My name is Michael Brooke, and I live in Thornhill, Ontario. I am a best-selling author (over 42,000 copies sold) and former magazine and book publisher. I spent over two decades interviewing people and documenting their stories in my magazine Concrete Wave. It was truly a rewarding experience to see these stories come to life. In the spring of 2018, I decided to sell my business and venture into
a whole other career path. I moved from the world of print and wound up working as a funeral director’s assistant. When I look back at my decision, it makes sense. I had spent many years volunteering at a local retirement home along with a local hospice. There was something about listening to people and getting a sense of their stories that really resonated with me. I have attended many funerals over these last three years and listened to numerous touching eulogies and tributes. I have often wondered about what happens to the stories now that these people are no longer with us. I also wondered if there was a way I could combine my interviewing and writing skills and combine them with my publishing knowledge. This is where the seeds of Time For My Story started to germinate. For some people writing their life stories is quite a daunting task. Life gets in the way as you try to make plans. So many of us experience wonderful moments with our friends and family but don’t have the time to fully document them with words and photos. In order to deal with this time crunch, I decided to interview people in hourly blocks and write 2,500 words at a time. I also wanted to ensure that the publications had a large number of photos too. Above all, I felt compelled to draw on my experiences in both media and funeral services. This was to ensure that the whole process from interviewing to writing to the final print piece was both personable and efficient. Eighteen years ago, Mark Tzerelshtein and I began working together on thousands of pages in both books and magazines. We truly enjoyed that time and were a great team. In the fall of 2021, I decided to team up again with Mark and make Time For My Story a reality. We are both so happy about this opportunity. It is our desire to create a beautifully designed publication that will be cherished by future generations of family and friends for many years to come.
