The annual Ad Astra convention in Toronto* is one of those local SF&F conventions that I have been attending off and on since early 2000s. After I moved North ten years ago, its gotten a lot more challenging to attend, logistically, financially, and requires a time commitment from both my work and family…
Tag: writing
Sarah Connor and the Strong Female Character
I had the opportunity to rewatch the original Terminator (1984) with my son last night on Netflix. He’s getting to that age where he’s mature enough and patient enough to sit through “classic” grown-up films that I enjoyed and form part of my pop culture DNA. The point of my post,…
Writer: Level Up!
Writing is a long journey and as a writer it helps to stop and get the lay of the land every once in a while. To pause and look back and to see how far you’ve come, but also l to look ahead at that next summit, catch your breath…
A Voice Silenced – Jay Lake 1964 – 2014
Photo Credit: Joseph E. Lake, Jr. / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 I never met Jay Lake, the closest I came was spying him across the lobby at Worldcon in Chicago in 2012. (His Hawaiian shirts are hard to miss). I can’t even say I’ve read his work extensively. Despite having several of his…
Countdown to “Second Harvest” Release
In just three days my short story Second Harvest will finally see the light of day. To quote Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead – “What a long, strange trip it’s been.” As my first publication, it’s a memorable occasion. My first draft for Second Harvest was completed back in the summer of…
It’s All About Character
I had two opportunities this past week to listen to people that make a living from their writing talk about their craft and how they got to where they are today. The first was playwright Colleen Murphy (www.colleenmurphy.ca) who was in Sudbury to attend the Play Smelter Workshop May 6th…
Penmonkey Gut Check
One of the authors I can rely on for a much needed kick in the pants when it comes to writing is Chuck Wendig. Between his blog Terribleminds.com and his collected writing advice – that he has published in a number of books with catchy titles like – The Kick…
Playwright Junction
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Last Stop with the Playwrights’ Junction
This past Monday night I sat in the audience at the Sudbury Theatre Centre with my fellow playwrights, family members, friends, co-workers, and the curious theatre going public – all of us there for the same thing, to hear actors do dramatic readings of our works in progress. A graduation…
Goodbye 2013 and Hello 2014
Back in Time by nicholasjon – License:CC BY-NC 2.0 Human perception of time is a funny thing. With the passing of each year, I never fail to wonder, where the heck did the last 365 days go? This past year was no different. In fact the older I get the more…
New Chapters
A Shiny Big Nickel by BigA888 (via Flickr) Some Rights Reserved Seven years ago this week I moved my young family (my son was 2 1/2, my wife was 8 months pregnant) to Sudbury, Ontario (aka The Big Nickel) to start a new chapter in our life. Toronto and the…