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Writing is not only how I express who I am - it's also how I express everything I'm not... because for me writing fiction is about exploring all the "what if?" questions. I write speculative fiction.
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Background
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When I was in junior school teachers would ask what I wanted to do when I grew up. I'd say, "Write books." and they would smile...
In high school teachers asked me what I wanted to do when I finished school. I said, "Write books." and they said,"No, really, what do you want to do?"
I went away and thought about it... came back and replied,
"I want to write things that touch people."
...and they said, "No, really, what do you want to do?"
So I stopped answering and somehow ended up in Commercial Art, which is a wonderful place to be if it's where you're meant to be, only it wasn't where I was meant to be.
I spent the next twenty years pretending to be an artist and hating most of it. The only plus to the experience is that I had the chance to work with authors from a completely different perspective - as an illustrator. I never told the authors I worked for that I wrote, it seemed presumptuous. I wrote and scribbled and typed, but most of that went into drawers and folders to lie unread by anyone beyond myself.
Then a strange twist of fate changed that - Something I had written was published in a local newspaper. It wasn't sent to the paper and it wasn't meant to be published, but it touched someone and they passed it on to an editor who saw something that, to him, was worth sharing. He printed it and when I phoned to ask who sent it to him he asked me who I wrote for.
Who I WROTE for? I was as shocked by his question as he was shocked when I told him I didn't write for anyone.
He said, "What are you doing with your life? Go and write!"
So I did. :-)
Now, many years on, I can finally look back and honestly say that I have accomplished my lifelong dream; the one a high school teacher forced me to dig deep and uncover... I write things that touch people.
That really is as good as it gets.
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Accomplishments
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2001 - 2nd prize in the Klein Karoo Arts festival, for a short story later published in the book - “e-rupsie/e-ruption.”
2010 - 2nd prize in the John Muir Trust Wild Writing competition for "Leap of Fate."
In 2002 a poem I published, "Homeland", went viral on the internet... without my name as author, thanks to some unknown emailer! I've managed to recify that as much as possible (only needed a lawyer once), but it was an excellent lesson in being aware of your copyright and rights as a writer.
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Additional Information
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My book, FIRST LIGHT, will be on display at the Los Angeles Times Book Festival, 24-25 April.
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Favorite Links
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First Light
Personal page for FIRST LIGHT with YouTube promo, reviews, links to places where book is for sale around the world, etc.
My Blog
Everyone writes for their own reasons... to share, to dare, to enlighten or just be noticed, but ultimately writing is about connecting, because the more we connect to others - the more we learn about ourselves. Writing is a journey, an adventure started with a single step. I'm taking this journey with crow's feet, in more ways than one. Come along and I'll show you why...
Leap of Fate - for John Muir Trust
All the prize winners of the John Muir Trust 2010 Wild Writing competition are linked here.
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