Come join me at the Fantastic Grown-Up Book Fair in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia on Saturday, October 11, 2025. I'll there with my fantasy, science fiction, historical fiction, women's fiction
and children's picture books. I hope to see you.
When you give a critique, concentrate on the execution of the work, not the author or the themes.
Writing is hard and can be frustrating when you can’t express what you want or have trouble moving forward. A critique can help if given with respect. Point out both what works and what doesn’t. Never slam a writer, though it’s a service to say the writing doesn’t convince you of a theme or action or character development.
Those who receive critiques should take them in without defending themselves and consider if they can help improve both the writer and the work. It’s important to realize the critique is one person’s opinion. Other people may have different observations.
There are those who look only for praise. Some consider their writing as their blood on the page or their baby being murdered before their eyes by a critique. Such people will consider anything negative as a personal attack and may not consider any observations or suggestion.
It’s not your responsibility as a person giving a critique if the person receiving it feels under attack as long as you are respectful and cover only the work.
The copyright certificate for Covenant With the Dragons: Volume III of the Carandir Saga arrived on Friday from the United States Library of Congress. I was born in Beautiful Downtown Burbank, California, directly between NBC and Walt Disney Studios, something I’ve always thought had an impact on my life. I came to Nova Scotia to research my first novel, Beyond the Shallow Bank, which I set in the province for several reasons. I was so taken by the land and the people I moved and became a Canadian citizen, though I retain my American citizenship as well because I strongly believe in the principals upon which the United States was founded. Nova Scotia just feels like home.
The reason I registered the copyright in the U.S. is because the former conservative prime minister, Stephen Harper, gutted the Canadian copyright act such that universities that once paid into a fund for the right to photocopy sections of articles and books are no longer required to pay anything. Before the copyright act was changed, if a book was a part of a university curriculum, the students would buy copies. Professors can now digitize an entire book and distribute it to a class without paying anything, leaving the author with no revenue for what could be years of hard work.
Prime Minister Justine Trudeau, who heads the current Liberal government, has promised to fix the copyright law for over seven years. Nothing has been done. Writers obviously don’t make up a large enough voting block to be considered. There is no chance Pierre Poilievre, the Conserve Party leader, would even consider undoing a wrong committed by Steven Harper if he formed government. It seems both political leaders think writers should work for free.
The Writers’ Union of Canada has been fighting for the government to keep its promise with no results. I spoke with my MP, Kody Blois, about the problem and gave him a copy of Beyond the Shallow Bank that won first-place at an international award ceremony so he could see the kind of work Canadian authors are doing and how they raise the profile of Canada on the world stage. He promised to rise in the house and speak on the issue. That was last fall. Once more, when the Liberals announced the budget, there was no mention of copyright.
So, as a duel Canadian/American citizen, I register the copyright for all my books in the United States where the rights of writers are stronger. If any university or professor copies my work without compensation, I will be able to take legal action both in Canada and the United States and file a complaint with the World Trade Origination.
Of course, it would be best if politicians kept their word and actually served the citizens instead of their own selfish bids for re-election.
Dragons Unremembered, the first volume of my epic fantasy series The Carandir Saga, won three medals at The BookFest Awards; Silver (second place) for Literary Sci-fi and Fantasy and two bronze medals (third place) for Fantasy Action & Adventure as well as Fantasy Dragons & Mythical Creatures.
The announcement came at The BookFest semi-annual conference held in Los Angeles in the Spring and Fall. Hundreds of books in multiple categories are submitted by authors from around the world.
The Carandir Saga consists of Dragons Unremembered, Half Awakened Dreams and Covenant With the Dragons, which won third place for Literary Sci-fi & Fantasy and Honorable Mention for Epic Fantasy last fall. It’s set in a world shaped by dragons who taught humans to farm, to fish, to work the forge, to read, to write, and all things they needed to know.
One dragon named Baras fell from grace when he taught the forbidden knowledge of magic to sorcerers called the Barasha, the servants of Baras, who used the arts for evil. This sparked a war between the dragons in which Baras was subdued with a magical crown weilded by Avar the Great, chieftain of a northern people. The Barasha were destroyed, or so it was thought.
Avar founded the monarchy of Carandir in the south, a land where people of different genders, gender orientations & identities, colors and ethnicities have the same rights, opportunities and freedoms.
