Bryant Family: The Family that Writes Books Together...

It's tough raising kids. Especially as they get older and more independent. The Bryant family decided to use their time and talents to work together to create a book. What a wonderful way to come together, especially with older kids who sometimes would prefer not spending as much time as a family but need it just as much as younger kids. In some ways, maybe more. Listen in as they discuss the process!  You can find the book on their website or on Amazon:

Trusting Timothy

Trusting Timothy: A Story about Cheating: Bobby Bryant II, Bobby Bryant III, Ava Bryant, Joseph Bryant: 9781637559956: Amazon.com: Books

Transcript

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Hello, it's Lisa Griner, the How to Write a book from A to Z podcast host. Today we have the Bryant family. I know we've all heard the saying. The family that prays together stays together. Then it's like the families that eat together stay together. Well, how about the family that writes together stays together? I think what I love the most about this podcast episode is the fact that this family decided to take their relationship one step further and create and publish a book together. So what a fabulous way to spend time with the family and work through the challenges of being in a family and have something so wonderful come out in the end. A book that they published and wrote together that they will have as a treasure for the rest of their lives. So let's talk with the whole family and just remember, this is something any one of us can do. I mean, what a great memory. so let me go ahead and let them introduce themselves. Hello. Thanks for having us. I'm Bobby ii, dad. Hello. I'm Ava Bryant, the daughter and sister. Hello, I'm Bobby Bryant, the oldest brother. Hello, I'm Joseph Bryant, the youngest child. There's always a story behind a book and it sounds like there's a wonderful grandmother involved. So I really would love to start with, tell me a little bit about grandmother. Yes. you're correct. It was inspired by my, paternal, grandmother El Bryant and I, give her a lot of credit for me becoming a Christian. I remember, visiting her church, being in the, children's choir. I still have a couple of songs in my head that I remember from this day, as an adult. so it was very special to me. And, I believe she was special lady. deeply, concerned about pleasing God and, being a great Christian, which I believe she was. and then sharing those, Christian values with, her family and her grandchildren May I ask, is she still alive? Unfortunately, no, she's not. Okay. But, what she share with me and the things that she taught, I are still hold, still hold dear. did any of y'all have an opportunity to know her? They were all, they were all pretty, young when she, when she passed. Okay. Okay. So the story is about school and growing up and, and those, those challenging situations that, my guess is probably all of you have been through. Have you all been through challenging situations in school? We were, all homeschooled, but, the same, challenges in school. we face as well Have you all been homeschooled the entire time? Yes, we have all been homeschooled. It's been, a great and, fun process as well. I can imagine. Yes. It was, nice to be able to, learn, God's word together as a family and, learn in our own, special environment. So that made things a lot more comfortable and easier, for me personally. So I really just enjoy that process. Of getting to have the ability to choose what I wanted to learn as well, and, explore my different interests and hobbies and, decide what I wanted to do, for a career. What did you choose as a career? What's your focus? Well, currently, I want to be an author. So, apart from this, I actually, want to write my own, books. And I also, love doing web design. I took a coding program to learn how to, make websites and, develop, small projects for apps and different things. So I really like that process for coding. So I'm actually looking to pursue a web design career. I also want to create my own, game apps as well. and I also like, to film YouTube videos. So, we actually, two of us have our own YouTube channel, so I've been enjoying, making, videos, specifically comedy videos, so that's been a fun process. Well, along that line, do you wanna go ahead and tell us the name of them in case anybody wants to go see them? Oh, yes. our YouTube channel is, called Laughing Out Loud. So the loud, has three u's, so it's, capital, L and then yes, capital O for out, out, and then capital L for loud. So it's laughing out loud with three U'S for loud. Okay. How long have you had that? we've had that for a few months. and it's been a very fun, and unique process of getting to be creative with our. Comedy videos and it's really fun. Just be, getting to act and, have our personality shine through in the videos. So it's been really, really fun. Definitely. That's wonderful. Did you wanna add something? I agree. I also do, the channel with her and it's, been a great process. we always have, fun out there because, even when we're not doing the videos, we like to, joke around with each other. So it's always, a fun process, making videos, together. So we really, enjoy it. It sounds like you have a family that enjoys laughter. Yes, definitely. We, joke around together as well, like with different, shows and, everything we watch family time is very important to us. So we like to prioritize that and, do things, together, whether it be laughing or playing games. we just, love family time, so that's