Jagged Edge

I was born in Montreal, Quebec way too many years ago. I've been living in the suburbs of Toronto since the early '80s, and I can't imagine living anywhere else.

I am a classically trained musician and English Lit enthusiast. I began reading and playing piano probably before I could even walk! I've been a creative and artistic person for as long as I can remember.

My first passion in life was playing music; but, aside from spending several years teaching band to inner city school kids in Toronto, I found myself still looking for an outlet for my creativity.

Since then, spanning the next two decades, I have been teaching English lit to high school seniors. I absolutely LOVE what I do. Psychological deconstruction of lit, grammar, poetry, fairy tales . . . I love teaching it all. And I love to study it myself. Lifelong learner! But still, I wanted to do something more.

After having a few non-fiction works published nationally in various media, I finally realized my true goal: writing . I'm a born reader, but I've also got some amazing stories to tell.

I'm mostly a technical person in my writing, focusing on structure, semantics, and style. But I draw on many years of experience to be able to write effectively and honestly about the human condition and the myriad flaws inherent to it.

Since being diagnosed with mental illness many years ago, I now find a much more pure and open line of understanding with my own psyche. I've been through it. Still going through it. But I'll tell you, it sure gives some really great character ideas! Writing is an incredible outlet for speaking honestly to one's self and realizing -- but still accepting -- just how screwed up we all really are.

I'm obsessed with the theories of Northrop Frye, Joseph Campbell, and other mythopoeic scholars who postulate that all literature the world over shares connections through their cyclical stories of heroes and archetypes. I will never get tired of seeing the similarities in the stories of Luke Skywalker, Harry Potter, 'Neo' Anderson, Mufasa, and even biblical stories.

But it's to Shakespeare's Hamlet and Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock Holmes from which I draw the most inspiration. I find undeniable connections between myself with both of these flawed, magnanimous, and tortured characters. To be honest, I think that Hamlet and Holmes are two of the most spectacular characters ever written; they are so deeply aligned with their own psyches, much to the exclusion of the people and their societies around them, that they demonstrate perhaps the greatest understanding of mental acuity of all of humanity. I am humbled before them (and of course, Will Shakespeare and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle).

My greatest wish is to one day be as aware of the intricacies of the connections that surround us as humans as were some of the greatest writers to ever live. I also hope the same for my children, Max and Jack, that they are as sensitive to, and aware of, the difficulties and joys of being human in our world.