• My Friend Blaise

    My Friend Blaise

    My dearest friend, Blaise van Hecke, passed away early Monday morning. Everybody’s posted the sweetest platitudes about her on social media. That’s what happens when somebody dies.  People say the nicest things about them. They’ll say those things about me when I pass away. In my case, just know about half of those platitudes won’t be entirely accurate, or will even omit a few things. The truest platitude for me would be something like, “Oh, he could go out of his way to help you, but sometimes he could be a surly prick.” That’s still being kind. But we don’t say those things about those who’ve left us. As far…

  • The Story Behind the Book

    Pride: The Journey to Publication

    After I serialized Pride on my website, I submitted it to a few publishers without any luck. That I had no idea what I was doing didn’t help. Come 2009, I applied for the Olvar Wood Fellowship – a program run by Queensland writers Inga Simpson and Nike Bourke that involved mentoring and workshops. At the time, I was struggling with the beginning of chronic neck issues – the result of hunching over a laptop while editing all day. I went to bed after one lengthy editing session with a tightness in my right shoulder blade. The next day I woke with spasms to the right side of my neck.…