Ripollsworkshop Reads

Author Interview with Trevor Gabbidon

Episode Summary

Happy Thursday! In this episode our host Courtney meets with Trevor Gabbidon, who is an up and coming Children's book author as well as nursing student & entrepreneur. Trevor strives doing everything he has a love for! Join us in this episode as we talk about his childrens book "Daughters Grow up So Fast: From A Fathers Perspective", hear some advice Trevor has for those aspiring readers and writers! Happy reading and writing!

Episode Notes

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Episode Transcription

Courtney (00:17):

Good morning, Trevor. Thank you so much for coming on. I would love if you could introduce yourself.

 

Trevor (00:23):

Hey, how you doing? Thank you for having me today. My name is, uh, Trevor Gabbidon. I just released my first children's book in April, titled daughters grow up so fast from a father's perspective. So that's kind of what I've been doing this past couple months. Just trying to figure out ways to market myself, kind of let people kind of match a face with the author, trying to get out there more, just networking and talking to different people as well. As on, um, I have my own Dora business that I'm actually launching the website for maybe two weeks from now. And then I also start nursing school in October. So I'm pretty booked doing a lot of stuff. And just trying to just keep going.

 

Courtney (01:10):

That's so amazing. I would love if you could tell us what your book's about and what inspired you to write it.

 

Trevor (01:15):

Okay. So my book is actually right next to me, it's daughters grow up so fast from a father's perspective and that is actually my daughter on the cover. So I'll just read the synopsis first. And then I explain it as fathers. We often have many things running through our minds, as we watch our little princesses grow up, people always ask us that number one question, what are you gonna do when she gets older? We may laugh at off or smile, but the truth is we may never be able to handle them. Growing up is a little glimpse of what goes on inside of girl dad's brain. So the book kind of, I, I think like a lot of fathers have these same similar thoughts, if not the same exact thoughts, but this book kind of just gives you a glimpse of what goes on inside of our brains.

 

Trevor (02:02):

As like for me, I watched my daughter grow up. She's five years old now she just started kindergarten. And I kind of touched bases on that in the book, as well as a section of the book that it was kind of like a full circle moment because I wrote it in my book. And as I was getting her ready for that first day of school, the first bus ride, it kind of went hand in hand with the book. But from a father's perspective, I just think many just assume, you know, you, you like, they, they automatically assume, you know, you're watching your daughter grow up. All dads are thinking about is she's gonna get older. She's gonna have a boyfriend. No boy's allowed, which is true, but that's not even half of it. Of what, what I think like what goes on in my brain as I watch her grow up, just thinking of her now versus who she'll be when she's, you know, 30 years old, she can be a totally different person. So the book kind of just gives you, just gives you an insight on what goes on in the, a typical dad's brain as he watched his little one grow up.

 

Courtney (03:09):

That's amazing. When you started writing the book, who were you thinking of when you were writing it? Was it for kids to read what their dads think or dads to read with their kids?

 

Trevor (03:20):

When I was writing the book, it was like one o'clock in the morning. That's when I wrote it. I finished it in like an hour and a half. At that point I was thinking of actually, I thought of my daughter she's hooked to her, to my old phone or tablets. And then my nieces, they, the only way to keep them quiet is to give them the phone or the tablet. So as I wrote the book, I was just thinking, what kind of books would I want my daughter to read? What was she like? And this was the first, literally the first one that came to mind.

 

Courtney (03:54):

Love that. Love that. How long have you been writing?

 

Trevor (03:59):

So I've been writing on and off since high school. I'm 25 now, but I didn't take it serious. I was always write, I always journaled throughout my whole life, almost just whenever I was feeling down or even happy moments. But usually when I was feeling down, I'd always write in my journal, always wanted to write books. I just didn't know what kind when I first started, which was when I was younger, I was doing like, I used to like doing books. I used to read a series called the Beauford series and it was kind of like a, it's not okay. It's like, it's not adult fiction, but it's like a, a kid's version of that. So I thought I'd do like, you know, books like that. But as I started writing, it was so hard trying to end the chapter, start another one and not talk about the whole book or idea all in one chapter. So the kids book idea kind of just came out the blue, but I do know if I didn't have a daughter, I probably wouldn't even had this idea.

