A student, an English language teacher, a clerical worker, a volunteer counsellor, a husband, a reader of books, a player of computer games and a friend to cats.

I have been all these things, but at the same time I have always been a writer.

One of my first birthday presents was a toy typewriter. My mother expected me to play with it for a while and then get bored and abandon it.

Instead, I wore it out.

These days I'm using a computer, which is a lot easier to use than a toy typewriter, believe me. I write short fiction for my own amusement, book reviews for my website, and now articles for Helium.

Writing is part of me and what I do. As long as I have eyes to see with, fingers to type with and a brain to think with, I'll always be a writer.

Whatever else I do in this life, writing will be part of it.

My passion is ...

human potential and the power of the imagination.

I know too much about ...

computer games (the result of a misspent middle age.)

My parents always told me ...

to love what I do.

My childhood ambition ...

was to be a zoo-keeper.

My favorite memory ...

is waking up when I was a kid, and realising that it was Saturday and I didn't have to go to school. It doesn't get more perfect than that.

Why I write ...

It's something I have to do.

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

The Terror by Dan Simmons

My first job ...

.was at Richard Language College, teaching English.

My best moment ...

... was probably when I passed my Mathematics GSE "O" level on my third attempt. What a nice surprise.

My inspiration ...

is the kaleidoscopic, bizarre, world of dreams.

Sciences > Social Science (Other) Will written text survive as a communication medium?

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Is written text doomed to die out? At first glance, this might seem to be a real possibility. Fewer people are reading books and newspapers; on the other hand, digital media are proliferating like crazy, providing us with ever more available streaming audio and video. Will we eventually arrive at a future without writing?

I think not. It is obvious to me that writing has always been a core part of who we are. It is how we have made our mark on the world, as humans. And it would take extraordinary measures, as I will explain, to exterminate written text forever.

However, it would be e...

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