UT athlete hopes to inspire others after writing, publishing first novel

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- If you need advice on time management, University of Texas sophomore Osawese Agbonkonkon might be the person you should go to for advice.

The UT track star competes in the high jump, goes to classes and has continued to maintain a high GPA, but he also wrote and published a book while juggling all of those activities.

"The calendar app has become a lifesaver for me," said Agbonkonkon as he laughed. "Lots of scheduling, lots of planning in between classes, practice, travel, but I enjoy my writing so I find time to do that."

Agbonkonkon wrote and self-published “Psychic Suit,” a young adult action and adventure novel because of his love for writing, but it's how he got into writing that might surprise you.

"What inspired me was a standardized test," said Agbonkonkon. "I know not a lot of students don't like that, but I remember it was 5th grade and we had a prompt on the standardized test and I liked the prompt and I really felt like the writing was flowing so later that night at home I took that prompt and continued writing from it."

His book is about a group of characters called psychics who are blessed with powers from an alien metal.

"Because of this alien metal their ancestors got very wealthy, very powerful and now we have transitioned into this modern iteration of these psychics that live lives of opulence, they are public figures, they are very influential, a lot of resources," said Agbonkonkon.

Agbonkonkon says he hopes his book can inspire others to follow their dreams.

"If you truly believe in your story you will keep doing it, and it is kind of a if you build it they will come," said Agbonkonkon "Once you put it out there you just have to trust that your work is good enough."

To find out more about the book or to purchase a copy, visit Amazon. To learn more about Osawese Agbonkonkon, you can find him on Instagram.