About

Hey, I'm Michael Dean.

I'm an architect turned writer, and the Editor-in-Chief at Write of Passage.

"A good editor doesn't rewrite words, she rewires synapses."
- S. Kelley Harrell

Dean's List

If you're subscribed to Dean's List, you'll get my writing in your inbox. I aspire to resist the niche, to experiment with prose, voice, and imagery, and to hold nothing back. I write about architecture, psychology, craft, counter-cultures, virtual reality, mundane life, and whatever comes into my crosshair.

You can click the links below to find groups of related essays:

The craft, tactics, and perspective of online writing.
Sometimes I do impressions of my favorite writers.
Autobiographical short-stories under auto-fiction.
The Metaverse (I've been a VR specialist since 2014).
Everything else falls under wonky-town.

Stream of consciousness logs

I started an experiment called logloglog back in December of 2021. The idea was to capture all the half-significant thoughts going through my head, in public, in prose. It's like a low-traffic non-social Twitter where I post several times a day. It gives me the freedom to write without pressure, expectations, or word counts.

Here's a recap post I shared after 100 days of logging.

I started this around the time I started reading Fernando Pessoa's "The Book of Disquiet." He basically wrote fragments throughout his day for 21 years, and editors assembled his best ones after he died. It's remarkable to read. You feel like you actually step into another person's head and experience their consciousness.

2022: January | February | March | April | May
2021: December

Twitter

You can follow me on Twitter for ideas around writing, editing, and the creative process. Here are some popular threads I've written:

Write of Passage

I'm the Editor-in-Chief at Write of Passage, a course that teaches you how to write in the Internet age. It teaches the tactics you need to start, the craft you need to be remembered, and the perspective around what's possible.

During the cohorts (twice a year) I train and lead a team of editors. We guarantee that every students gets quality feedback on every draft. We don't focus on grammar and line-editing (use the apps for that). We give you big picture, supportive feedback that helps you evolve as a writer. I'm personally focused on using visuals, exercises, frameworks, and analytics to create a system that can radically accelerate someone's writing craft.

In between cohorts, I'm focused on establishing Write of Passage as an independent media company. The goal is to feature our community while building a mosaic of nuanced, high-quality content about writing online. I work with alumni to shape these essays, and we distribute them through Write of Passage Weekly.

Timeline

2022. Editor-in-Chief at Write of Passage
2021. Focused on online writing and launched The Writing Studio
2020. Setup 60 architects with VR-based remote design reviews
2019. Wrote original songs and performed with a band in NYC
2018. VR Specialist at an international architecture firm
2017. Astoria
2016. Introduced 2,000 people to their first 6 DOF VR experience
2015. Learned Unreal Engine, founded a VR consulting company
2014. Visual notation for songwriting
2013. Architecture thesis: facilities for psychedelic therapy
2012. Designed and built a recycling center in Costa Rica

michael@michaeldean.site

Don’t hesitate to reach out to me about anything.