Litera Scripta Manet
The motto that heads up my site is ingrained in everything I do.
It means "the written word endures." I have a childhood memory of a quote that went something like: "The written word endures, while the spoken disappears like water on the hot sands of time." I remember being told that this was from The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, although all the searches I've been able to do have not revealed any truth in that, nor any alternative source for the whole quote. The first part of it, however, is well known amongst other things as the motto of the National Archives of the United States, but I've adopted it for purely personal reasons: that warm memory from boyhood and the fact that I've had a lifelong love affair with both reading and creating the written word.
Through the links on this page you can read how I'm getting on with my first novel (and some extracts) on the 'Author' page.
As of now, I've co-written one screenplay with my dear friend and writing coach Colleen Patrick and am working on two sequels. Find out more on the Screenwriter section.
Although I didn't start writing poetry until the late 1990s, to date I've penned over 40 poems. Some of my favourites can be found on the Poet pages.
I've been collaborating for almost two years on a songwriting project with my friend Annie Wallace. Read more about this on the Songwriter pages.
I started part-time web designing in 1997 for friends, and even ran a small web design company (again in my spare time) for about a year. I'm still active in this area if the project sparks my interest.
Despite appearing last in the list, at present my career in computing is the only thing that pays the rent. You might think that there isn't a lot of writing involved, but I do have to create a lot of technical documentation in the course of my work. I take just as much pride in my use of English in the office as I do with the more creative stuff.