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About Vernonia's voice. (Vernonia, OR) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (March 16, 2017)
14 community march16 2017 Where Are They Now? Tricia Levenseller after I started working on that fi rst book I discovered for the fi rst time that I really enjoyed writing.” Levenseller’s fi rst published book, The Daughter of the Pirate King, was just released by Macmillan Publish- ing through their Feiwel and Friends children’s division on February 28. The historical fi ction novel is for teens, (“... and adults who are still in denial,” says Levenseller on her website) features a 17 year old female pirate captain, Alosa, who gets herself kidnapped by enemy pirates on purpose, so she can steal a treasure map. “I saw the Pirates of the Carib- bean movies and just loved them, and when I would go to a book store I would look at the Young Adult shelves for sto- ries about pirates and I was so sad to fi nd that there really weren’t any,” says Levenseller about her inspiration. “And, of the few I found, none of them were about female pirates. And I thought that I wanted to see girls represented.” Levenseller’s book can be found at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and other book stores, including many indepen- dent book stores. It has received great reviews and was selected for the Ameri- can Booksellers Association’s (ABA) Indies Introduce Winter/Spring 2017, a list of the top ten books for children and teens. “It was really an honor and amaz- ing to be nominated for that,” she says. Because she made that list she was invit- ed to appear at the ABA book conference in Minnesota this winter, where she had the opportunity to meet other authors, interact with book sellers, sign books for fans, and sit on several panels to dis- cuss her book and her writing process. “It was a really great opportunity for me, and since my publisher sent me and paid for everything, it was really amazing and fun!” A 2009 graduate of VHS, Lev- enseller played volleyball and basket- ball, played clarinet in the band, and was a member of the National Honor Soci- ety. Levenseller says she never fi nished the fi rst novel she started for her Senior Project, even though she ended up com- mitting about 60 hours to writing it, “... because I was having so much fun with it and I didn’t want to stop!” says Lev- enseller. “My fi rst love has always been fantasy books, but someone gave me some writing advice, to write what you know, so I started writing about a girl in high school trying to fi gure things out, because that’s what I knew. I didn’t know about dragons or magic or any- thing else. If I was to give it a genre, it would be Young Adult Contemporary Romance. But eventually I got bored with that Senior Project and I never did fi nish it. But the Senior Project was what got me started and what made me realize that I loved writing. So, Yay for the Senior Project!” After graduation Levenseller headed off to Brigham Young University in Utah, where she graduated in 2013 with a degree in English Language and a minor in Editing. “Studying English Language is different than studying English Lit- erature,” says Levenseller. “It is more IT’S TAX TIME Call your LOCAL tax preparer continued from front page focused on sentence structure, grammar, and puncuation.” Even so, her interest in writing novels remained. “After I went to col- lege I wrote my very fi rst fantasy book from start to fi nish during the summer following my freshman year,” says Lev- enseller. The process of writing a novel and getting it published has been a learn- ing process for Levenseller, full of ups and downs, and many stops and starts that required patience and resilience. After completing that draft of her fi rst book, which was an urban fan- tasy, Levenseller sent it out to friends and family for feedback and then spent the fi rst semester of her sophomore year getting up one hour before her classes and working on editing and revising the story. She also began researching how to get her book published. “All signs pointed to getting an agent,” says Lev- enseller. Levenseller began sending out one page “query letters” to prospective agents, noting that the only way to get a book traditionally published by one of the big fi ve publishing houses is to go through an agent, who acts as a middle man in the process. “You can’t submit a manuscript to the publisher directly, you have to have an agent submit your work on your behalf,” says Levenseller. “The query letter is a way to explain what your book is about and pique an agent’s interest and if anyone is interested they will request a copy of your manuscript to read.” Levenseller says that most peo- ple don’t realize that an agent does not get paid until they sell your manuscript, so they don’t agree to represent you or your work unless they think they can sell it. Almost immediately, Lev- enseller received a request for her manu- script and two weeks later she received a phone call, saying the agent would love to represent her. So her fi rst book was sent out to editors at the various publish- ing houses, which was very exciting. “And then a year went by and nobody wanted to buy the book,” says Levenseller. “And I was very distraught of course, and sad, because I had put so much work into this and nobody wanted it. So I called my agent and said, ‘OK, that didn’t work out, is it OK if I write you another book?’ And he said yes.” Levenseller’s next attempt was a historical fantasy, which she learned she really enjoyed writing, and that was drafted, edited and revised and sent off to the publishing houses. Again, after a year, no one wanted to buy her second story. “But I was not to be deterred, because I knew I wanted to write, so I asked the agent if I could write him a third book, and he said yes,” says Lev- enseller. Levenseller’s agent rejected her third book, so she wrote a fourth book, which involved pirates and her agent told her he didn’t like pirates. “At this point I had to break up with my agent,” says Levenseller with a laugh, “and start all over again and fi nd a new agent.” Levenseller found a new agent and eight months later she sold Daugh- ter of the Pirate King to Macmillan. “It took me four books, two agents, and a ton of rejections, but I fi nally made it,” she says. Levenseller explained that once the book sold, getting it released and on the shelves is still a long process. She says her book sold in July of 2015 and was fi nally released over 18 months lat- er. Macmillan did give Levenseller a contract for two books, and says she is currently working on edits to a sequel about her pirate character Alosa, which continued on page 17 R Y OLL A P PLUS LLC Edi Sheldon 503-429-1819 edisheldon@gmail.com Licensed tax consultant • Full service payroll Personal & small business bookkeeping • QuickBooks assistance CORPS, S-CORPS, LLC, Partnerships • Personal one-on-one service LTC #29629 - Oregon licensed tax consultant RTRP #P00448199 - designated as a registered tax return preparer by the Internal Revenue Service The IRS does not endorse any particular individual tax return preparer. For more information on tax return preparers, go to www.IRS.gov. FOR TOWING EMERGENCIES IN AND AROUND THE VERNONIA AREA VERNONIA C H I RO P R AC T I C C L I N I C, I NC. VernoniaChiro.com Need more room? Joseph Dombek, DC (971) 248-4055 See us for the lowest prices GUARANTEED! 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