Awesome 13-Year-Old Becomes Published Author—Twice!
Remember when you were 13? And you really really loved fantasy novels? So you wrote two full-length YA manuscripts and got them published?
I’m not sure I ever remember being that motivated, but teen novelist Angela Content sure is. The eighth grader and Brooklyn native loved reading so much, in fact, that she decided to take matters into her own hands: using the website CreateSpace, she wrote and published two novels, Awake and Alive, a sci-fi fantasy, and a romance entitled Shattered. Both are now available for purchase on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Angela’s mother Marie admits that she didn’t take her daughter’s plans that seriously… until Angela informed her that the books were for sale on Amazon. “At first she said, ‘Mommy, I’m going to write a book. I’m writing my own book,’ I said, ‘OK.’ She said, ‘I’m going to publish it.’ I said, ‘OK’. And then finally one day she said: ‘Mommy, my book is going to publish. I already transmitted everything — it’s going to take 24 hours, they’re going to review it. I said, ‘OK’. And then the next day, I [hear] it’s on Amazon. I’m like, ‘Oh my God!’”
The coolest part about all of this? Angela did it all on her own. Not only did she come up with complete, fantastic worlds full of diverse characters, she sought out a publisher, emailed back and forth to get the project okayed, and was able to get them approved for sale on multiple sites (in contrast, yesterday I couldn’t decide which pair of socks to wear to the gym).
To say Angela Content is an overachiever doesn’t do her any justice. Not content to rest on her laurels, she’s currently writing two more novels. In case you weren’t impressed already, remember that it takes her three months to write each 200+ page novel, and she pens them all by hand.
“Whatever pops in my head, I just continue writing it,” she explains. “It just flows on paper. On the computer, I just kind of get stuck.”
Creative roadblocks be damned: Angela refuses to let distractions like television and Internet get in her way. In an interview with CBS, her mother added, “[…]Keep the electronic stuff away from the kids and talk to them more; hear what they have to say.”
The 13-year-old continues to impress us by handing out sound counsel to other aspiring writers— and she doesn’t shy away from laying down the truth. Although she hopes to continue writing for many years to come, she acknowledges that getting this far wasn’t easy. “I was like, ‘I’m so glad it’s over with.’ It was really, really hard.”
But no pain, no gain, right? Angela wisely advises, “Continue to follow your dreams. You’re going to feel great once you actually accomplish what you set your mind to.”
Preach, Angela! Our minds are officially blown.
Featured images via CBS2
