About

A Bit About James…

James lives in the Seacoast region of New Hampshire with his wife (Anne-Monique) and three orange cats (Marmalade, Tiger-Lilly, and Hobbes). His two young adult kids—Quincy and Elliot—are off in the world being unique, interesting, and excellent.

There is also Banjo the miniature dachshund but he is a story unto himself and dearly, dearly loved.

Born in 1965 in Philadelphia, James' parents taught at Quaker schools, which allowed him to attended Wilmington Friends School and then Westtown School from first through twelfth grade.

He graduated from Westtown in 1984 and entered Keene State College in New Hampshire the following fall. During that summer James traveled with a friend via bus from Philadelphia to San Francisco, which led to a lifelong love for travel centered on work and experiencing the vibrancy and diversity of American culture.

After a semester at Keene State, James left college to continue exploring the U.S. He lived in numerous locals across the country and worked a number of jobs, such as tulip bulb harvesting, night snowmaking, sawyer for the Forest Service, vineyard and winery worker, construction, cooking, and on and on.

These life experiences as well as the education he received from the two Quaker schools he attended have served to inform his writing in unique and important ways.

In 1991, James returned to college at the State University of New Paltz where he intended on following through on his lifelong love for writing by majoring in Creative Writing. However, questioning the practicality of such a major and the expense of it, he soon changed his major to Political Science. During college James relied on his job skills to support himself and worked seven days-per-week during the school semesters and then six days-per-week during summer breaks.

Thrilled to be free of college after graduating in 1995 and feeling a bit disconnected from his more adventurous past, James moved to northern New Hampshire. He used this time to do work that he loved—cooking, night snowmaking, and working for the Forest Service—and to enjoy life with friends skiing, hiking, fly-fishing, playing guitar, and living in and among the White Mountains.

Before long, James yearned for something more and started writing for the local newspaper. This led to a career as a political journalist and the opportunity to act on his long held dream to earn his living writing. He soon moved to the southern part of the state and worked for two newspapers writing alternately on politics, social issues and the various personalities he came in contact with.

The MIT Press gave his career a considerable boost when they asked him to ghostwrite a book-length manuscript on Internet governance. He has since ghostwritten numerous books in a range of styles and subjects. These include thought-leadership books that explore the intersection of cutting-edge business concepts and technology for authors with large international audiences, exploring strategies to increase the rate of medical discovery to develop new cancer treatments, the intersection of science and social justice, and medical research generally.

James' favorite area of writing, however, is narrative nonfiction stories that demonstrate the resilience of the human spirit.

James has also discovered that he is an adept writing coach who is uniquely able to help beginning and experienced authors expand their skills and create manuscripts once thought to be beyond their ability. He also loves to see his friends and clients achieve their long held literary dreams by helping them connect with the best possible agent or publisher.

Beyond his professional writing career, James loves reading and writing short stories. His favorite short story authors include Grace Paley, John Cheever, David Sedaris, Diane Williams, Updike, and many others. In fact, it was three short stories read as a student--A&P by Updike, Sonny's Blues by James Baldwin, and A Clean Well-Lighted Place by Hemingway--that initially showed him the power of writing.

Beyond these, his favorite books are Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner, The Orchard by Adele Crocket Robertson, Cider House Rules by John Irving, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín, and Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.

He is happy spending his life writing and helping others create, tell, and sell their stories to the world.