 

Courtney (05:01):

Amazing. What is your schedule like when you are writing a book, do you plan to write more books or was this

 

Trevor (05:09):

Your role? Oh, yes. I actually have four to five books in the works right now, but what did, what, what I'm running into now is like this book has been doing so well, just off of me just promoting it myself and just networking with people. I ne I didn't realize once you write the book, it doesn't stop there. Like, of course you can write another book, but I'm a new author, so I'm still learning how to, you know, just find my target audience first. So I, I do have a couple books in the works, but I think I won't start, I won't finish 'em and start like putting them out just until I kind of learn better how to market this book, how to, how to make sure it's reaching the target that I wanted to reach. And as of right now, I'm like not there yet, but I'm, but I'm getting into there. So books are on the way for sure.

 

Courtney (05:59):

Amazing. When you're in your writing space, do you have anything that you have to have to help you keep focused?

 

Trevor (06:08):

Um, quiet. It has to be like super quiet and I usually write at night. I don't know why, but I usually do it at night just because I don't know. People don't bother me at nighttime and you know, 12 one o'clock in the morning. Nobody's, you know, once I, once it's quiet around my, my mom's house, nobody's texting me, everybody's asleep. So it kind of gives me time to just think I'll sit there for hours and hours and just be thinking about what can I put in this book? How can I make it different? Cuz it's a lot of children's book out. And I, I like, that's what I do on my downtime. I'll go, I might go into a store and just go to the children's section and open up each book and just grab different ideas. And that's kind of how I, how I try to like bring different books into the mix, just from getting ideas from others.

 

Courtney (06:59):

Amazing. What books do you enjoy reading now as an adult?

 

Trevor (07:05):

So now I'm at the phase where I'm investing a lot and it's something that I'm not really knowledgeable on. So I I'm trying to learn that more. I've been doing a lot more self-help books. Um, definitely reading, uh, life principles, daily Bible. I try to read that every day if I, if I can remember it. And then I still read my adult fiction books, you know, sister, soldiers, like one of my favorite authors. So anytime I can get one of her books, I'll read it. Uh, Robert Green is currently what I'm reading. I think it's a Robert Green in Curtis Jackson, but I can't find it. It's somewhere here. It's called hustle, harder hustle smarter. So that's actually what I'm reading right now.

 

Courtney (07:54):

Love it. Um, are there any books or authors that inspired you to become a writer?

 

Trevor (08:05):

Um, I don't even know his, I know for sure. The Beauford serious authors, they did the, I think it's Paul Langen. Paul Lang, I think I know off the top of my head, Walter Dean Meyers, he did some great books. I used to like to read as a kid, the captain underpants author. I forgot that author's name, but that was another kind of, that's something that I wanna do eventually, something like that, but totally different. Um, of course, uh, who can I say that I know for a fact off the top of my head? Mm. I can't think of anymore now at, at this moment.

 

Courtney (08:50):

That's totally fine. I love the ones that you mentioned when you were up. Did you have a favorite book or series?

 

Trevor (08:59):

Yes, actually when I was growing up, reading was like, you know, reading me and my brothers always were in competition who could read the most books. Now it's kind of just, I'm the only one that likes to read to this day. But back then, we always had friendly competition. I'd say definitely the Beau for series that was probably like middle school. Captain underpants series was something that we all read together. Um, I'm, I'm leaving some out the Harry Potter books. I read Harry Potter. I read all the, um, Twilight books. What else have I read? I like to read series as well. Like I like one book to lead to another. If I find a book and it's just one version of it, that's fine. But I usually like books that just go along with a story.

 

Courtney (09:48):

Amazing. What would you tell someone who's just starting out with reading again?

 

Trevor (09:56):

Fine. What you like to read first and foremost? Cause I know like the books you read as a, the books, you were forced to read in school because you, you know, it was part of the, up, up, uh, it was part of the class assignment or you had to read this just because it was part of maybe a history or Romeo and Juliet. You probably didn't like those books and you probably didn't even enjoy reading it, but you just, you were forced to read it and now you might not like reading, but as you get older and you're trying to read now, I think it's important to find like the books that you like to read. And I know like when I, I have a lot of books that people would say, oh, you're too old to read that. But at the same time, it's just like, what?

