Frequently Asked Questions

Who are you?

I am a contemporary, urban and gothic fantasy writer.  Honest, I looked it up and everything!

I was born in 1979 in Paisley, a large industrial town in the West of Scotland. I attended the University of Glasgow where I graduated with an LL.B. (Hons) in Scottish Law, and absolutely zero desire to become a lawyer. I continued my legal education at the Universtiy of Cambridge, reading for an LL.M. in International Law. I then spent two years out of academia trying to secure funding for a PhD (first at Cambridge, then at Glasgow, then the London School of Economics), eventually starting as a self-funded student at the London School of Economics under the supervision of Dr Gerry Simpson.

Towards the end of a troubled first year at LSE I became ill, then depressed, and eventually took a one year interruption of studies that stretched to two years whilst I got my head around what I really wanted in life. In early 2007 I realised what I wanted wasn't law. What I wanted to do was write. I officially withdrew from my doctoral studies at LSE in June 2007, and have been working on writing ever since, with some moderate success.

I have been a somewhat regular contributor to the Creative Writing section on Gumtree, as well as Fiction Friday over at Write Anything, which has helped to raise my profile, and my confidence.

Since November 2007 I have written a weekly column on the Write Anything website. Check me out every Sunday.

Aren't you that director/footballer/strongman?

No, I'm not. It's a common name oddly enough!

Didn't this used to be called Project Ex-Lex?

Yes it did, but not any more.

I needed a name for the site, and I couldn't think of one.  So I used a spur of the moment, not intended seriously, throwaway comment, safe in the knowledge that I could change it to something better at a later date.  Which I have decided to do now.

Influences

Writing Goals

  • Write every day, aiming for a minimum of two pages each day.
  • Compile an electronic anthology of my my best short stories from 2008.
  • Launch the Chinese Whispers anthology.
  • Enter six writing contests.
  • Complete two manuscripts to a publishable standard.
  • Participate in, and complete, NaNoWriMo 2009.

Wishlists

Just in case anybody out there is feeling generous...