Menu
I’m a 43-year-old husband and father of two beautiful girls under five. Reading books to my children and seeing they enjoyed it so much that I wanted to personalize a book for them. Thinking about what to write as a keepsake became a series of fictional picture books, chapter books, and novels. Having to write documents and read them for a living as an insurance adjuster for the majority of my adult life prepared me for the next chapter. Leaving the conventional workforce in 2018 after suffering a severe stroke and being restricted from physical activity allowed me to refocus on my life’s priorities, purpose, and inner passions. During this time, reading books became therapeutic and motivating. Coupled with seeing the joy I saw on my daughters’ faces when reading to them and reminiscing on how impactful the books I read during my recovery, it inspired me to share my vision to help others with similar experiences and bring joy to children abroad. The next chapter of my life has even more in store as I have recently started my journey into the legal profession and will be attending law school in the fall of 2024. I know that after that chapter, my story will be even more remarkable.
I got introduced to the thought when my wife because pregnant with our first daughter Keilani. We researched that reading is good for brain development. So, I was eager to find as many books as possible just to read and breed empowerment in my child. While I was waiting for my wife in the hospital right after giving birth to Keilani, I took a quick trip to the bookstore Barnes & Nobles to buy books to read while I was in the room with her and to read to our baby as well. Anything with ABCs always stuck with me looking at all of the titles in the store. It was such an amazing feeling looking at these books and knowing the impact they would have on my daughter made me excited. I wanted more looking at the books available and wondered how I could expand on the variety of books I could read to my daughter. Fast forward 3 years later. My wife was pregnant again with my second daughter Brielle and that meant more books to read. So that sped up my timeline to write. My first experience with children’s books was ABC’s, so I wanted to incorporate ABC’s in my introduction to the writing world. Being able to help young children read and make it fun was an ultimate goal of mine, and I started writing.
The biggest struggle for me is when I go to book stores and see other books on the shelf and know that is where I want to be ultimately but know that it’s a process. Sometimes looking at other books and comparing them to mine sometimes made me look at my work more critically than it needs to be. Another obstacle for me is the budget for publishing the book and not knowing the do’s and don’ts when writing a book. Learning on the fly and getting all of the kinks out now, although, are obstacles help me in the process of publishing more books in the future and becoming more efficient.
