Burchard, Brendon

PERSONAL:

Male.

ADDRESSES:

Home—CA. Office—Life's Golden Ticket LLC, 2269 Chestnut St., No. 172, San Francisco, CA 94123. E-mail—author@lifesgoldenticket.com.

CAREER:

Writer, life coach, and motivational speaker. Worked as a business consultant for Accenture.

WRITINGS:

Life's Golden Ticket: An Inspirational Novel, HarperSanFrancisco (San Francisco, CA), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Author Brendon Burchard worked as a management consultant for Accenture before a nearly fatal car accident caused him to question the direction of his life. After that experience, Burchard became a life coach and motivational speaker, counseling groups around the country on how to improve their quality of life and create change.

In 2007, Burchard published his first book, Life's Golden Ticket: An Inspirational Novel. The story follows an unnamed narrator as he travels to an abandoned amusement park, a place his fiancée, Mary, told him to visit after she survived a horrible car accident. Many years ago, Mary's brother died in an accident at the park, and now the narrator finds himself led by a guide named Henry through the park's abandoned streets. The narrator soon discovers that even though the park is closed, characters in the park are there to help him discover the truth about his life and embrace the changes he needs to make. In the book's introduction, Burchard also writes about his car accident and own wake-up call to change his life, which inspired him to write the novel. Most critics responded positively to Life's Golden Ticket, citing its inspirational tale and creative story line. The book is a "stirring and insightful parable of personal growth and emotional fulfillment," wrote Joy St. John in a review for the Library Journal. Others felt that Burchard's passion for the story comes through. He is "full of earnest enthusiasm for his topic," noted a Publishers Weekly contributor.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

California Bookwatch, August, 2007, review of Life's Golden Ticket: An Inspirational Novel.

Kirkus Reviews, February 15, 2007, review of Life's Golden Ticket.

Library Journal, May 1, 2007, Joy St. John, review of Life's Golden Ticket, p. 69.

Publishers Weekly, March 12, 2007, review of Life's Golden Ticket, p. 38.

ONLINE

Aliveonair.com,http://www.aliveonair.com/ (November 26, 2007), biographical information on Brendon Burchard.

Brendon Burchard Home Page,http://www.lifesgoldenticket.com (November 26, 2007).

Spirituality & Practice,http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/ (November 26, 2007), Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, review of Life's Golden Ticket.