Redux

When I first put pen to paper at ten, chronicling the adventures of Australian Olympic Mascot, Willy, I had no idea that almost three decades later I would co-own an indie publishing house, work as an editor and chase my own characters across the narrative landscape. You could say it is a dream come true.

I’m the co-owner of eMergent Publishing, with the distinguished title of ‘Director of Creative Assets’ – a fancy way of saying I get to hang with lots of talented writers and enjoy watching their work grow and develop. I’m the Managing Editor of Chinese Whisperings, the creator of the crowd-sourced short story anthology Literary Mix Tapes and currently the Australian administrator of 100 Stories for Queensland.

My passion lies in concocting crazy literary concepts and ideas, and seeing if other writers can flesh these out into stories and anthologies that push boundaries. Chinese Whisperings and Literary Mix Tapes are the first fruits of these endeavours.

For two years I was the Monday columnist here, and I’m looking forward to working with a small pod of writers in the coming months. And also looking forward to not rocking up to my computer on  a Monday morning, every week, nutting out a column (doesn’t mean I still won’t be writing it the night before – somethings never change!) And for the trifecta, I’m looking forward to working closer with Paul on this, eMergent’s newest project, as his understudy.

My writing falls under the loose umbrella of speculative fiction – where I pursue themes of love, loss, betrayal, time travel, the dynamics of power and the eternal question what if? I just sold my first (and probably last) vampire story, in which the only thing sparkling is the surf at midnight. Other published stories include a DNA swapping sister, a magical tape deck, an extreme sky diver and a teenage girl in search of Christmas treasure.

My short stories have (or are about to appear) in anthologies in Australia, Canada and the USA.

In 2011 I’m looking forward to: sharing my writing with a new online writers’ group (comprised of four trusted writing friends who are going to keep me honest and producing work throughout the year), growing eMergent, writing more, test-driving at least one new concept for Chinese Whisperings, assembling enough stories for my own stand alone anthology, running critiquing workshops, writing more, assisting with the 2011 Logan Writers’ Week, producing four Literary Mix Tapes and, you guessed it, writing more (and sleeping occasionally).

This is the site where my writing began, and this is the site where my writing continues. I hope Write Anything is your first choice for writing support, inspiration and information in 2011.

The African’s encapsulate it perfectly in this following proverb: ” If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”