One more reason

Need another reason to write? Try the chance of getting published. That dream-cometrue has materialized for a few young authors with Chattanooga ties. › Drew Lorenzo (pen name Poppy Jackson) was a 16-yearold junior at Center for Creative Arts when her debut novel, “Imaginary,” was released in September 2012 by New Orleans-based publishing house Write2Grow. The novel was the first entry in a planned trilogy about a young girl’s relationship with a mysterious stranger who reappears in her life years after everyone convinced her he was a figment of her imagination. She followed with “Rapture” in December 2013.

› Hannah Rials, a University of Tennessee at Chattanooga senior, started writing her first novel, “Ascension,” as a 12-year-old middle-school student in Maryville, Tenn. She was interning with a publishing company, Audrey Press, when she handed the manuscript to her boss, who used it to create the company’s Young Adult offshoot, Aletha Press. The book, about a teenage vampire, was released in August 2016. › A Novel Idea:

In December 2015, 19 local teens and preteens debuted their first novels at Barnes & Noble Hamilton Place in the first year of A Novel Idea, a summer writing camp operated by a Nashville-based nonprofit. The young authors were coached on writing and editing with teachers, publishing professionals and graphic artists, and each received 50 copies to sign and sell. Kelly Flemings, the bookstore’s community business development manager, says this summer’s program was canceled for lack of a teacher/sponsor, but the program is slated to return in June of next year.