In addition to juggling her duties as a mother, wife and student, Alyssa Auch found time to write a book over the seven-week break – during her childrens’ nap times.
Auch, a senior studying marriage and family relations, had her first book, “Lunula”, published in October.
This new fantasy novel tells the story of a witch named Wynn and her journey to overcome her fate. In the novel, Wynn is unique in that she is one of only two magical people born every 100 years.
Since the book’s recent publication, Auch has received several positive reviews on www.amazon.com where the book is available in both print and electronic versions. Readers say that they enjoy Auch’s book largely for its strong female lead.
“I really think that women should be strong because they are women, not in spite of it,” Auch said.
She said her protagonist, Wynn, is strong because of her feminine characteristics such as empathy.
“She is caring and because of that, she’s willing to fight for the people she cares about,” Auch said. “She embraces what she was born with.”
Auch said she got the idea for Lunula in high school, thanks to the help of some friends.
As a senior in high school, Auch and her friends would write letters to each other as fictional characters.
Auch adopted the character of the witch in her letters.
But even though Auch embodied the character that is now the protagonist of her first published novel, she said there are some differences between the two of them.
“She’s less goofy than I am,” Auch said. “[Wynn] is very stalwart. She didn’t grow with family.”
Auch plans to take next semester off to work on the sequel. Her main goal now is to gain a readership.
“My goal is to get as many people as I can to read it,” Auch said. “As an author, you don’t write for the money.”
Auch encourages other student authors to follow their dreams. “Don’t feel discouraged. You just have to go for it and write it,” Auch said.
