Why Patric Michael is my Balthazar...

Patric Michael is far more than a wizard with words.

He's an extraordinary teacher, and a lovely, gruff, solid to the core man who makes the world a better place simply by being in it. I find he has a delightful, acerbic wit that has made me shout with laughter more than a few times.Sometimes with my coffee still in my mouth, and well, let's just be glad I was quick enough to turn my head before the computer was bathed in java.

So he's all that, a bag of chips, and a thousand thousand things I will never know.

Because Patric plays some things close to the chest.

He doesn't believe in unnecessary whining. Actually, I think if you ask him he'd say all whining is unnecessary.

Patric took me under his sturdy Papa-Bird wing for no reason that I can discern, and let me ask a hundred and four idiotic questions, and taught me how to see my own work critically.

And he made it fun.

Wizardly.

Me?

I'm just his humble apprentice. There will be times I get it right, and live my life in a way that would make him proud. There will be times I get it wrong, and wail and bitch and blame the world for my problems. Times I don't see my work, or myself clearly.

That's all me.

When I get it right, you can be sure it is because I've listened to the little Patric on my shoulder. He dishes out more than just lessons on the art and craft of writing. He teaches me to be a better person.

Patric Michael is far more than a wizard with words.