Inspired by school staff, custodian writes children's book

ASHLAND CITY, Tenn. (WTVF) — A custodian astatine a Tennessee simple schoolhouse completed his puerility imagination and published a publication with a teacher who encouraged him to constitute again.

"I met Ms. Deona, who is the co-writer connected the book. And somehow, we just, we just, clicked. She's my champion person here. You know, I don't, I don't cognize what I'd beryllium without her," said East Cheatham Elementary School custodian and writer Paul Lewis Jr.

When Lewis started astatine the schoolhouse successful 2018, helium ne'er thought he'd beryllium the writer of "Chronicles of the Nine Isles: The Lost Dragon and the Widow of Ellamar."

At the time, helium said helium was successful a acheronian place.

"My begetter passed distant successful '16, and I took it harder than I thought I would," said Lewis, "I was homebound. It truly saved my beingness to beryllium here."

Pre-K teacher Deona Ray said she saw him successful the cafeteria, "he would beryllium mopping, and helium would conscionable commencement telling maine stories, I'm like, ‘I'm bored truthful speech to me. A communicative astir what?’ And past helium would conscionable commencement telling maine the stories."

Those abbreviated stories turned into sharing his ain communicative with Ray forming a life-changing friendship.

Lewis said helium started penning erstwhile helium was 11 years aged and wrote parts of novels passim his life.

"I'd suffer interest, I get writer's block, and it lasts for years. Until I got here," helium explained. "I really tried to get published with 5 antithetic publishers and 5 agents and I got turned down each five."

He said for years the decision was crushing.

"You hide however to beryllium a child, you forget. You suffer your imaginativeness sometimes. This spot [East Cheatham Elementary] really did the reverse for me. It gave my imaginativeness backmost to me," helium said.

Through the storytelling successful the cafeteria, Ray said similar her students, she gave Lewis a nudge.

"They conscionable request that small [nudge], to bash it. And that's what Mr. Paul needed [to] bash it," she said.

"I pulled it retired and Ms. Deona said, ‘You're going to enactment thing successful is amusive this time?’ I’m like, ‘No, I'm going to spell to archetypal idea.’ She goes, ‘Put a dragon successful it.’"

Their in-passing conversations rapidly turned into a full book.

"We really enactment retired the dialog unneurotic and during the times that she comes successful and, and, works connected the crystal cream. I'll accidental okay, ‘here's the country I privation to do. We request to bash dialogue.’ And we'll bash dialog and I'll speech similar connected Richter she'll speech similar she's the dragon. And erstwhile I erstwhile we're done, I spell location and I enactment connected it."

"Everything that I bash successful the book, she [Ray] goes done with a fine-tooth comb and looks astatine each the dialog betwixt each the characters and marque definite the characters behave the mode that I've written them; marque definite they don't spell disconnected track," explained Lewis. "She besides made definite that the dragon is arsenic polite arsenic she tin be. And portion astatine the aforesaid clip inactive maintaining her sassiness that dragon is her. Okay without her that dragon doesn't exist. She gives, she gives, that dragon the personality, the sass, the jokes, the humor, it's each there."

Ray is not the lone unit subordinate successful the book.

"The cafeteria women determination they are successful the book. They are really the Sisters of Destiny," said Lewis who explained the schoolhouse caregiver and respective teachers besides person parts successful the publication which is present successful the schoolhouse room for students to cheque out.

"The children couldn't beryllium couldn't beryllium much enthused," said Lewis. "All the clip it's, ‘Mr. Paul, your book’s not successful the library. Can we, tin we, get immoderate more? Can we get immoderate more?'"