:19 PM
mgattis.bsky.social
Woof. An ugly one for #WIPSnips #fourth today.
*rocks back and forth in the chair, hugging self: "Trust the process...trust the process...trust the process..."

#WritingCommunity #WriteSky #WritingPrompts #Writing
As they made their way back through the kitchen, it became clear to Charlie that Luka was in charge. He tasted the contents of different pots and pans, remarking on their thickness or lack of salt. Here he inspected a cube of cheese and berated the person responsible for its cut size being closer to an eighth of an inch than the expected fourth. There he yelled at another worker for being five minutes behind where they should have on prep. Three different emergencies were brought to his attention in the time it took to walk from the back door to the dining room, and he resolved them all with a plan of action hatched on the spot.
December 8, 2025 at 2:00 PM
mgattis.bsky.social
Drop something musical!
December 5, 2025 at 3:37 PM
mgattis.bsky.social
4yo requested Devo's "Whip It" on the way to preschool today...
Just wanted to share.

#parenting
December 5, 2025 at 2:16 PM