Throughout the week, Phil Cawood works as a postman, delivering letters and parcels across Morley in Leeds.
At first glance, you wouldn’t know that the 42-year-old is also an author, using his passion for cartoons and epic adventures to create children’s books.
Phil’s tales of the Ghermlies, a fictional monster family, are available to buy online on Amazon, Waterstones, and even Barnes & Noble in the US, and have gained attention from local MPs Hilary Benn and Mark Sewards.
For the author, who used to be a design and technology teacher, his ultimate aim is to create books which engage and entertain primary school children and help them learn without realising it.
“It’s got to be fun and entertaining,” Phil told the Yorkshire Evening Post.
“You learn more through being interested in the subject so you’ve got to engage the audience. [The books] had to be action-packed, have a comedic element, and an adventure.”
So far, Phil has created two Ghermlie stories: The Protector of the Seventh Key and The Trip to the Zoo.
The Ghermlie's a fictional group of fun monsters created by Phil | Phil Cawood
His writing process began during the pandemic in 2020 when he began using art as a “creative outlet”.
Phil said: “I started getting back into what I knew as a kid which was drawing and it progressed from there.
“It was a form of escapism because we didn’t know where the world was going at that point.”
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Phil’s doodles of monsters, inspired by his favourite childhood cartoons including ThunderCats and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, gradually grew into characters and he knew he wanted to turn the pictures into a graphic novel style tale.
“The story became more than just a picturebook - it became an epic adventure between good and evil.” Phil said.
Finding a career as a children’s author has come as a surprise to Phil because he struggled with reading and writing throughout his school years.
At the age of 24, he discovered that he was dyslexic, something which made his schools struggles which has “lowered” his confidence, finally make sense.
Dyslexia is a learning difficulty which affects how the brain processes words, creating difficulties in both reading and writing.
For Phil, though dyslexia made education difficult, he also believes it is exactly why he has always had a passion for art.
“I think dyslexia gives me a creative way of thinking,” Phil said.
“Dyslexia is learning in a different way and your brain works differently but it's not that you can’t be academic.”
Now working on the third Ghermlie adventure, Phil’s next ambition is to become signed to a publisher so his works can have even larger outreach to children across the UK.
And when someone picks up a Ghermlie book, he wants them to become immersed in the fun fictional world of friendly monsters.
Phil said: “It’s a good old action adventure novel, full of colour and full of fun.
“The whole idea is about escapism.”