About Those Borders...

My website is called Writing Across Borders because I think about them a lot.

I've lived a lot of places--most in the U.S.--and I've now settled in Canada. Each place I've lived has been different; though I was born in the U.S., Thunder Bay is my true home.

So the first border that became important to me was the one between Canada and the U.S. However, I find that I have been writing across borders for years.

Writing is a natural way to bridge gaps: to connect minds separated by time as well as space. To share knowledge and passion or to broaden horizons. To add colors to a reader's palette. Or perhaps those are “colours,” depending on which side of a border you, or those for whom you're writing, are.

In my professional life, I've helped experts communicate with non-experts. Often, the experts have been scientists and engineers; sometimes, they've been artists, software designers, marketing professionals, or business owners. I've helped connect those who know less about something to those who know more.

As I write more fiction and creative nonfiction, I find myself again challenged to cross borders: to bring the techniques of fiction to a real event, to move characters from my head to a page.

Those are the borders I'm talking about.