Tag: writing

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How do you forgive and forget?

Hint: You don’t.

Forgiveness versus Vengeance is one of the central themes of my next vigilante justice thriller. From Luigi Mangione’s actions to burning Teslas, this is a timely topic. Many turn away from these highly publicized acts of violence with little more than a shrug. There are good reasons for this. In the battle between the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala, fear wins. Fear is the emotion poorly hidden beneath anger. It’s a neurological response, and schadenfreude is baked into our brain’s wiring.

“Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.” ~ Yoda

Yoda is quotable. It’s a good line (and you heard the Yoda voice, right?) However, I think he’s got it backward (which fits his typical grammar). Fear is a protective mechanism. Wariness of dangers increases our odds of survival. Frustration and fear lead to anger and resistance. The Jedi weren’t a bunch of pacifists. Hence, all the cool lightsaber duels. Those Jedi knights were down and out for quite a while but rose again to fight the Empire. I agree, don’t succumb to evil, but don’t be a chump, either.

For Mere Mortals, Forgiveness Isn’t So Easy.

Sixty-seven percent of people surveyed say they believe in forgiveness. Sounds good and upright, doesn’t it? Dig deeper. Fifty-six percent admit they don’t practice that virtue. I don’t blame them. Most would agree that forgiveness is healthy for the person doing the forgiving. However, no one instructs us how to forgive and forget. Instead., we get guilt-ridden platitudes that deny our humanity and our reality.

To err is human, to forgive divine, but we’re no angels.

I have an excellent memory, so how am I to forget? Frontal lobotomy? And if I forgive you your trespasses, do either of us learn anything? By refusing to forgive, I deny the offender the opportunity to trespass against me again. Sounds to me like carrying grudges is a safer course.

I asked my psychologist if she believes in forgive and forget. (When I say “My psychologist,” I refer to She Who Must Be Obeyed, AKA my wife.) She holds a doctorate in psychology and is the most sane person I know. That’s why I was so surprised when she did not hesitate to answer, “No.”

She acknowledges that forgiveness is difficult. In many cases, it’s an unreasonable expectation set by out-of-touch purists. The good doctor offered hope, though. She suggested, “Maybe the best you can do is to get to a place and time where you just don’t care anymore.”

“Or,” I countered, “write a massive hit thriller that’s packed with clever revenge fantasies to plague your real-life enemies!”

She’s going to start charging me for these sessions, isn’t she?

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New on the Menu

The writing workshop in Toronto is coming up in a couple of weeks. I am preparing to pitch literary agents for Vengeance Is Hers. Four agents I would consider partnering with are at the workshop. I have three others in mind, as well. Part of the prep work is to have the partial ready for their review. I have a sample ready.

Hot tip:

If you are pitching to agents or just want to give away a sample of your work for a book fair, a signing, or some other such trial by fire, get a QR code. I do have a presentation package for agents, but I won’t be lugging around a manuscript like some early 19th century peasant. I’m a modern ink-stained wretch. Instead, I’ll just give the QR code to link to the partial. If they want more, I’ve provided an email for further inquiries.

What’s New?

I have added menus to this website. Above, you’ll find links to my bio and what reviewers say about my work. The pitch and partial for Vengeance Is Hers is found under For Literary Agents. Of course, if you aren’t a literary agent but want a sneak peek of a badass story about a young woman on a righteous quest for revenge, enjoy a taste of vengeance!

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Our Brains and Why All Empires Fall

One of the strangest turns in the news came this week when an alarming and easily predicted future became mundane history. Trump posted, “Long live the King.” That wasn’t surprising. However, some of his cult members backed him by celebrating. “Trump is king!” Many of these same folks post 1776 in their social media bios. Knuckleheaded knuckledraggers may know their country’s history. It seems they’ve abandoned the values they claimed they most cherished. Monarchy is back, baby! Get used to it!

Reminds one of the so-called evangelicals who, last year, decided to let go the gentler teachings of Christ. Jesus was “too woke” for our troubled times, apparently. They still call themselves Christian, just meaner and in a roid rage, I guess.

What feeds this nonsense? Bias.

There are many types of cognitive bias that affect us. There is hindsight bias, loss aversion bias, the gambler’s fallacy, and the beastly Dunning-Kruger effect. The D-K effect plus confirmation bias is a lethal combination, dangerous to civilization. Those are the better-known afflictions. I have a couple of favorites that may not be on your radar:

Survivor Bias

Survivor bias goes like this: “We live in a land of opportunity! I make a lot of money, so why can’t everybody else?”

