Posted on by Bob McMichael

Creative Non-fiction

I’ve published numerous creative non-fiction pieces over the last 40 or so years, including two books with my students. I taught creative writing in high school for many years, focusing on fiction, poetry, as well as creative non-fiction, including memoir. As a college student I wrote feature articles regularly for the Daily Californian, UC Berkeley’s award-winning student newspaper, and have taught journalism units in my English classes.

My most regular creative non-fiction writing outlets have been the numerous blogs I’ve created over the years, including:

  • Chukar Culture: a literary/cultural exploration of one of the longest-running of my many passions in life, focusing heavily on (and often starring) the four Brittanys with whom I’ve had the pleasure of sharing my life since 2000.
  • Mr. McMichael: My Life As An English Teacher: being a middle/high school teacher is probably the most meaningful, intense thing I’ve ever done, and I’m proud of what I did with and for my students, much of which is documented here, along with some thoughts about public education and why I think it’s important.
  • The Virtual Bob McMichael: my first blog ever, featuring a random assortment of essays and reflections on everything from ticks to Grete Waitz.
  • Hells Canyon Beer: I created this blog in about 2015 to channel my excitement about getting back into home-brewing beer, something I’m still passionate about.
  • Eurovan Info: our road-trip and camping dream vehicle, which we’d planned to keep for a long time but didn’t — this blog featured many DIY upgrade and refurbishment projects as well as road trip and camping reports. Even though we (sadly) sold the van a long time ago, I still get questions regularly from people who found it and want advice on how to fix something.
  • McMichael Piping: even though this is primarily a website to promote myself as a professional bagpiper, it features a blog section with pieces I’ve written about piping.
  • Scalding Unguents: Notes on the Darkness: this is my most recent “blog,” and is something of a departure for me, and not necessarily for everyone.

Blogs aren’t considered by many to be “legitimate” writerly endeavors. I strongly disagree with this viewpoint, but I’ve also had success for a long time getting my writing in print (beginning well before the Internet and blogging became a permanent fixture of our lives). Below are a few of my creative non-fiction printed publications.