Almost everyone had an unrealistic dream when they were a kid whether it was to become a millionaire or be the next Taylor Swift. However, one student’s dreams are actually turning into her reality.
Amala Golej, a fourteen-year-old freshman student, has already written and edited her first novel. Her book, which she has worked on for a few months now, is around 70,000 words long and is estimated to be 120 pages.
“I started writing a really long time ago,” Golej said. “It was a good way to pass the time, and I could make interesting and meaningful stories.”
In addition to self-editing, Golej has had many of her close friends and family members read her work.
“She tries to be perfect and wants to do her best all the time, which really impresses me,” Golej’s best friend freshman Ellie Duan said. “I’ve read her rough draft, and she’s a really good writer. I always want to keep on reading what she’s written.”
Golej’s draft of her novel has only taken her three months to write. To put that in perspective, writing over 70,000 words in that amount of time is equivalent to writing a 6,000 word essay every week for three months straight.
Now that she has finished editing her draft, Golej is working on her blurb and query letter to send to writing agents.
“I sit down and write whenever I can, and it sort of turns into a story on its own,” Golej said. “I’m trying to reach out to people that can give me advice on writing query letters so I can send it out to agents and hopefully get a publisher.”
Outside of the writing world, Golej is a normal teenager with many different hobbies. She plays the oboe for the school concert band and participates in the school choir. She is also involved in speech, dance, and One Act. Golej is in many advanced and honors classes as well, but one class that she excels in is Honors English.
“She’s incredibly intuitive and is an excellent writer,” English teacher Kelly Smith said. “She is intellectually on her game, she’s an outstanding writer, and I know she will go places.”
Although Golej seems to have had many successes throughout this writing journey, there have also been struggles. With her young age and limited time due to school, there have been many obstacles for her to get past.
“A lot of people don’t respond to my emails, but if they do respond, they say that I’m too young and that they won’t help me,” Golej said. “I don’t use as mature words as someone who’s older, but I don’t take it negatively because I’m in high school, and there’s less time to write compared to someone who gets to sit down and write all day as their job.”
Despite her age, Golej has persevered through the doubts of many people and has gotten in contact with people who can help make her dreams come true. It seems only a matter of time until her novel will be stocked in bookstores.
“If you want to start writing or publishing your own book, just know that you don’t need a big plan or a billion drafts. You just need to start writing and see what happens,” Golej said. “Even if people doubt you, the most important thing is to keep going and not look back.”
