Arrogance Without Context is Hubris
For months I've been working on a problem related to my current writing project, and this essay came out as a part of my conclusion: arrogance without context is hubris. Not exactly sure how…
The Problem of the Impossibly Broken Hero
While all of us love a good romance, I’ve come to the conclusion that we read them for different reasons. One reason is no better than another, but I'm going to suggest that it's important…
Agency, and the Problem of the Passive Protagonist
Okay—you have a brand-new book by a new-to-you author, and you’ve been itching to dive into it. Finally you have enough peace and quiet to start. The strong writing draws you into the story world…
Olympic Medal Reality Check, 2016
"US Exceeds all Expectations in Rio" crows a headline here in the US today. Um, maybe not so much. This is my second Summer Olympics to offer a different way of looking at Olympic glory.…
Letter to a New Generation of Gate Keepers
Letter to a new Generation of Gate Keepers I’m writing this letter to you in the fervent hope that you will come to believe something. If you don’t believe it now because it seems too…
About Who Writes MM Romance
Fellow author Jamie Fessenden wrote a very thoughtful post on his blog recently, about women writing M/M romance, which you can find —here—. It’s well worth reading and thinking about. This is an issue that…
Essential differences in a gay Hero’s Journey — Part Two
So -- picking up from Part One: a straight hero grows up in an automatic level of belonging—whether it’s the idyllic Shire, or some other culture in which the hero belongs to an identifiable majority—that…
Essential differences in a gay Hero’s Journey – Part One
I'm developing materials for an online course to be presented this October under the aegis of the Florida Romance Writers, focusing on the differences in the Hero's Journey for a gay protagonist. I've been fascinated…
Heraclitus
A man's character is his fate. This is the epigraph in Traveling Light, and has become an essential part of the way I see and experience the world. Sometimes this quote is translated as, "A…