Author Speaking Event — Jackson College
Author Speaking Event — Jackson College
I had the opportunity to speak to some kids at Jackson College and to offer them some encouragement and here’s a clip from that — enjoy and don’t forget to leave your comments below and click the like button on YouTube!
When I was in school I knew I wasn’t good at English class because I had such a fear of reading out loud. I stuttered and fumbled my words, so I spent most of my time in school avoiding that.
So, when it came to reading, I wasn’t interested in doing something that brought me so much discomfort.
It took until I was about 25 to get over it. It wasn’t that I couldn’t read, but that I had a complex about reading out loud. Then when I started doing a Bible study with a friend, she didn’t laugh and that helped me come out of my shell. That was one of the biggest things that helped me to overcome that.
Writing wasn’t something that I set out to do, but when the idea came to me it was so strong, I knew I had to get it out there. I believe that we all have content that we have to provide and if you keep it in there, it’s not going to help who it’s meant to help.
No matter what type of content you want to do, whether it’s writing or videos, you have to get it out there.
So, now I have this idea and what am I going to do with it? I thought of my sister who loves to write, she went to school for it and it’s right in her field. I went to my sister and I said “I want you to write this, it has to be done.” And she said okay, so we brainstormed and we came up with some things. But, next thing I knew it wasn’t getting done.
It kept coming at me and I believe that it was something that was put in me from God. I heard that it was something that I was supposed to do. So, I started doing it. The next challenge was, “you don’t know anything about writing.” These were the things that continued to try and hold me back and stop me from doing it.
One thing I’ve learned from past business ventures is that whatever it is that you want to do, you need to be working on it on a daily basis. You need to research it and try to interview other people who did it. So, I started to reach out to other people and started learning.
The main thing I learned with writing was to “show and not tell” which means that you’re supposed to show more in your writing than you do your telling. For most people, we try to tell the story and you have to put it into action form instead.
This started to become more exciting for me and not only did I write Bright and the Bully, but I wrote another book, and then another. Now I have about six pieces of work and I’m wondering, “where is all this coming from?” with this person who is not a writer, because I’m not a writer in a traditional sense. I didn’t set out to be a writer or to win any kind of award.
But, all of this content is inside me, each and every one of you have a story. If you just go back over your life and think about the things you’ve experienced, you could write tons of books, and those books can help somebody.
I looked at different things, like traditional publishing and the pros and cons versus self-publishing. I learned that self-publishing was a great way to go in today’s climate because of what Amazon has done in the publishing field.
In the next step, I looked at it like a business, that’s one of the things that brings me a lot of pleasure, more than writing. So I started my own publishing company called 215 Publishing. With doing this I had to research even more and then it was all set up and ready to go.
We’re talking about writing, but I think that in anything that you have that you want to do, anything that you have in your heart that God put there, whatever has been put in you, is meant to get out of you.
The first thing you have to say is “I’m willing to do it,” and you have to be willing to take that step.
I had to start taking these steps, and then I turned around two years later and I had this finished product called Bright and the Bully. Also, I had a publishing company, I had different social media outlets, and a huge buzz from people all across the world who wanted to buy my book and wanting me to speak at different places.
That’s my story and what I feel as far as encouragement, because you’re all at an age where you’re thinking about the future and what you want to do. It doesn’t have to be writing, but whatever it is, you have to do it with the same tenacity and the same kind of mindset of working right away.
As for the art for the books, it was a challenge. I know a lot of people who can draw really well, and one friend, I said, “Ok, I want you to do this book for me,” and I paid him and he started working on it. But, what happened was that he was a great artist, but he wasn’t capturing the illustration process in the way that I wanted it to be. I didn’t want my book to be a “fly-by” book, I wanted to put a lot into it.
So I searched all over the internet through Facebook groups and YouTube, because anything you want – you can find through Google. Through searching all over I ran into a guy from Singapore and he does really good work. I told him that if he could draw me out a storyboard that I would hire him. He did and we developed a good relationship, as a matter of fact, I just watched his wedding a couple weeks ago via live-stream. So, it’s given me another connection from somewhere else.
That’s one of the most important parts when you’re dealing with a kid’s book is to make sure the illustrator is up to par because in children’s books the pictures are what really tells the story. My sister for example, her kids that are over five, they can read it great, but the little one who is three doesn’t read on the same level, but she can understand everything just by seeing the pictures.
That was one of the things that was challenging in the beginning, especially when you’re looking at illustrators and they cost from a couple thousand to ten thousand, or twenty thousand, depending on who you get to do it. The more well known the illustrator is, the more it’ll cost.
I enjoyed speaking to the kids at Jackson College and I hope that they’ve learned some things about the writing and illustrating process that helps them to do the things they want to do in life.
Thanks and Be Bright!
T.W. Bright
Meet T.W. Bright At Stirling Books & Brew
Author T.W. Bright – Stirling Books & Brew
Saturday, March 3, 2018 1-3pm
Get your signed copy of Bright & the Bully and listen while T.W. Bright describes the origins of the book, the hurdles he faced in bringing the book to reality, and the lessons he learned through the self-publishing experience.
If you missed his first visit, you won’t want to miss this one!
Bright and the Bully is a vividly illustrated book that helps kids to understand that there are better ways than violence to deal with bullying. In fact, there are five simple steps that kids can take, including dealing with bystanders who are often the biggest part of the problem.
Help kids to be a positive force in their communities with Bright and the Bully, the book that helps kids know there’s a superhero inside all of us and we don’t need capes!
Purchase copies of the book at Stirling Books & Brew and get your copy signed during T.W. Bright’s visit!
Also, if you’re interested in learning about self-publishing you’ll have a chance to ask T.W. Bright questions during a Q&A as part of the presentation. Stirling Books & Brew is a local coffee shop where both children and adults are welcome to join in a friendly community setting. We look forward to seeing you there!
