About twenty years ago, Ezra Turner set himself a goal: to write ten books.

He was dyslexic and had never written anything before but he did not see that as an insurmountable obstacle.

Billy the Bully marked the completion of that challenge. Like all of Mr Turner’s books, it is aimed at children and weaves “valuable life lessons” into the story.

The story’s focus is an ant whose parents send him to live in another colony after he complains of being bullied. The hope is that the change of scenery would have a positive impact on the young drone. As it happens, he learns much from the experience: if you do not work, you do not eat; do unto others as you would like them to do unto you; if you do not listen, you will feel.

Billy the Bully took time to come together – something Mr Turner said was common in his writing process

“I wrote it so many different times; so many different ways. I wrote it before I wrote three [previous] books. I sketched it down. I wrote it. I looked at it. I didn't like it. It just had too much going on so I had to change it around, change it around, change it around,” the author said.

“It happened with a lot of my books. The Adventures of King, I wrote that before I wrote my first book but I didn’t like it so I put it to sleep. One day the light hit me and [the characters] woke up. And once they wake up, off we go again. Billy the Bully – I’ve got five other stories written about him. This is just one I thought would be better suited to ten-year-olds.”

Mr Turner’s first book, Bermuda Rock Lessons, was filled with fables. His second, The Adventures of King, tells the story of a puppy his grandparents were gifted by former workers at Kindley Air Force Base. Eugene and the Magic Dagger focused on children – the way they fished, swam, and imagined magical things.

After that came The Pond with No End, Rock Lessons, The Science Project, Nonsuch Island, and A Kitty Named Little Boy.

The Adventure of Ki follows a boy who spends much of his time daydreaming about the white horse with wings painted on his backpack – until he is unexpectedly asked to run in a cross-country race in place of his brother and ends up winning.

“Some of them are from my experience and some of them are things I have observed around other people,” he said.

Although he has written more stories, Billy the Bully will be the last Mr Turner publishes.

“This is No 10 and I wanted to write ten books. I could make it 11 or 12 but I wanted to set a mark for myself. I set a goal. I completed that goal. That was the challenge,” said Mr Turner, a bartender at Grotto Bay Beach Resort & Spa.

“And it’s expensive. It’s expensive publishing books.”

He is grateful to have found a “gifted” illustrator, Chan Richardson, and for the advice he received early on – even when it almost stopped him in his tracks.

His very first editor misunderstood the nature of his book and the feedback hit hard.

“It really, really broke my heart,” said Mr Turner, who nearly gave up on his goal.

“I was about to take another road in life but something inside me said, ‘No Ezra, you wanted to do this for good. This is you.’ So I took his negative stuff and turned it around and made it positive. And here I am with ten books.”

Publishing his work has not been easy – there were obstacles and the cost was high.

“If it wasn’t for Horst Augustinovic and Print Link … he did a lot of my publishing and printing. If it wasn’t for him – I thank God for him – it would never have been done,” he said. “He’s printed and published for me with no pressure at all. It would have taken me another five years to do what I’ve done if it wasn’t for him.”

With one goal accomplished, Mr Turner is already thinking about what might come next.

“Last year I took an introduction to biology at the Bermuda College – and I passed using no computers, no phones, just studying from books. To go to the next level takes a lot because biology is a very big subject. But I like biology. So maybe something in that area is where I'm going and when it's ready, when it comes, I'm going, and once, I'm going, I'm there.”

• Billy the Bully is available on Amazon.com and at the gift shop at Grotto Bay Beach Resort & Spa