Anyone who pays attention to the business of the Prosper Independent School District should be familiar with Jim Bridges because he’s held a seat on the Board of Trustees for eight years.
But recently, Bridges has completed a five-year project which, from its very nature, makes him an author. He has written and published a book “Of Whom I am Chief” which may be purchased at Amazon.com or on bookbaby.com either in hard back or digital.
The story is one about a true-life experience that happened to Bridges and it takes the reader through the underworld of financial scams. “I wanted to write something fun for my friends to read,” Bridges said. “It was my first and only, I think only, project.”
Bridges says he’s not really an author and doesn’t want to be perceived as tooting his own horn because he has written a book. He used an on-line publishing firm and published it himself so he doesn’t feel he should be called an author. Couple that with his sentiment concerning a follow-up project of this type, and he feels his writing days, at least for novels, are finished.
Bridges says he helps to manage a family foundation and was duped once a lot of years ago by a scam artist. “Years ago, I was caught in a scheme,” Bridges said. “I manage a Christian foundation and we invested some money with this guy. We recovered about 34 cents on the dollar which is better than most. Usually in these things, people don’t get more than five cents on the dollar. We were in a position that our exposure to him wasn’t high, but there were people who lost a great deal. This guy was a complete charlatan, and to think he could do that to people he knew so well is disturbing.”
But for Bridges, the experience seems to have sparked a creative streak that ended up with a book. “I had this over-reaching idea in my head and it was fun to develop these characters and get into their heads,” he said. “I had interviews with a U.S. attorney who prosecuted that case, talked to a prisoner and a federal judge to get background information and it was a fun process.”
He said, “In a moment of reverie I may sit back and think it a fun thing to be a writer, but this is a pretty kind of cut and dried kind of story and don’t think there is opportunity for a follow up story.”
Bridges added that it was fun to sprinkle some friends’ names through the chapters.
Born and raised in Houston, Bridges says his mother is still there. He said his dad had a successful career in the software business, took one company public and sold one to Haliburton. “When he sold to Haliburton, we started a Christian foundation that supports about a dozen ministries around the world. It takes very little of my time now.”
Bridges children have graduated from Prosper High School, Cameron was in the class of 2012 and Abby graduated in 2014. His wife Sally is one of his biggest boosters.
About his service on the school board, he says staying on the board will depend on how much he wants to continue and how much other people want to step up and serve. “We are very blessed with the composition of our board,” he said. “I couldn’t ask for a better group to work with.”
Bridges said finishing his book after five years was an amazing feeling, but he still can’t call himself an author.
Joyce Godwin | Joyce@CedarbrookMedia.com