This bias plays into the myth of the self-made individual. It ignores a plethora of historical, systemic, and personal variables. This bias turns the principle of fair financial compensation into a cruel game of keep-away. When interviewed, successful people often extol the virtue of hard work. Only a few self-aware ones say, “I worked hard, but I got incredibly lucky! I made it, but I’m not altogether sure how, but I know I’m an outlier.” It’s much more tempting to believe “I built X and now own a couple of yachts because I’m a genius.”

Lots of people work hard and are never adequately compensated. If success were so easily replicable, more people would attain it. For instance, if you’re a nepobaby who won the genetic lottery, the path to stardom is paved with pillows. Nobody who catches those breaks talks about that. When asked the secret to their success, I’ve heard actors say, “I know my lines and I show up on time.” Learning a script can be difficult, but showing up on time? You mean like every other employee on the planet? That’s blind privilege talking, you handsome dunce. That’s survivor bias.

Survivor bias doesn’t come up first as one of the more lethal societal ills, but it is dangerous. It feeds a delusion that’s used as a cudgel on the oppressed and unfortunate. If the poor deserve to be poor, you only care if you’re poor. Not much room for kindness and mercy there, huh? Survivor bias makes its believer a terrible person and everyone else worse off.

Normalcy Bias

An author friend messaged me to ask, since I write apocalyptic novels, does our current political situation feel like I’m living in one of my books? I’ve written about the many ways empires fall. My back catalog includes zombies, vampires, AI domination, killer robots, alien invasion, meteors, climate crises, disease, nuclear conflagration, mass poverty, and famine. Lots of fun to explore in fiction, right? What’s unfolding now, though? I couldn’t write it because so much of it sounds outlandish, too dumb, and replete with hissy fits. Nuclear stockpile inspectors and warhead assembly experts getting fired en masse sounds too silly, doesn’t it? That happened. Then somebody said, “Oopsy! Get them back! Where are their email addresses? What do you mean you deleted their email addresses?”

The doomsday clock is now 89 seconds to midnight. The world is teetering toward all your worst nightmares. Still, we carry on, believing that cooler heads will prevail. That, my friends, is normalcy bias.

The courts decided they couldn’t allow a presidential candidate to go to jail for even one day for his crimes. He should have been confined for contempt and endangering officers of the court, at the very least. Didn’t happen. Couldn’t happen. That was normalcy bias at its dark and dirty work. You’ve always been told no one is above the law. Obviously not so.

The objection always comes to changing circumstances: “X can’t happen because it’s never happened before. It would be unprecedented!”

This is a recurring theme in my fiction (and my answer to this complaint):

Everything is unprecedented until it’s not.

Normalcy bias keeps you dangerously comfortable. It assures you that the health insurance you have relied on will always be there for you. Why? Because it always has been. To lose it would be unprecedented! (See above.)

Normalcy bias kept endangered people from fleeing Germany before World War II broke out. Normalcy bias assures people that all their investments are safe until the stock market collapses. Normalcy bias made Canadians, Mexicans, and all NATO allies feel that the United States government would be their friend. The news reveals the truth: People have friends. Governments have interests.

Human behavior, mental illness, and neurobiology are interests I try to monetize by writing novels with flawed characters. Sometimes, they suffer mental health issues like mine (anxiety, for one instance). Other times, they use their knowledge to manipulate others. It’s fun in fiction. When cognitive biases dominate our media intake and the political sphere, ignorant people transform into monsters and innocent people suffer and die. Our biases make us more vulnerable to personal and systemic failure. Ignorance can be cured easily, but stupid is much more complicated.

Biases kill.

(On the other hand, when I meet with literary agents in April, I’ll pull from my bag of tricks in the pitch meetings to sell my next book, but that’s another post. Villainous laughter: Mwah-ha-ha-ha!)

In the meantime, have you read All Empires Fall yet?

Why all Empires Fall
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And Now the News You Don’t Want

It’s interesting to watch things fall apart. This feels like our plane is falling from the sky while the pilot tells you, “This is for your own good, you know. Thank me.”

The news is hard to keep up with. While DOGE divulges national security secrets, the FDA suffers massive layoffs. If food safety was important to you, too bad. Not enough food inspectors. Everything that goes awry is blamed on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

Pro Tip: Next time someone says they are against DEI, ask them which particular aspect they are against. Are they against diversity, equality, or inclusion? If they just say DEI, there’s a good chance they can’t define the term, and the slogan might just be shorthand for a slur.