very important to us. It's a very important thing to have. So let's start with how did this all come about? How did it become a book? Well, going back to my, paternal grandmother Elto. Yeah. It was what initially inspired the story. Timothy in the Bible his grandmother was, Lois. And so, based on that relationship, I kind of compare that with my relationship with my grandmother Feeling blessed about what I learned through, spending time with her in the summer, going to church. And I give her a lot of credit for me becoming a Christian. so that's what inspired the story. But as Ava, just discussed, we're a big, family, as far as, togetherness and we love to spend time with one another. And so, naturally I wanted to, do this as a family. And so we came together. with the base idea. but we came together, to put the book together. So it was a great blessing for our family. So was it that you wanted to write a book together or was it that you wanted to write about this story? Which came first? Good question. well, we had to discuss writing a book for, a long time. but it never really took action for a while. I would say the initial, idea with the grandmother and, being a part of the story was always there, but it wasn't fully developed. and so as a family, we came together and, many, brainstorming, sessions, many discussions. And, we came up with the storyline and, really brought it together. And, when I say it was a blessing to us because, we're able to spend time together hours. Discussing and, feeling good about a book that, we feel, teaches, good values to the children and families, including adults. So I love everything about what you just said because it's truly not just about the book, it's about doing something as a family. Yes, I, we totally agree. As our audience listens and they're thinking about things to do with their family, writing a book and publishing a book is not the normal thing that people come up with. But it's a beautiful idea. Thank you. You came up with the decision to do it about cheating. Did this truly happen when you were in school? The situations, or did y'all develop these situations? this is something we, developed, you know, we all have, different talents as a family, music, I believe, they're all very, creative and coming with different ideas. cheating was one of the things that we talked about. Again, we had many brainstorming sessions. I joke all the time about Ava, whose idea went out the most. And she'll say mine, I'll say hers or vice versa. Joseph will say, bj. Bj. So Joe Joseph. So, again, very fun process and, we, we have really enjoyed it. So. What has been the most fun? the most fun, process of this book has been, just seeing it, all come together because, when, we first started, working on the book, like, the brainstorming, I envisioned it, being, not, an easy process, but, the amount of time it took for, the book to be released and for us all come together was just, very cool when, we had the book, printed and we were able to have a copy of our own. It was just, satisfying, seeing the illustrations and everything was just, cool, seeing the finished product. So I think, that's the best part, like, getting to see our work out there and, people able to buy it and, support it. So I think that's the best part in my opinion. I agree that, getting to see our finished product is definitely, one of the, most fun parts because it's actually proof of the work and, time and love that got put into the project. So when we finally got our book, it was like, oh my goodness. It's finally here. And just seeing it like, wow, this is actually happening. So I felt that excitement of, our dream, being a reality was really, the most exciting and fun part to me. And also, giving the input for the book and, going through like the different, decisions for, the wording. I like that too because, that shows how we get to express ourselves in different ways. So we, have different personalities. So how we say things. is very different. So coming together was a bit, challenging at times, but, thank the Lord that we, finally came to, something that we were all happy with. So once we all agreed and, were happy with, how it was worded and the illustrations too, I love the illustrations. So that process too of getting to see and choose illustrations, that was a really exciting part, I also love, art. So I actually appreciate illustrations and, all the time it takes to, put into that. Who illustrated the book? Our publisher, provided, an illustrator for us. We, were able to, give input from how he wanted the illustrations to turn out. And, he did, a great job with it. Did he come up with the character or did you say, this is what I want the characters to look like? So, in terms of the characters, We didn't know. I actually know exactly how we wanted'em, Tim, to look. That was, a discussion based like, how we wanted him to look. so, we, actually gave, a lot of creativity, creative lessons to, Tim, with how the characters would look, and how it would, appear in the book. And, he did, a great job of, how he presented Timothy the look. And, when we saw we, we knew it was, the right one for our book and, we decided to go with it. So he did, a great job of, deciding, how it would look, in the book. yeah, we gave him what we envisioned for each page in the story. as Joseph said, we gave him creative license, but we gave him an idea of how the, page would look. And, you know, we all agreed that he did a great job of bringing, what we envision, to life. it was A tough process, coming up, as far as illustrator, but