Cumming Teen Launches Prize Winning Book

This weekend 13-year-old Savannah McLeod, a student, will celebrate the launch of her book, Messages from the Breathless.

The suspenseful novelette tells the story of a high school love that doesn't end after death.

“I’m so excited about being an author,” said McLeod. “Writing is something I really love to do."

In preparing her book for publication, McLeod got an up-close look at what it takes to create and market a book from beginning to end. One of the things she did was solicit her friends to appear in a photo shoot at her school for the cover of the book. She also worked with an illustrator and designer, and even wrote original song lyrics to accompany her story.

“The most fun was writing the book and creating the cover,” said McLeod.

The seventh grader's opportunity was made possible by , an Alpharetta firm that provides a complete range of publishing services to self-publishing authors and independent publishers.

As a winner of BookLogix’s 2011 Young Writers Contest (age 10-13 category) McLeod received a publishing prize package valued at $5,000.

“It’s so important for us to encourage younger generations to learn and share the gift of writing,” said Ahmad Meradji, President and CEO of BookLogix. “It’s my hope that other young people will be inspired by Savannah’s story and the Young Writers Contest to write and someday publish their work.”

McLeod's book launch is scheduled for Saturday, May 19 at 2 p.m. in the Three Chimneys Farm Clubhouse located at 3625 Three Chimneys Lane in Cumming. The event is free and open to the public.

As for the next writing adventure on the horizon, McLeod says she's working on a new novel.

"It’s about a girl who is kidnapped, but has no memory, and doesn’t know that she’s been abducted – until she overhears someone talking about it," she said.

Messages from the Breathless is available online at Amazon, Barnes & Nobel and BookLogix.