Yet, not all accept this idiology. Some traitorous nobles plot civil war to gain control, oppress the rights of women and expel or kill all whose ancestors came from different lands so that only those the nobles consider pure are allowed to live in Carandir to make the monarchy great again in their eyes.
All the while, some of the Barasha who survived conspire to steal the crown and release their master.
All this is wrapped in a grand adventure with histories, legends, music and engrossing characters; good, bad and simply weak — rather than as a dry lecture.
I am very happy to have the book recognized for its action & adventure and its unique magical creatures. There are no elves, dwarves, hobbits, orcs, Ents or any other Tolkienien characters in the story.
The honor I am most proud of is for Literary Sci-fi and Fantasy.
Some think literature means those old, boring books they were forced to read in school and immediately forgot after the exam.
Others feel it has to be a contemporary story in which the format is the most important aspect.
Yet literature is neither inaccessible to those without advanced degrees, nor does it consist of books filled with dense prose and convoluted structures.
Literature is simply fiction that explores the human condition and allows readers the opportunity to consider their own lives. It can be found in contemporary stories, westerns, historical novels, science fiction, fantasy, detective stories or any other setting.
The science fiction novel Dune examines some who seek noble causes while others seek selfish gain. The Lord of the Rings looks at strength, courage, service to others and tyrany. The western Broke Back Mountain explores intense and forbidden love. All are literature.
There are, of course, books that are pure rollicking escapist fun. They are just as valid. A good story is a good story, and stories bind societies together.
No matter the career path people pursue, they start off knowing next to nothing about it. Carpenters must learn how to pound nails. They may have watched every episode of a particular home improvement show, but until they gain the experience of actually doing it, they will hit the wood as much as the nails and half of those will be bent. The same is true in other professions. Initial exposure is a good grounding, but there is a difference between knowing a thing and knowing the experience of a thing.
This includes writing. It takes time to learn the nuances of the craft; language, characterization, dialog, plot, suspense, comedy, drama and so forth. We all begin by imitating the styles of writers we have read until we develop our own unique voices, much as art students copy masterpieces to get the feel of how the original artists captured light or expressed emotions. Through this process, writers accumulate techniques they will continue to use. They will also gain the perspective of experience to better understand what they want to say and how to say it. There are those who pop onto the art scene with works of brilliance, however, for most people, it can take years to master the craft of an art.
Even after reaching a professional level, you will discover that the process of learning never ends. There are always new things to discover. This requires a willingness to continually evaluate yourself as a writer and to examine critiques. They could come from other writers, professional development or a critique group. A major difference between professionals and beginners is the ability to override their egos, accept that everyone can improve and commit themselves to that improvement.
Effective critiques are a service and a gift. A good critique examines of how effectively themes or points are expressed and only covers the work. It is not a statement about the writer or a way for the person offering the critique to serve their ego at the expense of others. As such, effective critiques are respectful yet direct in their comments, pointing out what worked and what didn't. Rather than trying to change an author's intention or themes, critiques should cover how effectively the writing expressed the themes and offer suggestions to make the themes more comprehensible. When writers examine critiques about their works, they can gain a better understanding of how to best communicate to readers, though no one is bound to take any suggestions if they feel they want something to be presented in a specific way.
Some new writers can be hypersensitive about critiques. Even respectful suggestions may be considered personal attacks. They may think of their stories as their babies and each word their blood on the page. I have actually heard these words used in writing groups. Some writers might say that their mother liked their manuscript or their friends enjoyed it. These attitudes are a great impediment to becoming a professional writer. Mothers like everything about their children and friends may not want to point out faults. Writers must look to people involved in writing who are willing to comment on how effective their work is. They must also separate their own egos from the work and realize that it is just a piece of writing that does or does not express what was intended. If it doesn't, it must be changed.
Many beginning writers fear that they will run out of material and must jealously guard what they have written by never removing anything. In truth, authors have an inexhaustible source of new ideas that they can draw on by just sitting down, writing them out, seeing how they read, and following threads that are suggested by the material. I threw out five times as much text as what was published in the final manuscript of my first book. Entire characters, cultures, locations and plot lines were removed because they did not serve the story or character development. I was always able to create new martial that did tell the story I intended.
Apprentice carpenters begin in near ignorance. They get experience on the job, go to training courses and proceed through the ranks to become master carpenters. There is no shame in not knowing everything at first, but we humans are impatient, even more so in this wired world. We must all be willing to swallow our egos long enough to study our own work and listen to others in the profession to become masters.
