Issues: We all have issues... Can a bully change?

by Brendan Conboy

Brendan Conboy is an accomplished Christian Author who talks about many of the issues that young people are faced with today, in this his first teen / young adult fiction.

When a child lives with domestic violence they live in fear, unable to control the situation.
They learn the behaviour and they too can become aggressive.
They start to fight; they turn to bullying in order to take back control.
To take away the pain they may turn to harming themselves.
All that they want to do is to escape.

Marcus Daniel was a caring, intelligent, larger than average ten year old.
His parents changed and then so did he.
Now Marcus is thirteen years old he is a spiteful bully, full of anger, rage and pain.
His actions have changed others.
Will the fear, pain and rage win?
What will it take for him to change?
How dark will it become before the light returns to his life?

152 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 22, 2019

About the author

My biography is one of my published books. It's called THE GOLDEN THREAD. So, I will use this place to tell you why I write.

I left school without an English qualification. Unable to string two sentences together. It’s fair to say that I hated writing. I couldn’t see the point. I couldn’t see the beauty. The beauty that lies in words. And the power. Words are so powerful. They can bring about change. They influence. But how did I change?

Ten years after leaving school I read about Jesus. Not for the first time, but the words that I read came alive. This man Jesus felt real. So, I stepped into a relationship with Him. He came into my life and transformed my mind.

Within a year I was writing rap songs, songs with a message. The words would just fall into my head. Sometimes in bed or just walking the dog. Like a blockage had been removed.

The cover of each of my books, tell you that I am the author of the work. However, that is not strictly true. All of the words written are inspired and given to me by God. I see myself simply as a conduit, a messenger and His instrument to be used.

Though I nearly didn’t start writing books at all…

My mother died in 2011 and when we were sorting through her possessions, we found the start of a story that she had been writing. It was her life story. She hadn’t written very much at all, but it was enough to inspire me to do the same, but I didn’t.

Two years later I was still procrastinating about it. So, in 2013 I happened to mention in passing to a friend that I was thinking of writing a book. I suppose deep down I was seeking some encouragement, but that is not what I received. Instead my friend said, “You could never be an Author. An Author writes 3,600 words an hour. You could never do that, so you could never be an Author.”

I thought to myself, “He’s right, I could never be an Author.”

It was like a curse, a mental blockage. I don’t know if that was my friends intention, but that is what happened. Though, something kept gnawing away at me. My mother was inspiring me, fighting back against the curse.

It took another two years, but in 2015, I eventually published my first book, my biography. I called it The Golden Thread, but you will have to read the book to find out why. I had published a book, but still I struggled to call myself an Author and so my writing stopped, with the exception of the odd poem or two.

Then in July 2018 I was sat in a large Christian festival, with thousands of people around me. I had been waiting for a kidney transplant for two and a half years and I was angry with God. In the midst of the crowded room and drowned out by the sound, I cried out to God. “What am I supposed to be doing with my life, I feel rejected, discarded and worthless.”

Then I felt God speak back to me, it was so clear, “Brendan, I haven’t finished with you yet. You still have tools and skills that I want you to use, so use them.” Later on at the same festival someone prayed for me and I had confirmation. God was telling me to write. This was the skill and tools that He wanted me to use.

I returned home determined to write. I had planned to write a teen fiction novel of some sort. First though, I had gathered a small pile of teen fiction books to read. I had the idea that these would inspire me, but as I chose the first book, God spoke to me again. “Brendan, you don’t need to read these books. You have the tools and skills and I want you to use them.”

Then the words of my friend returned to me, “You could never be an Author… have to write 3,600 words an hour… you can’t do that.”

Was that right? Did I believe that? I decided to find out for myself and asked Google. I was rather shocked and surprised to read that most authors will write about 1,000 words a day and Stephen King, an amazing author, will write 2,000. I decided that 1,000 words was easily achievable. I also then realised, all tho