Inspiration Strikes Turnpike Employee to Write Book
Inspiration strikes at the most unexpected times.
“I was on a ski trip, and I was thinking about writing a children’s book,” PA Turnpike Toll Collection Business Systems Specialist Angela Kinney said. “And I like otters, so I thought, ‘Why not write about an otter who learns how to ski with the help of his friends?’”
Two unrelated concepts crashed together in one lightning bolt of an idea, and a few short months later, Ozzy Otter Learns to Ski became a reality. It’s Kinney’s first book, now available on Amazon.
“It’s a simple book, but it’s a good book to read to a child as a bedtime story,” Kinney said.
In the book, the titular character spots some skiers whizzing down a snowy hill and wants to join in on the fun. But otters don’t ski – right? Not if Ozzy can help it. He assembles his team of critters, takes a spill along the way, and before he (spoiler alert!) finally learns how to hit the slopes like a pro, he also picks up some important lessons in friendship, safety (gotta wear that bird-nest helmet, right?) and gratitude.
And it wasn’t just the main character who grew. The author learned a lesson along the way, too – one about perseverance.
“It came together pretty quickly, but I put a lot of free time into the book,” Kinney said. “In February, I thought about it a lot. In March, I started working on it, and I published it in April.”
Beyond creating the concept and writing the story, Kinney was also the illustrator and graphic designer, both brand new skills she had to develop in that short time. She spent many hours teaching herself how to use programs like Adobe Photoshop and even took a deep dive into artificial intelligence to help with the illustrations.
It was a learning curve, but Kinney is glad she stuck to it and said it was all worth it in the end.
“It’s exciting to actually have a physical copy in my hands,” she said, holding a copy of her book – something that didn’t even exist as a concept in January.
Perseverance is a lesson Kinney sees in another area of her life. She also volunteers as an English-as-a-second-language instructor through the Literacy Council of Lancaster-Lebanon, where she currently meets with three students over Zoom, tutoring them as they pick up a new language. Teaching these students how to speak, read and write English isn’t that far removed from creating a book for children – the next generation of readers.
“I’m not an English major or a teacher, but because I was teaching students and thinking so much about grammar and language, I thought, ‘I could write a book,’” she said. “It helped inspire the idea.”
It takes the same perseverance as learning a new language – or teaching an otter how to ski.
By Steve Marroni, PA Turnpike Communications Specialist