Because words are important.

Everywhere I go, I’m asked if the universities stifle writers. My opinion is that they don’t stifle enough of them.
– Flannery O’Connor

I am a full-time freelance writer and editor and the former managing editor at explore, Canada’s multi-award-winning outdoor and adventure magazine. I have worked as a magazine editor and writer since graduating from Ryerson University’s Journalism School in 1999, where I am now an instructor. For the nitty-gritty, please see my resume (saved as PDF). 

I am a regular contributor to explore, Cottage Life and Canadian Geographic Travel and was a frequent columnist for Xtra. My writing has also appeared in Maclean's, Toronto Life, Chatelaine, I.E. Money, Good Times, National Post Business Magazine and many other consumer magazines. You can sample some of these snippets at Published, not Perished.

I share a few National Magazine awards with other writers and editors who  worked on different stories for explore. These include:   

Honourable mention, editorial package, "Nice Work (And You          Can Get It)" Sept/Oct 2007  

Silver, editorial package,  "125 Things We Love Out There"  
June 2006

Gold, service journalism, lifestyle category,  "The Life List" July/August 2005

On the creative but, sadly, non-paying side, I am a published short story writer and a produced playwright. You can read some of my work, find out more about my plays, and view an excerpt from my novel in progress at The Writer’s Block.

I call Toronto home and live in a 100-year-old house with my spouse, potter Kim Henderson and two small cats with big attitude. Molly, our doberman/beagle cross, died in April 2008 at the ripe old age of nearly 15. We hope she is finally catching squirrels somewhere. 

When I’m not writing in my office (either the attic or the garden, depending on my mood and the weather) my favourite pastime is to head for the open water and take a swim. Any body of water, fresh, saline or brackish, will do. Really. I once took a dip near the Dragon Boat Pit in Lake Ontario. (I don't advise anyone do the same.) Toronto's Cherry Beach, however, is excellent. And the waters of San Francisco Bay? Well, read about that in my story Testing the Waters.