Philip Catshill is a former British police officer and lives in England. His unique life experiences, near death encounters, physical disabilities, and emotional incidents have combined to provide a firm foundation for his excellent stories.

At the age of 30, an accidental blow to his head followed by a few drinks at a party brought on a massive stroke. To return to work as an operational police officer proved to be a sometimes amusing, sometimes daunting struggle that took 18 months.

With great pride in this achievement, he survived another 11 years as a uniformed police sergeant. During this time, he stretched his mind to the limit by studying for a degree.

Nine years after that first stroke, a younger man took interest in his family, his home but mostly, his wife. Within weeks, his 19-year marriage was at an end. His mind and life collapsed. His inability to cope with the changes left him homeless and estranged from all that he had loved and the daughters he cherished for 18 and 15 years respectively. Despite having no faith, he was encouraged to pray. Amazingly, he discovered that prayer works! Throughout the loneliness and despair of being homeless, prayer sustained him and brought him to a new life, new love, but most of all, a loving and welcoming family that was happy to love him as their own.

It was meant to be a happy ever after ending to the tragedies, but just four weeks after his last exam to give him his degree, and 16 days after his second marriage, a road accident exacerbated the residual stroke symptoms, bringing his working life to an abrupt end.

Undaunted and determined to defy the paralysis, he took up music and art, achieving piano grade 3 and paintings that are quite simply breath-taking. (http://www.philipcatshill.com)

As he approached his 60th birthday, Philip, who is still severely disabled, decided to write about that stroke from 30 years before. From that experience, the fictional character of Mike Newman emerged. In writing his books, Philip hopes to encourage others to put their story into words.

To demonstrate his abilities and not dwell on his disabilities, he has chosen to take complete responsibility for his books from the first click of the computer keyboard to the final publication of the novel, short story or poem. By taking online courses to improve his language, punctuation and grammar, and learning skills in different aspects of writing, story-telling, and editing, Philip is determined to show that even with severe brain damage, he has the ability to write, edit, and publish first-class novels, short stories and poetry without involving anyone else in the process.

This doesn’t mean his stories are in any way inferior. In fact, Philip’s creative writing, believable characters, and convincing narrative have been acclaimed in countless reviews. One of his novels reached the final rounds of two international awards, and Awesome Indies approved his novel, Penny for Them for quality. His stroke memoir, “Never say I can’t” received the IndiePENdents Seal for outstanding quality.

Whenever time permits, Philip continues to offer support, help, advice, and guidance to fellow writers wherever it is needed.

Philip is the type of guy who will never say, “I can’t!”