Since Kirra Allen (9) was little, she looked up to her mom, an author, and wanted to be just like her. From what started off with writing little snippets of stories and drawing characters, she started to show her passion for writing and art as she grew older.

“When I was around four years old, I saw that [my mom] was writing books, and it inspired me to become an author,” Allen said. “As I grew older, I developed obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), which made it very hard for me to write, but I wanted to get a book out there because it’s my passion to tell stories and show others with OCD that OCD doesn’t have to be an obstacle that stops you from accomplishing something.”

With Allen’s OCD being a huge obstacle in her way, there were also many other obstacles she had to go through to write this book. Whether it was straight criticism towards her and her writing or just backlash, Allen went through a lot to be where she is right now.

“It was a couple of years ago when I had a close friend tell me that she didn’t like the way I wrote,” Allen said. “I’ve even had backlash from my mom about how I write. I felt a lot of jealousy when reading certain books and I’ve had to realize that my writing style is unique.”

Fortunately, Allen had a great support system from her friends and sister. Her friend, Anusha Sivadalla (12), said how she has grown a lot during this process of writing a book and it is such an amazing experience to witness it with her. 

“I feel like I’ve seen a lot of her phases cause she’s into both art and writing. Over the years I’ve seen a lot of her phases and how she’s improved in terms of how she’s taking criticism, for example, and how she’s consistently been making pieces,” Sivadalla said. “She’s been writing stories all the time even when she has any sort of riding block, she is able to get back to her tasks. I feel like with the consistency she’s had over the years, I’ve seen a lot of progress and I’ve seen a lot of growth in her art aspect as well.”

Writing a book may be an independent thing, but when you need to lean on somebody for help or their opinion on something, you should be able to do so. That is what Allen’s sister was there for. Michaela Allen (12) has been with Kirra Allen her whole life and has seen her grow by leaning on people for help when she needs it. 

“I’m not the best help, but I do like talking with her about different characters and how they might interact with each other and kind of joking about that which I hope gives her a bit of inspiration to keep writing,” Michaela Allen said. 

Kirra Allen is close to ending her novel and is looking to finish the book over the summer. She is looking to release the book towards the beginning of the school year which is August or September. 

“This book is about teenagers and it’s meant to really just show the problems people face beyond what they look like. It’s meant to be humorous, but also it carries a lot of heavier themes to show people the importance of looking beyond the surface,” Kirra Allen said.