we're happy that we chose him. And it's, fitting that his first name is Tim, trusting Timothy. So it just, you know, we trust God in everything we do, and so, we also feel like God led us to Tim, being our illustrator. So it was, it's been an amazing process. Definitely. So how did you find a publisher? I'm curious. that was a difficult process as well. it was a long, search, but, discovering, mascot, publishing, just seeing the different, books that they, published, the different variety. And the options that they provided authors, you know, the, the freedoms, we thought it was, it was great fit for, for our book. So what made you decide to go with a publishing house in lieu of self-publishing? Well, because it was a new process, we knew it was gonna require a lot of learning. Even going with the publisher, we're still learning each and every day, which has been fun. we're learning something new each and every day. But, as far as publishing, we thought maybe that was something we would leave to a publisher, to help us, get, our feet on the ground and, get on with the process. We thought maybe that would be a little bit too much personally for, for us, and I think we're happy with our, our decision. Definitely. Yes. That's great because, you know, everyone I speak with, that seems to be one of the biggest challenges is the publishing aspect. And, you know, me not being a writer and, and learning about writing, I'm, you know, writing my memoir and that's kind of how this all started was I wanted to learn from people who would, you know, already written and published something. What do you feel like was your biggest struggle as far as, choosing the publisher about the entire book? Entire book? What do you think? in terms of the whole book, I'm not sure if it was, anything specifically. I think, It was really just, the whole process because, when we were writing the book, it was like we had a way we, thought it was gonna work. There were just a lot of little things that we had to do that we didn't know we had to do. And it just made it, a long process what it was like, making sure the grammar in the book was, correct or. the illustrations of time I took for that was just, everything together. Was just a long process that I think, was the hardest part for it because, we were, so eager to, release the book. And then when we found out all the stuff we had to do before we actually got to, print and release it, it was kind of difficult because, we were so ready to, have the book just out there and ready to make some sales and we had to, go through the process. So it wasn't anything specifically, I think, I think was just like everything together. Yeah, it's, it's interesting, right, to be, oh, we're gonna write a book, and you think, oh, okay, this is gonna be great. And next thing you know, you're like, wow, this is not an easy process. Yes. Like anything new to me is automatically gonna be. it does have an aspect of being challenging because it's new. So just learning the whole process of, being new authors, to me was both exciting and a bit challenging. Just learning all it took to, put in, to the process that I think was the most challenging. Like, Joseph, said, things we didn't even know we had to do. so pretty much I had in my head, a basic idea of what it took to be an author. But as Joseph said, there were other things involved besides what I thought Just like self editing, but there was like a whole, lot of the other things that we needed to do. So I think just that learning process, it was fun, but also, because nothing that's worth it is easy. So just this process, because we all believe that this is worth it. this is something that's special and very, valuable and, important to us. So we knew that. it would, it takes some work, to get it done so it wouldn't just be overnight. So, something that we're, really looking forward to. It seems like it always takes longer for it to happen. The anticipation and excitement for it to finally come to life, I think that too was a little bit hard. but it was, a rewarding, process. Just piggy backing off what, Joseph and Ava were saying. I think, patience, was the hardest thing. I think we all use the word excitement during the process because it was exciting, you know, and it's still exciting. as I said, before we're learning each and every day, something new, something we didn't, know. It's a whole new area of or field that we're, diving into. So it's exciting, but at the same time, patience to, to see it all happen and come through, because we're so excited. I think anytime you're excited about something, you want it to happen right away. so I would say patience was the biggest thing, but it is really been fun and exciting. I would believe that just about every author would absolutely agree that patience is one of those things that. You definitely have to have So, are you planning anymore a series or what's next? we do have, plans to, make more books in the future. We don't, necessarily have, a timetable of when, but, our plan is definitely to, not stop at one and, to continue, making, inspirational books. So we, hope to have, many more in the future. Okay, so let's go back just a minute about your structure. How did this work? Having four of you work on it? Did y'all like make a plan schedule times to meet together or did each of you take a piece of it? What did that look like?, The whole process. to be honest, sometimes it was a bit over the place. sometimes it would be, just, middle of the day if, we got an email and, something we had to do was, Hey guys, let's, meet right