The Mighty Mountain follows a tall and mighty mountain who is struck by an earthquake and reduced to a pile of sticks and has to find a new purpose in life. What was the inspiration for your story?

I recall praying for ideas about 8 years ago for something of value that would be impactful to people, build a legacy for my family, and God imparted a parable about a mountain to my mind and I couldn’t shake it. I felt the message behind the story was so powerful and moving to everyone young and old that it had to be shared. I wanted this book to be a classic story that will stick with people for a lifetime like The Little Engine That Could, The Giving Tree, or The Hungry Caterpillar. When I expanded the parable into an illustrative story, I was motivated to have others see and feel what I experienced in that moment when the story was first placed on my heart.

What were some ideas that were important for you to share in this book?

Some of the ideas that I wanted to share in this book were about the idea of change and discovering your purpose. In life, you sometimes find out that you are good at something and you devote all of your energy into it and believe you found your thing. So much so that you’ve placed your entire worth in that thing and if you can’t do that thing you fall into the trap of believing you’re worthless. The truth is we evolve, go through seasons, and have higher callings for our lives. Sometimes it’s related to what we were doing before but sometimes it isn’t. Young and old go through tragedies of different magnitudes impacting what they were doing and I want to share the idea of hope within them. Hope that they are more and will make an impact somewhere else.

The art in this book is fantastic. What was the art collaboration process like with illustrator Wilker Aguiar Souza?

Working with Wilker was fantastic, I felt we worked very well together! The Mighty Mountain was my first book, and I had a vision for how the mountain should look. Early in the process, I made sketches of how each character would look and respond in the different scenes. Several years later when going through character development, I provided Wilker with the manuscript, explained how I wanted the mountain to look, and when he provided his initial sketches for the character development I was shocked! They were eerily close to what I drew years before. That was confirmation for me that Wilker was supposed to be the illustrator for this project. I gave him creative freedom to make the story come alive with vibrant colors and tones to convey the emotion of the mountain as it went through its transformational process.

What is the next book that you are working on, and when will it be available?

I have several books that I am working on. The adult companion book for The Mighty Mountain is in the editing stage and should be available within the next six months. That book will go a little deeper and provide the adults and parents with more insight to help them apply the ideas that are embedded within The Mighty Mountain to their circumstances. Additionally, I have inspired my daughter to write a book. She has a love of baking and co-authored a magnificent book called Cookie-Day, Cookie-Day which is available on Amazon.

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Original source: https://literarytitan.com/2024/07/02/higher-callings-for-our-lives/