As I was finishing my teaching credential, the program director gave me a book entitled Let Your Life Speak by Parker J Palmer. My director was fond of quoting him. She credited him with the line “We teach who we are.” It may be a bit of a erudite thing to say but I took it to mean that who we are is reflected in our teaching. I believe the same is true in writing. We write who we are. 

As I reflected on my latest released piece, “Goblins” I realized that I clearly have a pattern or a theme in my writing. I obviously love to write adventure stories. I also have strong themes of companionship in my writing. Whether it is Durbar and Maklar, or Durbar and Rothan in my Sureshot series, or the Goblin Brothers Nyx and Zyx in that series or the Dwarf Brothers Biggs and Smalls, I clearly prefer that no one go it alone for very long. This is obviously a reflection of my own heart. 

In doing “market research” I looked to see what fantasy novels were doing well and I was a little disappointed. The top selling books in the genre I prefer are mostly featuring female leads, fantastic creatures like vampires and werewolves and of course, young romance. I sat around wondering whether I could write in the same way and use the same themes in order to try to tap into the rich goldmine that is YA female fantasy and I just don’t have it in me. I like what I like and I am who I am. 

So, I will continue to write with my heart and craft stories that I enjoy. There will be adventure. There will be camaraderie. There will be conflict and there will be foes to defeat. It’s who I am and it’s what I write. So if you’re into that type of thing then I’m your guy! I will of course write some female characters. I have a few and maybe I’ll write a couple more to balance out my library. Women can be just as savage as men and I look forward to seeing them in action in my stories. 

Cheers everyone! Enjoy the adventure!