As a Canadian and an author, naturally I’m concerned about the trade war. The blanket tariffs on Canada have been put off until Donald has another whim, an empty complaint or a non-specific demand. He has managed to do something no Canadian politician has accomplished: We are united against him. When you get Quebecois and English Canada working together against you, you know you’ve fucked up.

To their credit, many Americans are also feeling vulnerable and oogy. A handful of young dogebags with very questionable credentials are mining their personal data. These cadets for prison say they’re conducting audits, but there’s not an accountant in sight. If you only bring hackers to the job, the job is hacking.

On Boycotts

February 28, everyone is encouraged to buy local, and not give money to oligarchs. Will this make a difference? Probably not if it’s just one day. What’s more impressive and effective are the ongoing changes in buying habits. Canadians don’t have a lot of alternatives for streaming services, so most of us won’t give up Amazon Prime and Disney. On the other hand, Canadians are staying away from cross-border shopping.

Whenever I’ve nipped across the border, the cars in mall parking lots in Port Huron are filled with Ontario license plates. Not anymore, and those businesses are feeling the pinch. Likewise, Canadian tourism to the United States has plummeted so much that Air Canada has cancelled a lot of flights. Given the blanket firings at the FAA, many of us are leery of flying, anyway. Donald assured us flying was safe, except we’re all in danger from unqualified air traffic controllers and pilots…but we’re safe. What?

This White House is notorious for its muddled messaging. For instance, tariffs are great for America! How will we punish Canada and Mexico? Tariffs! What? Those little countries will put retaliatory tariffs on us? Terrible! How dare they?

Writing in a Dangerous Time

I love my readers, and most of them, by far, are from the States. I’ve entertained many citizens of the Divided States of America, and I bear them no ill will. It’s their government that’s the problem. Canada will not become the 51st state. If that were to transpire somehow, this grasping president would soon find out he doesn’t want what he thought he did.

So, how will all this affect my book sales? My sales will go down. That will occur, but not because of any mass animus on either side of the border. It will happen because our two countries are headed for a recession. When people can’t afford to buy eggs, have lost their job, or can’t pay the rent, they won’t be buying my delightful fiction. In times of trouble, fiction is an excellent distraction that soothes the soul. In times of disaster, you can’t read when you’re too busy running.

Should you boycott Amazon? Up to you. Consider two factors: (A) That’s my entire source of income, and (B) Jeff Bezos won’t care. Bezos has much bigger fish to fry and planets to invade. But seriously, it’s up to you. If you are boycotting Amazon and the other oligarchs, I really can’t complain. I’m buying Canadian products and support local retailers as much as I can manage. The universal tariffs aren’t on us right now, but the international trust is gone, and our friendship is damaged. Threatened with domination, Canadians don’t look upon America as kindly anymore. We were happy to be friends, but Donald insistence on gratitude has only angered us and strengthened our resolve to affirm our national identity.

To the Americans who don’t get it, I’ll simplify: Patriotism isn’t just for you. If China talked carelessly about annexing Texas, you’d lose your shit. See?

What about that trust we lost?

Canadians have long been the US’s biggest ally and solid trading partner. Now, my government is pushed toward expanding trade with other nations. China, Europe, and Brazil spring to mind first. A new trade agreement has been founded with Ecuador. While some Americans toy with the idea of attacking NATO allies, there’s talk of Canada joining the EU. Donald talks about how the American military protects us, but all we feel is a need for protection from the US military.

I’m tired of the media talking about a “budding” constitutional crisis in the US. It’s not coming. It’s here, and by the way, we’re all in more danger than we were a month ago. The Five Eyes shared sensitive information and surveillance resources to tamp down terrorist groups. Given that Donald has a habit of keeping top-secret documents in unsecured locations, it’s now the Four Eyes. They won’t share important information if they think it could be compromised so easily. Terrorist attacks will succeed in the next four years due to this sad lack of international cooperation and coordination. (There’s another reason to stay off planes.)

Information mismanagement is a huge problem (and possibly the plan) with this new administration. Abandoning the World Health Organization means less data pooling among researchers. No USAID? Diseases that were squelched fast in far lands will appear here.* Measles is on the rise. Bird flu is in the offing. Dismantling CDC pandemic response teams and installing RFK as chief quack means disease and disaster are dead ahead. And I do mean dead.

