Hannah Dawber/The Veritas News
Junior Leah Anderon’s book is available in the ENC Store.
Junior Leah Anderson published her first book, “Changing Tides,” on Sept. 17.
Anderson’s book can now be found at the ENC school store for $15 and online at the websites CreateSpace and Amazon for $8.
“Changing Tides” is the first book of a three-part trilogy that is full of fantasy fiction and Greek mythology.
“It is about a guy’s introspective life,” Anderson explained. “[He] thinks he’s the [big] man on campus that then gets himself thrown into a world with Greek myths and Greek gods becoming trapped there. He looks at his life and realizes he’s not all that great and changes throughout the story.”
“It has myth, romance, scandal, intrigue, friendship, and pretty much everything I wanted in a book. The reason I started to write it was because I wanted to read it,” Anderson said. “Someone said, ‘if there is something out there that you can’t find to read, write it.’”
“I think that ‘Changing Tides’ is unlike anything I’ve ever read before,” junior Gabriell Borrero said. “Leah has created a world that is so different from any other story.”
Anderson began writing “Changing Tides” because of her love for writing.
“I get this feeling that if I’m in front of a blank notebook piece of paper, I need to fill it with something, and I will literally write anything just because I love writing,” she said. “I didn’t intend for this to be published. I always wanted it to be, but I didn’t think it would be good enough.”
But when a friend read an early draft, she began to change her mind.
“The really big thing that I needed was someone to read it, sort of get another set of eyes on it rather than just mine, because I would never be happy with it,” Anderson said. “Gabriell Borrero read it over the summer and helped me mold it into something I want it to be.”
Borerro had positive feedback for Anderson.
“She’s made the Greek gods cool and modern, and she’s made the main characters, Ella and Rinzen, so unforgettable. I love the story,” Borrero said.
Anderson began writing the book during her junior year in high school and completed all 260 pages the summer before her freshman year at ENC. When she entered college, she began to send the book to publishers. Then, senior Taylor Kelliher informed Anderson of a self-publishing company through Amazon called CreateSpace.
“At first I was hesitant because I wanted to go the traditional route of getting published through a publisher,” Anderson said. “But the more I checked into the web, I got an account and kept tweaking the novel. Then [I] got a very big push and felt God wanted me to do it then.”
After Anderson sent it to CreateSpace at the beginning of September, she was able to create her cover, title, and a physical paperback book for free.
In the first month, Anderson sold 24 books through Amazon. She sold 12 more during the month of October.
“It’s a book I know I can and will read over and over again,” Borrero said.
Anderson has already completed the second book of the trilogy and is currently working on the third. She is considering moving to a publishing company in the future, but for now is content with self-publishing and focusing on the rest of her time at ENC.
“Writing is so much more than just a hobby. It [has] sort have taken over my life,” Anderson said.