I’m a ghost writer and a bookmaker. I’ve always loved books. As a boy I used to write for fun. My first story was about my parents’ life in the circus during the Second World War. Dad was a lion-tamer and Mum was an acrobatic dancer. Boy, was I lucky to be born with such great material!
I went to university and kept writing, but I wasn’t content with theory. I wanted experience, so I hitch-hiked to India and became a Buddhist monk, staying with the Tibetans for eight years, learning their language and philosophy, and publishing my memoir in 2009.
I’ve been writing professionally for over forty years. I also design books, set type, make digital illustrations and photoshop old pictures so they look like new. In other words, I can tailor-make any book you want. One of my favorites is the large-format, illustrated coffee-table style. As well as your personal photos, these books include montages and historical images that paint the backdrop of each episode of your story, plus sidebars to explain the times they happened in. See HERE.
As a monk I was trained in mindfulness. It’s at the heart of Buddhist training and is an incredibly useful tool. Twice a week, I teach cancer patients, helping them manage their anxiety and live to the full. Also, mindfulness helps put me in my clients’ shoes, and bring their story to life. You can’t take this for granted. Good storytelling doesn’t simply tell you what happened—it makes you feel like you were there.
I live in Hudson, an artistic community just outside of Montreal. My wife Caroline Courey is a life coach extraordinaire and an MS warrior who fights her disease with diet and exercise to stay on her feet. More about Caroline HERE.