*For a shocking look at Trump’s death toll that’s already killing babies, watch the first episode of 2025 of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. (No, I haven’t given up my HBO subscription through Crave yet, and John Oliver is the reason. His best joke about his own appearance: “I look like a parrot who works at a bank!” Damn, I love John Oliver.)

Look, I’ve written a lot of apocalyptic novels. The burden in fiction is achieving verisimilitude. It has to sound authentic. In this non-fiction scenario, we’re running headlong toward lethal folly. In a novel. I would never write what’s happened in the first month of the Trump presidency. It would sound too silly. Even the most hardcore of Donald Trump’s supporters must have at least struggled a little with his thoughtless layoffs of experts who ensure nuclear weapons don’t blow up in their silos. The regulators and safety inspectors work in the Department of Energy. I guess Trump and Elon didn’t understand that designation is really a misnomer. It’s less the Department of Energy and more the Department of Nuclear Weapons.

I’ll keep writing books because I have no other skills of note. I hope we all come out the other side of this healthy, horny, and perhaps wiser. I try to let go of what I can’t control. I’ll do what I can to resist. For instance, I’ll boo the US national anthem. Does that have any effect? Actually, yes, because it goes against the Canadian stereotype and shocks the senses of those who are, for one reason or another, trying to normalize the abnormal. Too many US citizens, brainwashed by decades of the American Exceptionalism virus, don’t see us as a separate nation. They don’t think of us at all, really. We either simply don’t matter to them, or we’re the butt of lame jokes. Sounds like Canada needs new close allies, doesn’t it? Donald’s the consummate bad boyfriend.

Some Canadians don’t agree we should boo the US national anthem. I considered their objection of “That’s not who we are.” Then I saw the comment: “The country that aims to annex us says booing their national anthem is impolite.” Yeah, I’m gonna have to go with booing.

I am a writer who wants to entertain my readers, but I was Canadian first, and I love that. We share many similarities with our neighbours to the south, but we are different. For instance, Canadian healthcare saved the vision in my left eye and gave me two hip implants that allow me to walk without pain. All I had to pay was parking. School shooting are a rarity here. Meanwhile, in the States, I have often confused this week’s mass murders with last week’s mass murders. No, I don’t ache to own an arsenal and call that freedom. No, I don’t want to be a vassal to a King who wouldn’t bother to piss on me if I were on fire.

What am I going to do for the next four years?

I‘ll keep writing books for anyone who will have me. When confronting chaos, I’ll try not to panic and use my voice to serve righteous causes. That’s probably about all the force I can muster. Given the larger forces at play, maybe I should learn the language of the newest sole superpower. Mandarin will be difficult, but well….

The better question is, why do so many Americans defy their history and great future potential to serve a king who thinks “groceries” is a new word?*

*Yeah, he said that.

The Empathy Deficit

Donald suffers from ED, Empathy Deficit. Donald does terrible things and calls it virtue. If he had empathy for others, he wouldn’t do the things he does. Apparently, that infection hit some 30 – 40% of American citizens. Some of his voters are now discovering their mistake, but too late. The next election is far off. Next time, do your research before the election. If you’re MAGA, just know it’s not all your fault. You’ve been tricked, probably because the amygdala in your brain is too big. (That’s the fear center of your brain, so no, that’s not good. Your fears are overcoming your neo-cortex, where the thinking happens.)

Last night, I listened to a political debate. The host pointed out that the MAGA guest’s taxes would soon rise by three percent. He also mentioned that defunding USAID would kill 20 million people. The MAGA guest panicked about the 3% tax hike. He didn’t react at all to the deaths of 20 million people. That careless disregard for humanity is the rot at the root.

Note: This sort of post won’t be a regular thing. I’ll touch base with current events from time to time, but I’ll also give you stress relief here. I prefer fiction to real life, especially now.

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Commonly Misused Words

The misuse of words grinds my gears. I have a short list of the worst offenders I’ve heard recently.

  1. “An exuberant amount of money.” No, it’s an exorbitant amount of money.
  2. “Pundint.” You mean to say, pundit, no second n.
  3. Erudite sounds like it looks: Air-oo-dite. It’s not “aeriodite.”
  4. You don’t “flaunt the law.” You flout it.
  5. Library has an r in it. Not “Lie-berry.”
  6. Elon Musk AKA Phony Stark, is not an inventor. He’s an investor who considers you not at all. (That’s not altogether fair. He thinks a lot of you are parasites.)

