: About Me

I'm the creator of the Martian Symbiont series, with three titles so far: Been Blued (2007,) Martian Blues (2008,) and Martian Divides (2009.) People had been encouraging me to get published decades ago but I researched the publishing industry first. To me the small commissions and the loss of most author rights to a traditional publisher were unacceptable. I was convinced that once the self-publishing industry grew up it would provide a much better option.

After studying and training for a career that failed to materialize I decided it was time to look at the publishing industry again. I'd been writing all along but it was always on the periphery of my activities with the occasional article finding its way into print. I wanted to write novels I could be proud of. I set aside all my earlier manuscripts and started fresh.

The mall I was working in at the time had a Coles bookstore. They had a display of the book, Get Published, printed by the supported self-publishing company, iUniverse. After reading it I realized that while self-publishing had grown up, the traditional publishing industry had changed very little. All three of my Martian Symbiont titles have been published through iUniverse.

I've been writing stories ever since I spell enough words to make a sentence. The talent for writing seemed to keep cropping up every once in a while. Although I loved to write it was a surprise for me when my high school law class agreed to do a Christmas play if I would write it. Apparently other people appreciated my talent before I did.

I read a variety of science fiction books but Star Trek and Dr Who were the consistent and defining influences on my writing. I also had some interest in the idea of a closed society where things go terribly wrong. My favorite movie was the original Logan's Run. Similarly, my favorite book was The Chrysalids.

Most of my computer skills are self-taught, largely because I graduated several years before computers became a common sight in the public education system.

My passion is ...

writing science fiction.

I know too much about ...

hard times.

My parents always told me ...

laughter mattered.

My childhood ambition ...

was to be written up in the Encyclopedia.

My favorite memory ...

involves playing with my old dog, Dingo.

Why I write ...

it's a compulsion! There's no stopping it!

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

I'm looking forward to seeing the new Star Trek movie.

My first job ...

was horrid. Does that count?

My best moment ...

is apparently yet to come.

My inspiration ...

comes from everywhere. It's relentless. I'm running out of pens...

Creative Writing > Humor Humor: Advertisements

7 of 7

The reason for watching advertisements is the same for viewing any other video production. Entertain me: make me laugh or cry, appeal to my sense of irony or give me a moment of escapism. Advertisements should be made from bloopers or outtakes from other popular media. Then they might actually appeal to a younger marketing demographic. Much was made of the recent shocking discovery that young people don't 'Twitter' and they hate advertising. But you can follow the discussion on Twitter. The British Columbia SPCA had a series of brilliant commercials a few years ago. Each one showed people ...

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