BY KIM HILSENBECK
At age 10, Kayleigh Soukup wrote her fi rst book. Looking back now at age 17, she says it wasn’t very good, but her parents, Joanne and Steve Soukup, encouraged her to keep writing.
She joined a novel writing competition at school. Over time, she found writing more enjoyable.
“I really focused on it a lot,” she said in a recent interview.
Kayleigh’s inspiration for stories, mostly in the fantasy romance genre, comes from music.
“I listen to albums like Chemical Romance,” she said.
By the time she was 15, she won the National Novel Writing Month, an annual competition of aspiring young writers across the globe. She won among high school students in her age group.
Her winning story was “Hopes and Wishes.” It wasn’t published, but Kayleigh received a proof copy of the book. More importantly, the prize was a publishing offer through CreateSpace – an online publishing company for authors who want to selfpublish.
Unlike gift cards that go unused and trophies that collect dust on a shelf, Kayleigh used this prize. The result was “Axel,” a story set in an alternate dimension. At one point in the story, Kayleigh said the characters go to New York City in our dimension. This was her fi rst truly published book.
Most girls Kayleigh’s age are in high school, dreaming about boys and proms. But Kayleigh is about to enter her sophomore year of college at Texas State University. She graduated early as a home schooled student, though previously attended both Live Oak Academy and Hays High School.
Why did she leave Hays High?
“I wanted to get through high school,” Kayleigh said. “I was bullied. I had a bad time. I couldn’t reach my potential in that school.”
She thought things would be better once she transferred into Live Oak, the self-paced alternative campus for Hays CISD. But that didn’t pan out much better. So she and her family went the home school route this past December. Kayleigh graduated early and already had college credits. She started college in the spring as an English major with a focus in Creative Writing.
And, among her other talents, this young woman is also a musician.
“I play guitar and piano, and I sing,” she said.
Does she envision a career in writing?
Yes, but perhaps song writing and possibly novels, too.
Kayleigh said her past novels generally have a fantasy twist and she tends to write about teenage characters.
In one plot, a teenaged girl whose mom died several years earlier receives a visit from her mother in a dream.
“Her mom gives her power to wish for anything. Suddenly, everything goes wrong,” Kayleigh explains.
What’s the lesson?
“You can’t get what you wish for without extreme consequences,” she said.
In “Seven Life Lessons of Leonard Mason,” which came out in March, Kayeigh said the main character lives in an orphanage with no government guidelines. The story takes place over about 10 days; in it, the girl is bullied, not just by other orphans but by the woman in charge.
She said “Hopes and Wishes” also had a subtext of bullying. Kayleigh said she identifi es with characters who are different and socially awkward.
“I was different,” she recalled. “I was homeschooled in middle school and I hung out with younger kids.”
Kayleigh said even the short time she’s spent at Texas State helped her come more into her own.
“College taught me to be more outspoken, to talk in public more. I’m a lot more confident in my speaking skills,” she said.
And while she was bullied, Kayleigh said she generally feels bad for the person doing the bullying.
“There is something going on in their lives. They want attention,” she said. “My mom’s a great teacher. She taught me that people who push down other people are generally being pushed down by someone in their life.”
Kayleigh’s future is looking bright. She’s working on her third novel, “Onyx,” and plans to enter it in the National Novel Writing Month.
“It’s a longer book,” she said. “It’s about Arthur, who is a descendent of [the legendary King] Arthur. And Merlin [the wise magician] has a daughter named Melinda. But it’s not a romance. It’s set in modern times in North Carolina.”
Back here in Texas, Kayleigh is having fun as a college student.
“I’m definitely enjoying myself. I met a lot of great friends,” she said. “People are more accepting [at college].”
She said she will join some clubs on campus this year.
“An English teacher suggested I join a writer’s guild,” Kayleigh said.
Her future right now is wide open.
“My parents let me figure things out on my own. They give advice,” she said.
Kayleigh isn’t sure if she’ll keep writing, play more music and maybe even someday teach others how to write. For now, she’s just enjoying being 17.