now or just, at night. Hey guys, let's meet right now. it wasn't like, A lot of set times. It was, just throughout the day, whenever, we all time a c meet was just, Hey, listen, get this done, let's do this. So that's kind of, how it still is. Sometimes, like if, we receive an email, it's like, Hey, it's 11 o'clock, let's look at this email. So it's kind of, a bit off the place, but, it's kind of fun that way. just, yeah, a bit unexpected, oh, yes. throughout this process because, we, value coming together. So, I actually prefer not to just have one person handle it and then the other people, Aren't, involved. So all four of us like to come together. If there's, something to discuss through the book, we all discuss it since this is a family project, we, we don't wanna exclude, anyone in this process. we just like to come together as a family, A lot of times because emails and stuff, we don't always see right away. So when we do see it, we say, okay, what time are we gonna discuss this? Or, when are we doing this? So I feel like the main, structure is still importantly for all of us to come together, no matter what time or it's good because, there are a lot of times where. We, discuss at night or even in the morning or just whenever we have availability. So since there's four of you doing this as a family, what suggestions or pros and cons or what would you tell other families that would listen to this and think, oh my gosh. Why don't we try writing a book? What would you say to those people? I think probably just, to, make sure, that, throughout their whole process, there's gonna be frustrations. So, I think it's, important to, when, you work on a book with other people like, with their family supporting it, when you get frustrated not to, take that frustration. I don't knock anybody I think, sometimes, to be honest, we have had miscommunication with'cause, or especially like early on it was a lot of frustrating times, being our first book, trying to, figure out the whole process and then it would be, getting frustrated with something and then, there's a lot of miscommunication. So just like, learning how to handle the frustration, to make sure you still, are able to, work together well and cooperate Just, help each other out, withdraw the process. So I think that's just the most important thing, really just to make sure, it's a team effort and, working together, I think. I think, we do do that well, but not perfectly. I mean, obviously, but, we, try to do that. Yes. throughout this process, it was, frustrating, as we all have different opinions about how things, should be phrased or, just how we should do things in general. So, I think, it's very important, and I think we've, been doing a great job of this, of making sure that everyone's voice is heard. and that we, value everyone's opinion because, there are times where it's, two of us green and two of us, the other two, have a different opinion. So it's been like, we have to either persuade the other ones or, or yeah. So it's been difficult, because, we're not always gonna see things the same way. of course, it would be just easier if. All of us agreed, but we don't. that makes things, a whole lot more interesting. one thing that has helped because, as Christians, we agree that, prayer, is one of the, most important things. So what does help is anytime we have a serious discussion or, even if there's a disagreement, we, pray about, the decision we're about to make. to make sure we have time to pause and hear, from God, if he's, trying to tell us something or if there's something we need to watch out for, or, a mistake we, can avoid making. So I think that's important just to stay in prayer, and not to rush because. With the excitement of the whole process, it can be tempting to just make, quick decisions without taking the time to pause and, to pray about it first. So I think just taking a step back sometimes and not being so anxious and, trying to hurry to make the decision, helps a lot because throughout this whole book process, there have been a lot of important decisions to make. So it's important to not get so wound up and, try to make the decision right at the moment just to take a step back and pray and slow down. Because for me personally, I, naturally am a person that doesn't like to wait, a long time. So for me, it is just slowing down and that helps a lot of things. Praying is definitely the key for us, which is a critical, part of our book. You know, again, tying into the word of God, everything for us is what, keeps us strong. as Ava, said, how we make all tough decisions, which is, again, going to the book, you know, Timothy makes a decision. How does he, make the decision based on the word of God? So, yeah, prayer in our relationship with God is definitely, Critical for us. and going back to other families. Yes. I would still, even though we're saying how challenging it is, overall, it's still been a big blessing. you know, we're all gonna have different personalities, individually, you know, maybe from the decision about, what you're gonna eat for dinner. You know, everyone has a different idea of what should be had for dinner. So not, maybe not so difficult or difficult decisions, can be done. And I think it brings the family, closer together. So it's definitely a blessing. And I agree. I, because it's interesting as I'm talking with you, I mean, what you've just done is not typical in that the fact that a family can come together and it's a long term project. Which, you know, how often do families actually sit down and do something like