Book Editors are your Friends
“Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.” – Winston Churchill Open to Criticism Some people take criticism better than others, but not all of us can take it gracefully. It’s uncomfortable at best,…Read More
Holy Grail Fiction
“The journey is the treasure.” – Lloyd Alexander Myths have been recurring elements in storytelling down the ages, and none more so than the Holy Grail. It has fascinated writers for centuries and is a popular theme in TV series and movies. You only have to look at the success of films the Grail…Read More
Body Language: More Powerful Than Words
“The eyes are the windows to the soul” – William Shakespeare Writers of speculative fiction portray mind-reading as a superpower. In the real world, reading others is an inborn ability most humans have. We can’t read their minds, but we pick up cues from their non-verbal messaging. How People Read Each Other When trying to…Read More
When Tribalism Goes Toxic
“We all face a choice. We can choose to press forward with a better model of cooperation and integration. Or we can retreat into a world sharply divided, and ultimately in conflict, along age-old lines of nation and tribe and race and religion.” – Barack Obama The Group Instinct Tribalism is human nature. We are…Read More
The Power of Awe
The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder or stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: His eyes are closed.” – Albert Einstein Awestruck Most of…Read More
Self-Identity: Who am I?
“Never forget who you are, for surely the world will not.” – George R. R. Martin Who am I? It’s a question everyone struggles with at some stage in life. But self-identity is not a simple construct. It’s a blend of influences that incorporates our experiences, relationships, values, and beliefs. I’m not talking about identity…Read More
Coming in 2021: The Sequel to Graëlfire
“I never actually plan sequels. They demand to be done.” – Ellen Hopkins The follow-up to my fantasy novel, Graëlfire, has just reached a milestone—at least in my mind. I’ve finished writing the manuscript and will send it off to my editor in the new year. Barring unseen circumstances, I’m aiming for publication in the…Read More
Liminal Time: Into the Void
“[Liminal time] is when you have left, or are about to leave, the tried and true, but have not yet been able to replace it with anything else. It is when you are between your old comfort zone and any possible new answer.” – Richard Rohr October is here! The days are getting short. Nights…Read More
All for One and One for All
“We need a spirit of community, a sense that we are all in this together. If we have no sense of community, the American dream will wither.” — William J. Clinton World Gone Viral 2020 has been bizarre. A kind of liminality has descended on the world with two billion people locked down in…Read More
Imagination: The Mother of Invention
“All that is the work of the human hand, the whole world of culture, is distinguished from the natural world because it is the product of human imagination.” – Lev Vgotsky (1836-1934), Soviet Psychologist My first recollection of owning a book goes back to a set of children’s classics I received one Christmas: Gulliver’s Travels,…Read More