 

Trevor (10:37):

I don't think reading is one of those things that there's no age on, on the book that you, you should be reading, but it's definitely important to find books that you actually enjoy. And not just because, you know, it's the popular book or somebody told you to read it. You might not like it. I've had plenty of times where I've picked up a popular book. One was, uh, the Kobe Bryant Mamba mentality book. I picked it up last week and I, I thought it was gonna be a certain book. It turned out to be not the book that I thought it would be. And I really didn't enjoy it, but the reviews were amazing on the book, but I honestly didn't and I'm a basketball fanatic, but for some reason I just couldn't get into that book. So I think it's important to find the book that you actually find the topics and genres that, that relate to you. And then reading is so 10 times easy. It's like, it's like watching TV, just in a book form, I'd say

 

Courtney (11:35):

So true. So true. It's important to find something you like. And a lot of people might not agree with this, but it's okay not to finish a book if you don't like it, if you're just pushing yourself through it.

 

Trevor (11:45):

yeah, that too, that, that is true. A lot of people, you know, start a book and they might not finish it. And, and that's fine too. You know, you read something now, you know, that that book is kind of not for you.

 

Courtney (11:59):

So true on the opposite side of that, what would you tell someone who's just starting to write their own book,

 

Trevor (12:08):

Go at your own pace. There there is. No you can't, you don't definitely don't rush your book. I know like it's a lot that goes into a book for sure. And if you just try to hurry, hurry, hurry, and rush. That will definitely be noticed by your readers, whether it's font changes throughout the book, typos, you know, the, the illustration is not all the way there. You know, the thoughts and the thoughts in the book might not be there. Like some people will read it and notice that the texts and illustration are not aligned together. So I say, don't rush your books, you know, just because you have the idea, doesn't mean you have to write the book in a day. You don't have to write the book and expect it to be finished in a week. You might write the book, get halfway through it and see, you know, I don't like this storyline anymore.

 

Trevor (13:02):

Don't get discouraged. Just, you know, take your time, take a step back and try to think, okay, how can I make this book best for me and write, know that you're writing for yourself first? I think for me, I, when I first first start and I think maybe that's what held me back. When I first had the idea to write, I was always thinking, what can make me a lot of money? What, what, what book or what topic can I cover in? Everybody's gonna wanna read it. And that's like mission impossible, because you might like a book. You might think this book is great. And just because it's great to you, nobody might read it. And at first, you know, I'm, I've been blessed to have a lot of friends. You know, that when I did release the book and posted it on Instagram and things like that, I got a lot of repost and people enjoyed the book, but it's, I also put a lot of time in the book as well. So things starting out writing, I think just write, write all, everything that, that you want the book to be about, and then worry about the other stuff afterwards.

 

Courtney (14:09):

Amazing. Before we tell everyone where they can connect with you and all of that. Um, is there anything else you wanted to add or talk about?

 

Trevor (14:19):

Um,

 

Courtney (14:20):

Not

 

Trevor (14:21):

Necessarily. I would, I would just talk about, you know, as far as in my book, I, I I'm, I'm trying to change the narrative as far as in, you know, this, this big picture painted and you always see the world just talking about absent fathers and not enough positivity towards active fathers. It's always absent fathers, not active fathers. And this book just highlights the love of father. A lot of fathers have for their daughters, but it's just not highlighted because you know, the negative looks better. The negative is like the click bait. So I just, you know, I'm just trying to shed a better light on fathers and just being a father figure.

 

Courtney (15:12):

Amazing. I really love that. What is the best place for readers to find your book? Do you have a website where you do sign copies and then the best place they can connect with you?

 

Trevor (15:22):

So I'm currently working on a author website. My book is exclusively available on Amazon right now and Kindle I am doing, I, I love to sell books on hand if somebody does order on Amazon and they wanted to, I don't know, maybe ship it to me or if they live close. I do definitely. I always do book signings if you buy it from me or if you buy it and you see me in passing or something like that, that's fine. I do book sign in and I also write individualized messages inside the book for whoever purchased it. Just, just to kind of give you, you, you kind of know a little bit more about me just based on the message I write inside. Once we speak a little bit and I kind of know what you like, what you're into, who's the book for, I know exactly how to write the message. So my handles are actually like, I usually have a bookmark, but I've been doing these different just finding different ways to market and I'm on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

 

Courtney (16:28):

Amazing. And we'll make sure to drop those in the show notes so that people can just find them super easy. And I wanted to thank you so much for coming on today. We really appreciate it.

 

Trevor (16:38):

Thank you.