We recently connected with T.K. Richards and have shared our conversation below.

T.K., looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What was one of the most important lessons you learned in school? Why did that lesson stick with you?

As a competitive person who yearns to be the best, I was surprised to be selected as a finalist in the Toastmaster’s Competition my junior year of high school. During that time at the challenging age of sixteen, I was experiencing teenage struggles with trying to fit in, maintaining popularity, and continuing my track record of as an A student.

I had been receiving awards for as long as I could remember be it Perfect Attendance, Best Poetry, excellence in Expository Writing, and Perfect Scoring in timed math competitions, but as a hormonal eleventh grader, I began to change. My drive to achieve excellence in everything I participated in hadn’t changed, but the time I put in preparation took a dive.

My English teacher Mrs. Wright submitted my essay on my behalf. She notified me that my work had been selected as a finalist in the competition. I was heavily interested in recording music at that time, and did not take the competition, or its merit seriously. I was clueless at how much of a “big deal” Toastmaster’s was, and spent more time writing songs, and less time practicing my delivery of my essay.

I’ve never had stage fright before, but when I sat in the audience and listened to the other finalists speak, I felt ill prepared, nervous, and out of my league. When it was my turn to read my essay, I fell flat, lacking emphasis, enthusiasm, and energy to captivate the crowd. I could see they were bored with my performance, and I vowed to never step on a stage without preparation and many hours of practice.

I learned two lessons that day from the experience, and my teacher. The first was to lose my ego. Just because I was good at everything I had approached, didn’t mean I would be great at everything. The second lesson I learned was that there is always someone better than you, and remember that if I do my best in my endeavors, then that’s what really mattered.

From that day forward, I give my best in all of my endeavors, and work overtime to leave a good impression on those who cross my path.

T.K., love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My love for the use of words began in my early education years. My first award for writing was given to me in third grade. I remember that day vividly because my mother arrived at my school during a program, and I was clueless as to why until my name was called during the assembly for achieving excellence on the writing portion of the annual standardized test. My love for writing began in that moment when I recognized how proud she was of me, and I have been writing in many forms ever since.

My love of music began shortly after when I wrote my first poem at the age of nine, and turned it into a song. I performed it locally at a festival and continued to sign up for talent shows and local events in the regional area.

Music stayed with me into adulthood where I created two musical works, published one of those projects as an album, and featured on award winning artists radio singles. Unfortunately, the love I had for music was not matched by that industry. After realizing that business focused more on other factors besides talent and persistence, I gave up my dream of becoming the next big star and returned to the work force full-time where I was miserable being a creative caged in a box.

That misery was healed when I began writing my first book as a way to escape the confines of repetitive work in a hostile environment. I wrote a novel about my mother’s life in six months, self-published it on CreateSpace, and continued to write my way out of that job.

I now have twelve novels and novellas in my catalog under my name, four works under a pen name, and provide stories of love, triumph, revenge, women’s plight, and redemption to readers all over the world.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is meeting readers who rave about your work. I have had readers draw their emotions, showcasing how my stories made them feel, and upload them in review sections online. Other readers make posts on their social media and rave about my work which becomes the highlight of my day, and other readers engage with me when I do live streams and share their thoughts about the stories I’ve written. It’s a great feeling to know people appreciate your work, and an even better feeling that someone took a chance on you and loved your creation.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Before I published my first novel, I was beyond clueless. The only thing I knew about books was that I enjoyed reading them. As for publishing one, I was in the dark about the necessary processes to take once the words were on the page. I trusted friends to proofread and edit my book. I was unaware how to find professionals in the publishing industry to help me turn my first book into a masterpiece. That is no longer the case thanks to the evolution of independent publishing, and a plethora of groups with experts offering advice, courses, workshops, and tutorials for a successful publishing career.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.tkrichards.com
• Instagram: t.k.richards
• Facebook: tkrichards
• Twitter: tkrichards1
• Youtube: tkrichards
• Other: Pinterst-TKWrites TikTok-tkrwrites

Image Credits
Images by T.K. Richards