Writers are not born so. Writers emerge –  and from all walks of life. Everyone has a story inside them. Sometimes, it remains stubbornly wedged – resisting all effort to extract it. A real writer is simply one who can wrestle that story out and communicate it to inform, entertain and evoke emotion in a reader. Phipps has been a writer for a long time – since he learned to write. There’s some debate about when that was. After a few drinks, he’s been known to swear it was age five, but I suspect he’s embellishing. But Phipps has genuinely agonized over many an essay; authored a few short stories; penned some credible entrepreneurship & finance-related blogs; been published in several business periodicals; crafted compelling ad copy; transcribed more love letters than he’d care to admit; banged out long-winded emails; drafted a strongly-worded complaint letter, or two, to Apple; and, even a scripted a couple of pretty entertaining screenplays.

For the last twenty years, he’s have been an entrepreneur and venture capitalist of minor repute and (very) limited monetary success. But writing has always taken a back seat to a role that paid the bills. He’s made the decision to exit his investment career and spend the rest of his days pursuing his passion for telling a good story – the best way he knows how.

Every writer must find their style, their genre, and their audience. Phipps likes to write about place as much as develop compelling characters, plot and story arc. Though well-travelled, he calls Canada his home.