Emilee Beachy of the UOG class of 2018 has just published her first book for young readers. The book’s title is A Familiar Search by Emmie B. It is the first chapter in a series called Little Witches. 

According to Beachy, the book is about a story of Lila Teafather, a young witch. It is Lila’s turn to follow a tradition, which happens just before a witch or wizard starts third grade. 

“It’s full of magic, struggle and victory,” Beachy said. 

Beachy self-published this book, and did all the writing, illustrating, formatting for it.  She also created the cover art found in the book. Getting to this point was not a breeze, however. 

“I started trying to write YA novels when I was in sixth grade and did complete one manuscript,” Beachy said. “There have been other novels that have been worked and reworked, but they aways seemed to fall short when I had to expand the book.”

Regardless of the setbacks, writing has been Beachy’s passion. “I have wanted to be a fiction writer since I was in second grade.” Beachy earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in entrepreneurship and a minor in writing. 

She feels her education at UOG encouraged her in her writing pursuits. “I learned a lot and got to try different forms of fiction, which was great. I really loved screenwriting and playwriting,” Beachy said. “There was honest feedback which has helped me push and grow as writer and I know if I hadn’t taken those classes my skills wouldn’t be what they are today.”

Only her niece, mom and extended family have read her stories before she published this book. Now that her book is published, she is proud it is shared with the public and looks forward to continue writing. Interested readers can find A Familiar Search on Amazon Kindle for $2.99 or Amazon Unlimited. 

Beachy is working on publishing a paperback version to possibly be available in early October. Updates can be found on her Facebook page, @emmieb.books, which is updated at least once a week.