Blog

I have no formal training in creative writing but I do have a great deal of training in visual art — I completed a degree in fine art and an advanced diploma in bronze casting. For most of my life I thought of myself as a visual artist and it ...
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It’s no secret that writing is hard work. It’s an activity that sucks creative juices from the moment you sit down at the keyboard. Figuring out the plot, naming characters, places, plants, or even the actual novel — sometimes you just can’t even. So, here’s my little secret, I use ...
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The most surreal thing in the history of things has happened today. My debut novel, A Study of Ash & Smoke, is officially available for purchase. I’m absolutely overwhelmed to finally be here, five years after I sat down to write the first draft. Since I’m feeling nostalgic, let’s talk ...
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For the uninitiated, roleplaying is simply the exercise of collaboratively telling a story with the use of a system (usually dice-based) to determine the outcome of various actions – as opposed to summoning the devil with complex mathematics as some pundits from yesteryear would have had you believe. In most ...
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“You know, if I had the time I’d hammer out a YA book filled with all the tropes,” he says, as he leans back in his chair and stares into the middle distance, picturing the money bags that would fall into his lap if only he could trick those young ...
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If you’ve ever had a character stabbed or shot and bleeding, this post is for you. “We must take out the bullet, Jack.” Jack poured rum over Mary’s wound. “You hold her down, I’ll cut it out.” Yeah, no. I think our misinformation comes from the cardinal sins displayed in ...
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Monday begins with grumbles about mornings, inhaling coffee and complaining it’s never enough, and a trek to work through the beleaguered throngs of nine-fivers to start my day-job as an elementary music teacher at an international school. Monday mornings suck right up until the gaggle of pre-K kids (that’s little ...
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I’ve recently been planning a new novel. I’ve done this a little differently from my previous attempts in that I’ve looked at it partially from a tropes perspective. When I say tropes, I don’t necessarily mean clichés. We’ve learned to consider clichés bad because they represent plot points that have ...
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I’m working on a science fiction book, a “generation ship” story, and my current writing research has been eye-opening and more than a little disquieting. A generation ship is a spacecraft that is designed to carry a large number of people, taking them on a voyage through deep space for ...
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Books have always been magical for me. From my earliest memories longingly gazing at my parents’ bookshelves, and being mystified by the tales locked within the covers, and my teenage years where I spent more time reading than studying for my exams… To my adult years where I have more ...
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