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MASON TOWNSHIP — Every night, RJ Lee and his wife make it a point to read to their children before bed. 

After narrating countless stories and tales from different authors, the Ross Beatty grad and Cass County District 8 Commissioner decided to create a tale of his own and self-published his first book, “Happy Jack Taekwondo,” a book about a little boy named Jack who shows off his experiences doing Taekwondo with instructor Bruce Andreson. 

The book – available on Amazon – is loosely based on Lee’s oldest son, Charlie, who practices taekwondo along with Lee’s wife, Samantha, daughter, Leah, and youngest son, Theodore.

“I primarily work in agronomy, so that is my main background. However, my family started doing Taekwondo about a year before I went into political office. My wife and all three of my children do Taekwondo, and I provide moral support. The book is loosely based on my oldest son’s experience and his teacher when he first started out.”

While Lee has written several poems over the years, penning a children’s book was a new experience. After watching YouTube videos on the publishing process, he decided to give it a try.

“I was bored one day and started writing,” Lee said. “I always hesitated to pursue publishing because the illustrations seemed too difficult.”

One of the unique features is the font. Lee used a website to create a font named Sam Sans – named after his wife, Samantha – which is entirely in her handwriting. Lee said the illustrations were created using Midjourney, a generative artificial intelligence program.

“I had to spend hours refining and modifying the images to make them vibrant and attractive for kids,” he said.

Lee has shared the book with friends, family and community members and the feedback has been positive.

“The response has been really good; lots of support,” he said. “I’m fortunate to have lots of good friends and family in a good community. I’ve even had quite a few of my farmers buy a copy or two.”

Lee added that his most important critics, his children, have enjoyed their father’s work.

“My oldest thought it was really awesome,” he said. “My middle son was like, ‘eh, it’s another book.’ My three-year-old daughter hasn’t fully grasped it yet, but she thinks it’s cool. We have a copy at home that’s already well-worn.”

With one published book under his belt, Lee said he has several more stories already written and hopes to find an illustrator for future works.

“I would love to and will probably try and publish a couple more,” he said. 

While writing a book was a lot of work, Lee enjoyed the process.

“It was a fun process to learn, and my biggest takeaway is that if you are willing to put in the time, literally anyone can publish a book,” he said.