It wasn’t until Kaelyn Sepesi finished her first draft that she considered what exactly she had been doing.
“I looked at it and thought, ‘This is a lot, maybe too much to consider it just a hobby,’” the sophomore said. “‘What are the possibilities of publishing this?’”After two years of work writing, revising and learning the ins and outs of the self-publishing process, her novel, “Reasons for Thievery,” arrived in boxes from Amazon in early May.
“It’s here,” she said, “It’s really special to look at.”
Though the official release date is June 24, it’s available for purchase on her website now, as well as at some local shops like Oblong Books. Last weekend, she even found it on Goodreads.
“This is something I’m very proud of,” said Kaelyn, who has attended the district since kindergarten. “It’s something I want to share with the world.”
The book is a fantasy novel that tells the story of two characters, a pauper who resorts to stealing to help her sister and a prince, who circumstances force to work together and form a relationship. It explores the dichotomy of people from completely different situations feeling differing pressures, including those from within their family.
“I’m pretty happy with how it turned out,” Kaelyn said. “I focused a lot more on the emotions. I love getting into the nitty-gritty of emotions. … It explores how far are you willing to go for love and how far are you willing to lose yourself for it? Along with the romantic love, there’s also love between siblings.”
That’s an area where Kaelyn tapped into her own experiences.
“Both characters are the eldest sibling and they both feel a huge responsibility toward their younger siblings,” she said. “I, myself, am an eldest sibling. I kind of have to create a path they may look at and be proud of.”
The sophomore said she always enjoyed writing, but it was amplified during the COVID-19 pandemic. She’s not sure where she first was inspired to write this particular story, but was intrigued by the idea of a prince and a thief having to work together and has admired other writers who get their work out to the world.
Kaelyn called the writing process “personal,” noting she didn’t even tell her parents until she was midway through the second draft, and wouldn’t let her mom read it until the third draft was complete.
“I did get some tears out of her,” Kaelyn recalled of that first reading. “It was after she finished, it she and my dad said ‘This is really good. We definitely need to publish this.’”
A family friend then served as another editor as Kaelyn worked through another draft, offering advice on what areas to expand upon or clarify.
As she and her parents navigated the “chaos” of self-publishing, including such details as receiving copyrights, Kaelyn set a release date of June to ensure she the process did not affect her schoolwork. The nearly 500-page book is dedicated to her parents, Stacie and Daniel.
“I’m so extremely grateful to have amazing parents,” she said, praising her mom for “truly igniting my love for words.”
Kaelyn credited her seventh grade English teacher, Kelly Walker, as making an impact on her growth as a writer, both as a teacher and the adviser of the creative writing club.
“She was one of the first people I shared my writing with, back when I was writing short stories,” Kaelyn said. “It was nice having that person who understood my passion for writing and also receiving that feedback.”
Walked called Kaelyn "a creative and dedicated ELA student and creative writer." She "always had a new book in her hands that she wanted to tell me about and enthusiastically shared her writing projects with me. It was a joy to see her effort and passion for writing."
In addition to writing the book, Kaelyn drew and designed the cover image, tapping into her passion for art. She called herself "very much the English-history-arts-type student,” listing art history, the American Revolution and European history as areas that especially interest her.
Her goal is to become a history teacher who also writes books of varying genres on the side and plans to pursue both interests in college. “Reasons for Thievery” represents the first steps toward that.
“This is something I’m very proud of,” Kaelyn said. “I’m not embarrassed that my name is on the cover and my photo is on the back. There’s a lot of pride.”