Published Novelist Still In Middle School

Name: Kelly Martinez

Age: 13

School: Toby Johnson Middle School

Accomplishment: Having her first novel published at age 13 and having already written a second novel

Key to awesomeness: Letting her imagination take over

Many accomplished writers talk about writing that first novel – someday. It’s that elusive project that sits in the minds of wanna-be authors through the years.

Not for Kelly Martinez, though. The eighth grader at Toby Johnson Middle School just knocked hers out at 13 years old. It will be available on Amazon.com within the next six weeks.

Her book, The Monstrous Snowglobe, is about a world inside a snowglobe, which is discovered by nine-year-old Jackson Parks. It’s a world with creatures and aliens, but a robot is threatening it.

Watch out, J.K. Rowling.

“I knew she was writing a book, but lots of kids say a lot of things,” said Jeanette Deml, Martinez’s math teacher at Toby Johnson. “But when she actually brought me the book, I was really surprised.”

Martinez began writing at 10 years old, as a fifth grader. She said she suffered writer’s block plenty—those moments when she just stared at a computer screen, waiting for the words to pour out of her fingertips.

“I really enjoyed it; it was really fun,” Martinez said. “It was a great thing to do and it was entertaining.”

But this isn’t just a one-shot deal. The hits keep coming. Martinez has already written a second novel that she finished this past summer and a sequel to The Monstrous Snowglobe is in the works.

“I keep getting all these different ideas and it’s kind of difficult to stay focused on just one series,” Martinez said.

Martinez used self-publishing website Lulu.com to publish her first novel, but will look to go through a traditional publisher going forward.

“She is an exceptional student and she works so hard at everything,” Deml said. “She is just amazing. She is going to be an even more phenomenal writer someday."