The BioI've been writing for at least 25 years but it's only been in the last three that I felt confident enough to start trying to become published. My work includes prose and poetry, short stories and novels. All of these are written for different reasons, but all allow me to express myself in some way.
I'm not the sort of writer who can stick to one genre; the most important thing is the story and how you tell it, so the use of language and the emotions and imagery this conjures up is very important to me: I wouldn't want to feel caged or contained with my writing. Writing is such a fundamental form of expression that I believe all writers should write whatever they want and not worry about whether it's published or if other people like it. In other words, we shouldn't let our fears limit what we write. There are enough rules and restrictions in the real world: we should strive to be as limitless as we can when we commit our inner selves to paper. That said, I'm very happy that many writers have found success by sticking with one. If it makes them happy, then good for them. During the day I'm a technical author writing about how to use software and other things, and before that I was a journalist working on magazines and newspapers. My fiction work has been published online in Specter magazine see here and here and my first novel, The Darkness Beneath, is available as an ebook on Amazon. I've also collaborated with one of Australia's top calligraphic artists, Nicoll Heaslip, who's used a few of my poems in her work. I was also one fo the authors/editors on the world's first crowd-sourced novel, The Paradox, an experiment in what happens when several authors get together to write one novel. This ground-breaking experiment was the brainchild of those fine people at Libboo. When I'm not writing I can be found charging around the countryside on my racing bike, or with a camera stuck to my face (you can find evidence of this elsewhere on this site). Of course I love to read and will read almost anything as long as I enjoy the story. It's impossible to live without films, and films should really be seen at the cinema. Music is a major part of my life too: I've been a guitarist for 35 years and still play live whenever I can. Travel is important to me; the desire to know what's around the next corner or the thrill of seeing something for the first time cannot be underestimated in their effect on oneself and the imagination. I've lived and travelled abroad a lot. I've backpacked all over Latin America and lived in Belgium, Spain, Gibraltar, Mexico and the Netherlands. Although there are certain sacrifices you have to make to enjoy the luxury of living in a foriegn land, it's well worth it if it means you can see the world with new eyes. If you want to know what makes me tick as a writer, three of my all-time favourite authors are Laurie Lee, Cormac McCarthy and Jorge Lois Borges. If you want to know about my philosophy for life, then read up on Zen Buddhism and watch all the original series of Star Trek. |
Interviews |