As a full-time college student Abby Jaquint has to continue to strike the perfect balance between her studies and her life-long passion, writing.
Her free time is devoted to writing.
She decided to write her fourth book, “Ataraxia” when she was a sophomore in high school. She worked on it for four years until it was completed and ready for publication.
Jaquint who is not originally from the area, spent much of her life growing up in Platte County living with her grandmother and aunt.
“I absolutely loved the area,” Jaquint said.
Ataraxia is a not-so-typical coming of age novel about a teenager going through the struggles of his complicated life, whether it be problems with his friends, family, or himself.
“I got the idea for the story when I was still in high school, and I was going through a lot of issues of my own,” Jaquint said. “So I was able to take my own experiences and really mold them into a fictional world that I was passionate about. Honestly, I wrote Ataraxia based on a lot of what I was going through, and I knew the best way for me to work through some tough situations was by pouring my heart out into my writing.”
The book focuses on the main character finding happiness and figuring out ways to make his life better. Jaquint thought the best way to title the book would be to search through long lists of synonyms for the words “happy” and “peaceful.”
Her pursuit resulted in a notebook full of all the words she liked best and their specific meanings. She eventually narrowed her choices down to one and settled on Ataraxia.
Her love of writing began when she was a child and she knew when she got older her plan was to write and publish books. She wrote her first book when she was 16.
“So, in a way, it was pretty much all I ever wanted out of life,” Jaquint said.
One of the major challenges she has faced when writing a book is knowing that at some point she will have to decide that the book is ready for publication.
“I went through several drafts, changing the story drastically, and it was tough to decide on what I wanted to include or take out, and what exactly I wanted this book to mean when it was all finished,” Jaquint said.
When the book was finally completed and Jaquint realized she had created a novel that other people would read, enjoy and learn from, she was ecstatic.
“I was and still am so deeply proud of what I’ve accomplished, and I couldn’t wait until it was out in the world and people would start to read/enjoy my book,” Jaquint said.
She has received many positive reviews from people who have read the novel.
“I’ve specifically gotten a lot of good feedback from my friends who have supported me since the beginning,” Jaquint said.
Her love of writing is unlikely to wane and she will use every spare moment to bring the written word to life for her many readers. She plans to write many more books.
“My head is constantly full of story ideas and I plan to turn as many as I can into full-length novels,” Jaquint said.
The book can be purchased on Amazon, Barns & Noble, through the Dorrance Publishing site or on a mobile device through Play Books.