I wrote my first story when I was eight years old. It’s the tale of pirate Louis Bourg, captain of the Bloody Mary, whose most heinous crime (apparently) was falling in love with a young woman. That’s it. Not winning any prizes with that one, but hey! It was a start.
I had some nebulous idea of being an author one day, but left it at that for four decades. In the meantime I got busy leading canoe trips across the wilderness of north western Ontario with my summer camp, escaping civilisation for two, three and six weeks at a time. Going back to school and the city left me a complete mess and I longed for the freedom of the bush. But I struggled on and completed my English Literature degree at McGill University. Then I faced a critical decision: keep reading about people living extraordinary lives (a.k.a. do a Masters in English Literature), or go and have one myself. I opted for Australia and a life as an outdoor educator with Outward Bound.
My wild adventures blended two loves: the outdoors and people. Somewhere in there I worked out I’d like to work for myself, show leaders how to build better teams and businesses, and my leadership business was born. This is when I started writing again. I’ve had a blog since 2002. Podcasting started in 2018. I wrote four leadership books (People Stuff won Australian Business Book of the Year in 2020) before this question reached up and seized me by the throat: ‘what if fiction was a more powerful way to move people to learn more about themselves and leadership? Can stories change people’s lives more than a how-to leadership book?’ I opened a Scrivener file and got to work on The Olympus Project.
At first it was a few scenes that had been rattling around in my brain for years. I worked out pretty quickly that is not enough to make a story. So I navel-gazed on my professional passions.
I’ve been obsessed for some time now about leadership for the future, large social change, and leadership maturity for a more wise and compassionate society. My work with leaders is to assist in their capacity to see and lead in complexity while sense-making for the future. I studied futurists’ thinking and started doing thought experiments about a climate-changed world, how we might live and work in such circumstances. I combined that with my fascination for space exploration, and my first novel, The Olympus Project, emerged. Can the Gaia Enterprises crew overcome conventional political rivalries, corporate greed, and power struggles to create a more inclusive future society? I am currently writing the series, set between a very hot Earth, the Moon, and Mars. The prequel Terra Blanca Insurrection came next (yes, out of sequence, but who can argue with the Muse?), and Olympus Bound, the sequel, is due for publication May 2024.
I love being an Indie for the creative freedom and commercial independence. Plus the ability to interact with readers and build a community. A wholly fulfilling experience.
