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Remembering John
John and I at his retirement party during my 5-year reunion. The fourteenth of August was a sad day for me and today, the news is sinking in. One of my favourite people in the world has lost his fight with cancer. Many of my friends loved and respected John. For me, as has always been my way, the best I can do is write something and share it. I know John would approve, he loved the written word as much as I do. John Cawthorne was a pivotal person in my life. I never had him as a teacher, I couldn’t find the time to make it to Book…
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The Trouble With Names…
So, it’s been an interesting if crazy week and this is something that I’m sure many writers have faced before. I have a character that has been named Damsine Rhea for 15 years. When I had someone else read it they mispronounced the name so I changed the phonetics to what I heard in my head (essentially Damsin Rhee). I mentioned it to a friend of mine who responded with, “Um, I hate to tell you this, but there’s a character who is named Damson Rhee in a classic fantasy series. Don’t think you can use the changed version legally.” They then promptly signed off to go to bed for…
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People Who Have Influenced My Writing
So, while I was writing about Professor Dawe in my last post I started thinking about people who have influenced my writing, why they have, and how they have. I thought that I would list some people and explain. Without further ado and in no particular order: Professors Gerald Dawe: As I have said before, this man single-handedly changed the way I write and look at writing through his advice and mentorship in my tiny poetry writing class. Besides the fact that my class was in the Burns Library (which is just amazing) it was a true community of writers, many of whom I am still in contact with. One…
