A 14-Year-Old Author

I’m 21, and every time I finish up a post for The Frisky, I feel a huge wave of accomplishment. That was until I read about Laura Simula, an author who started writing her first novel at 12-years-old. Her first book, A Broken Yesterday, was just published—and she’s only 14. The book is a 130-page mystery that tells the story of Carrie Foster, a girl struggling with her older sister’s death from bone cancer and, in the process of grieving, uncovers a big family secret. Even more impressive, Simula got her book published on her own. Her parents didn’t even know she sent out the manuscript until the publishing company called to sign a deal.

Simula is donating 10% of her book sales to St. Judes Children’s Research Hospital. Yeah, this youngster really knows how to make me feel worthless. She tops it off with her even bigger aspirations. She’s working on her second novel as we speak, and when she’s finished, she plans on going to college to study architecture and engineering. Okay, I’m off to do something important now. [Today]