this, some kind of project that really encourages each person's individuality, right? creativity and being able to, to work through it without slamming doors and. Being mad at each other. Right, right. So I think that alone you should be very proud of because you're really doing something that is unique. Thank you. And I think that that's what I really love and I really want to reinforce, you know, to people that listen to this is what a beautiful way for family to grow together. Learn something brand new that none of you knew anything about, but you kind of slosh through the good, the bad, and the ugly together, and came out with this beautiful gift of a, of a book about God and about, you know, life lessons that everyone needs to learn. So I commend you for, for that piece that you probably didn't even realize. That alone is very special. Thank you. Appreciate that. Absolutely. So what else have I not asked that you feel like an, audience, people that are writing or would like to, we'll talk about kind of how they can, they can find you. But before that, is there anything else that you would like to share? I just wanna emphasize that, even though it's a children's book, that we feel that it's still a good, lesson even for adults. You know, we all face challenges. some may be easy, some hard, but you know, what we are trying to teach in this book is that, God's word has a solution for any challenge that you face. So you can always find a scripture to help you, get through it, whatever the challenge is, school challenge, work challenge, relationship challenge. You can always find a scripture to help you, and so that's what we wanted to teach even though we're teaching at a young age, which, we feel is critical. If you can practice this at a young age, then we believe when you're an adult, you've been practicing so long. But if you can practice this skill of applying God's word to help you do a situation as a kid, then yes, when you're an adult, I believe it just becomes, easier. It is not completely easy, but easier. I think the process will be, even more beneficial, if you can learn it at a young age. But again, if there's something that you can learn now, even as an adult, which I think we all should, it'll be a blessing to you. Those around you, your family, you can be a blessing to others. God's word, I think we believe is the answer to, any problem, That you're facing. And I agree. It sounds like that was your childhood. Sounds like you had a grandmother that did that for you. Is that correct? yes. with God's word, my relationship with Christ being the most important thing. Yes. I give her, so much credit for, becoming a Christian, as a family, we want to instill that in our children. And I believe they agree as well. Yes. so, it is everything. yes, to answer your question, I can see that you raised your kids the same way that you were raised. that is, beautiful. Thank you. It definitely makes life a lot easier, especially at a young age when you're going through challenges and struggles. You learn, you learn how to handle them so much better. Yes. And, one thing we got besides as parents, my wife and I, you know, Christ's word being, the backbone. every, everything we do. and another reason why I think it's critical for parents, why it's good to lean on the word is because children can always come to a parents and say, mom, dad, you did this wrong. They can never say, God, you did this wrong. And so if the ultimate standard is God, then there's no argument. So if they come to us as parents, you know, we're respectfully,'cause you know, I'm your mother and father, but if we did something that went against, the word of God, they can always come to us. God's word says this. So it's a standard that everyone can follow. and again, because we're talking about a perfect God. Then, there's no wrong in that, you know? So the parents are gonna mess up. A guy never messes up. He never makes a mistake, which is why the word you can always depend on. Wonderful way to put it. Thank you. Okay, so how can people, get your book trusting Timothy? the book can, be found on places like Amazon, Barnes and Noble. Those are, the two main ones. we also have a website, trusting timothy.com, where the book can, be found and purchased. We also, have, an Instagram from our book as well. How would they find that? the Instagram username is, trusting Timothy no spaces, and then an underscore official trusting Timothy official. That's our Instagram. Great. So between that and your YouTube videos, it sounds like y'all are pretty busy. Definitely. Yes. Well, that's wonderful. Anything else? Well, so I'm thinking of writing my own songs. Oh, really? Yes. Are you, have you done, have you written songs before or is this a new project? Well, I created new songs, but I haven't really published dating yet. Yet. Well, maybe this will motivate you now to, to do that now. You'll have to share it. Let me know when you do. Alright. do you, do you play any instruments or do you just sing? Hmm. Piano. My, my mom forced me into piano lessons when I was young, and of course, I. Didn't follow through. And now I'm like, why didn't I listen to my mother? So listen to your parents? Hmm? How long did you play? Oh, probably six months. I wanted to be outside. I didn't wanna be banging on a piano. Now, like I said, if only I could, so. That's beautiful. It's wonderful that you've learned instruments at such a young age. Bryant family, thank you so much for talking with me. Thank you, thank you. Thank you for having us. Thank you having us. Yes. Thank you for having us.