2016 CMHS graduate LeAnna Owens announces she is in the process of writing a novel. Though she held back on the details of the book itself, she did say that it was going to be a young adult fantasy novel. Owens stated that her ultimate goal is to have the book published in 3 years, by the time she turns 25. 

Owens studied at Marshall University, gaining her Bachelor’s in Public Relations while also working for the Marshall Parthenon. She graduated early in the spring of 2019 and, though she decided her dream was to be a published writer, says she’s very grateful for her PR degree for making her a better author. Owens said that gaining her PR degree taught her the importance of hard work, responsibility and taking initiative. “That is an important and hard thing to learn, especially when there’s no one to hold you accountable besides yourself”.

Owens says that she has already been working on her book for around a year and has decided she is going under the pen name “L.D. Owens”. “There’s a reason behind that,” she said, ” sexism is a very real thing. There’s been research that shows readers subconsciously migrate towards men’s work, and when authors use their initials, the readers assume it’s a man”. She stated that readers usually tend to shy away from books with authors that have more feminine names, and this is also why the author of the Harry Potter series went under the name of “J.K. Rowling”.

When asked if she was concerned about finding a publisher, Owens calmly referenced Stephanie Meyer, author of the Twilight series. Before Meyer sold over 100 million copies worldwide, she was turned away by 11 publishers. “There’s no limits when it comes to your imagination,” she stated, “so you can’t let other people’s thoughts and ideas cloud your original vision.”