Creative writing: From February 1987 to August 1988, I took some time off from work to develop my writing skills. I concentrated on fictional works but supplemented my dwindling savings with some freelance technical writing. Since October 2001, I’ve been participating in 100words.net, an online writers group that obliges its members to write and submit exactly 100 words every day.
 

Computer animation: From September 1983 to August 1984, I was responsible for the programming and design of the computer animation sequences for Target, a film by Robert Kennedy.
 

Publishing: From April 1979 to May 1981, I was editor of ism, a magazine of student work distributed to Toronto high schools. I wrote several articles and stories and also participated in the design, layout, and printing of the magazine.
 

Online communities: From February 1992 to September 1995, I was an active participant on Magic, a large, BBS-based community of roughly 10,000 registered users. Soon after joining, I was enlisted by the system administrator as one of a half dozen “Pingers” whose job it was to keep the conversation going in the system’s many forums. From May 1993 onwards, I was responsible for moderating the Politics and the Discrimination forums. Since April 2002, I’ve been working in a partnership on a new weblog named DisContent.