Join the event on Facebook!
Author Visit to Stirling’s Books and Brew
T.W. Bright Author Visit to Stirling’s Books and Brew
Bright and the Bully Book Signing
Part 1
Part 2
The book signing was a huge success where I was able to tell everyone about the history behind Bright and the Bully. I gave away some t-shirts and talked about what being Bright is all about, including where the light bulb idea came from. I had a chance to give some personal history of how I came to be an author and why I went into self-publishing.
I also told about my personal experience dealing with kids and bullying where I helped them deal with the heart of bullying instead of focusing on the bully, which is what Bright and the Bully is all about. You’ll also get to hear about the future of the Bright books.
I discussed how I fine-tuned the book and about working with an illustrator who gave Bright and the Bully the brilliant illustrations. We also were able to hear about how the books have touched the hearts of people all over the country and how awesome it is to see the wonderful Amazon reviews about Bright and the Bully.
One of the questions answered was how I was inspired to write about Bright who is a superhero, but isn’t the typical vigilante, and where the book has action without being violent, while being based on scripture. I told how Bright and the Bully helps kids to deal with their emotions instead of just behavior.
Another question was also answered about how the situation would have been dealt with if it was done through cyber-bullying.
One of my future books was also discussed that’s coming out within a few months, once it’s gone through editing, as well as the experience that brought it about.
The challenges about writing and becoming an author were also questions that were answered and how I overcame them, then signed a bunch of books for the wonderful people that came.
Thank you so much for the support & don’t forget to leave your reviews at Amazon!
Be Bright!
T.W. Bright
National Bullying Prevention Month – TW Bright Speaks at Bookstore
This is Stirling Books and Brew, where I’m going to go and discuss my new book, Bright and the Bully, and another upcoming project. It starts at 7:00 and I’m about 15 minutes early, going to mingle a little bit and see you guys inside.
Inside here, it’s pretty nice, this is the local section, Albion, my hometown. You can see all the different authors who have written books here. Looking around Books and Brews, it’s pretty cool, they have a little fireplace in the lounge area. Saying hello and seeing the authors who are performing tonight.
Now it’s my turn.
I am an up and coming author, with my recent children’s book. The one that I hold in my hand right now is the one I want to talk about that I’m getting published. It’s got about another week more of revisions from the illustrator and I’m super excited about it and I wanted to share it with you guys.
It’s really like my baby and really near my heart because I was one of those kids in school who used to put their head down on the table when it came to English class. I liked math, but when it came to reading and writing, English and all of that, I just put my head down. If someone would have told me when I was younger that I would actually be a writer, I would have laughed at them.
So, I believe that the Lord started giving me these ideas about these stories and it was kind of unbelievable to me. But, at the same time it really gave me this inner joy to do when I started. For that reason, this is my baby. This is one I wanted to traditionally publish, but I didn’t want anybody touching it, I didn’t want anybody changing anything, and I wanted my ideas to remain intact. I wanted the story to remain intact, so this one I’m actually self-publishing.
This one is called Bright and the Bully and it’s a superhero book, but with a different spin on it. From the cover, one of the things I did is I took a group of people, both white and black, and what does this cover say to you. At first it was just the two kids on it and I said “does this look like it’s race-baiting or something?”. Some of them said no, others said yeah, so we ended up putting some other kids in the back just to change it up.
With anything that I do, it comes from somewhere, from an actual story. And in working with kids and volunteering at schools, and things like that, I’ve got a lot of stories.
So, one of the things I wanted to do in this book is I wanted to focus on the bystander.
Traditionally books are dealing with the bully. What I wanted to do was deal with the bystander, because oftentimes what it is, is that the kids around it could make it a lot better. If we have a group of kids here, and this specific kid is being bullied, and all the bystanders are all standing around laughing, they make things worse.
So, what I wanted to do with my story is I wanted to make this a story that focuses more on the bystanders than the bully.
It’s about a kid named Brighton, and he’s faced with this conflict that one of the little girls at the school is being bullied. And immediately, Brighton starts to think in his head, “If only I could use my superpowers, I would twirl him around like a tornado, I would fly him to the moon!”
So, he’s thinking from what we normally think of superheroes, vigilante style.
Then he hears a little voice coming from inside of him telling him to be the light of the world. As he does that, he turns into this superhero, this great superhero and his name is Bright.
This is when he goes forth and teaches the other kids how to deal with a bully and he actually uses five steps on how to deal with the bully, not the violent way. It’s ways that a believer or somebody who has some kind of moral base would do and not vigilante style.
I thought it was right on time, especially with National Bullying Prevention Month coming up, and I’ve been working really hard trying to get this done for about two years. If anyone would have told me that writing and publishing a children’s book would be this hard, I wouldn’t have really believed it. It’s definitely time consuming and you have to put a lot of money into it because you’re paying for each and every illustration, but I say it’s well worth it.
I’m really excited about it and I wanted to share it with you guys. It’s not out right now, but it’s going to be on Amazon and I’m working with some people to get it in Barnes and Nobles. Hopefully before we go it’ll be all over the world. This is just one of the series and I hope you guys will tune in and share it once I get it all up and going.
Thank you.
Q&A
Where can we find out more about it?
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/brightkidhero/
Twitter – https://twitter.com/bright_the_hero
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/twbright_official/
What are your other ideas for children’s books?
The next one is going to be about the origin and how he became Bright.
Brighton is actually my little nephew, Breslin, and he recently got his hair cut. He had the same kind of hair so I was thinking about doing one about him getting a hair cut. Because a lot of kids have a problem with being afraid to go get a haircut.
But the next one will be about the origins of Brighton.
