There is no such thing as an aspiring writer…

There is a term that I have seen bandied around in the bios of various writers, and it’s a term that I don’t like: aspiring writer.

What I don’t understand is how one can aspire to be a writer. You can aspire to be an author. You can aspire to quit your day job to become a full-time writer. You can aspire to share your writing with the world. But aspire to be a writer?Read More

The Perfect Gift for a Writer: A Dictionary

As the title suggests, I recently received the perfect gift that any writer could get: a dictionary. But this was not just any dictionary. This was a copy of The Compact Oxford English Dictionary.

Big whoop, I hear some of you say. Well, actually, it is.

The Oxford English Dictionary (2nd Edition) is a 20-volume beast. No joke. Published in 1989, it clocked in at 21,728 pages. And that doesn’t include all the supplement materials that have since been added. The 3rd Edition is still in production and is not expected to be published until 2037. I hate to think how big the Oxford English Dictionary will be by then.Read More

Kiwi in US Writing Market

I had originally written this post for a site called EpicFantasy.org. However, since the post went live back on April 25, 2016, the site has gone down. As such, I’ve decided to include the post here on my personal blog instead. So here goes:

Kiwi in US Writing Market

New Zealand… Aotearoa, as the native Maori call it — the land of the long white cloud. It’s a country filled with majestic beauty: a mountain range that spans the length of half the country; volcanic lakes and desert terrain; beaches within a few short minutes drive of any major metropolis; secluded forest bush that takes you back in time; and farmland everywhere you turn. Many settlements could be frozen in time, and with the exception of the cars driving down the street, you would never know that you were in the 21st century. New Zealand has become the film industry’s location of choice with many historic and fantasy blockbusters filmed here, including The Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia, and the epic drama The Last Samurai. (Sorry to burst the bubble, people, but the images of Mount Fuji in that film were actually of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont.)Read More

Space… The Final Frontier…

The geek in me is getting incredibly excited. I’ve seen the preview for the new Star Trek movie coming out this week and, oh man… I CAN’T WAIT!

Yes, I am a BIG Star Trek fan. I won’t go as far as saying that I dress up like the characters or anything, because I don’t, but I love the stories, I’m in love with the characters, and I get excited with the big space battles. But more importantly, I have many fond memories that are all connected to Star Trek.Read More

Can’t is an evil word… It shouldn’t exist.

Recently, scrolling through my Twitter feed, I came across a post about the wonderful word can’t.

If you say you cant, you are only bullshitting yourself

(As much as I would have loved to shown you the original tweet, the user has long since left Twitter.)

You ignore the little bit of swearing, but of course I had to reply.Read More