    Which misused words irk you?
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I’ll Never Be John Grisham

Until recently, I’d never read any John Grisham. He’s an incredibly successful novelist. He has entertained millions of readers and apparently has a net worth north of $400 million! Impressive. I’ll never have anywhere near that tier of success for one very important reason (at least it’s important to me).

Ken Follett’s cover quote is that John Grisham is “The best thriller writer alive.”

My incurable folly

I was on my way to Cuba. I needed something to take my mind off defying God by cramming myself into a flying death tube just to see palm trees. She Who Must Be Obeyed handed me Camino Island for the journey. This novelist is probably old news to you, but an unread book is always new to the uninitiated.

The story held a few surprises up front. I liked the heist very much. I love heist capers, and this was a clever one that made sense. I did have a quibble immediately after the first scene concluded, though. The cops arrive, scoop up a few drops of blood, and have the name of one of the perpetrators immediately. DNA analysis doesn’t work that quickly. That’s some CSI nonsense., but readers who value narrative speed over verisimilitude (and plenty do) won’t mind.

Fun note: I recently learned the most accurate forensic science show was Quincy M.E. It would be out of date now, but I was impressed the show didn’t use fake props. They bought real medical equipment and their forensic scientist actually had a role on the show.

I see the value and appreciate the lure of Grisham’s prose. It’s so straightforward, it makes for a fast read. I get it. The sentence structures are so simple to swallow: NOUN + VERB + OBJECT. Repeat. It’s as easy as an elementary school textbook. See Dick run.

A smarter writer would emulate the master’s success. I’m not a smarter writer. What I missed was interiority.

“Interiority is a writing technique that explores a character’s inner life, including their thoughts, feelings, and actions. It’s a way to show readers how a character processes information and makes sense of the world around them.” ~ according to the internet.

I read a good chunk of Camino Island, and not once did I get a glimpse inside a character’s head. The danger of overusing omniscience is the writer ends up telling instead of showing. Any writing teacher advises, “Show, don’t tell.” We don’t write, “She was nervous.” We write, “Betsy’s hands shook. Her heart raced and she could not slow her breathing.”

I’m all for showing, not telling. However, I love to explore motivations. My characters struggle to make sense of their worlds. I’m struggling with that all the time, too. So, I’m committed to failure in that I can’t emulate John Grisham’s style. Good for him, probably bad for me. He’s not wrong. We’re just different.

On the other hand, I visited a little specialty bookstore yesterday. They had a very small general fiction section, but it was well curated. I was pleased to find that I’d read many of the novels on their shelves. It gave me confidence that I’d find more great books to my taste there. Many other novelists have had success using techniques that explore characters’ inner worlds. Few novelists ever touch the heights of Grisham’s financial success and vast fan base, but I still believe there’s room for me on the Reader Ship. I might have to settle for cargo class, but I’m on the same boat.

I’ll never be John Grisham, but I have an excellent shot at being Robert Chazz Chute.

Not a single “he thought” or “she thought in italics here.” Alas.

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Energize Your Writing Life with Attack Mode

Years ago, I went to a one-man show put on by director Kevin Smith. Between the jokes, he talked about taking advantage of opportunities and making good things happen. One key takeaway was the Wayne Gretzky quote: “Skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.” That advice proved timely. It coincided with meeting a harbinger of the future at a writing conference in 2010. The experience set me on the path to founding Ex Parte Press.

That harbinger? She was the first person I’d met who read ebooks exclusively. It was a glimpse of the imminent future. A new market had opened and was rapidly expanding. Growing pains and a gold rush lay dead ahead. I’d written a lot, and now I had a place to put it. Mostly, that meant Amazon.

That writing conference took place in Victoria, BC. The outlier was one of the conference organizers. She introduced me as “Roger” as I was about to perform a reading of a short story. I made a joke of it, beginning with, “You got my name wrong, but by the end of this story, you’ll know who I am and remember it!” Sure, I flirted with being obnoxious, but I was confident in my material. I didn’t just read that story about a fight with my dad over money. I attacked it. The reading was very well-received.

It was fun to meet other writers, pick up some tips, and even make a few allies. The thing I enjoy most about writing conferences is how energizing they are. In April, I’m headed to Toronto for a Writing Day Workshop. There will be lectures and discussions and wonky stuff about the book business. I will meet with four agents that day, and I am so excited.

ATTACK MODE: ACTIVATED

If you are curious about attending a conference, here’s the link.

If you need more motivation, here’s a link to their success stories.