Hopes to one day open coffee shop, transition center for homeless
At any age, it can be hard to have a complete plan of action for life; however, 11-year-old Josie Campbell has her plan already figured out.
The energetic sixth-grader has just completed her first novel, “The Thunderinions: Evil’s Rise,” and with the proceeds she hopes to one day open her own coffee shop and a transition center for the homeless.
Rounding out her list of goals is saving up enough money for a downpayment for a home in Petaluma, which is home to the Victorian-style architecture that Campbell loves.
The 200-page novel centers around five teenagers, fresh out of high school, who realize that their old imaginary friends from their childhood are actual creatures called “thunderinions.”
“The evil thunderinions have captured the mother thunderinions, who are basically the ruler of all thunderinions, so the kids find out that they are the heirs of the mothers and they have to find them so they can be free,” Campbell explained.
The novel is the first in what she hopes will be a series of adventure stories.
It took Campbell three years to write the book and half a year to edit it with her father, who is in the publishing business.
She first got the idea for the novel when she was only 8 years old.
“When I was eight, me and my friends were on one of the class computers, and we decided to write a book — we thought it wouldn’t be too tedious,” Campbell said. “We worked on it and I kind of put it off for a year and then I found it again and wrote a couple of more chapters and went back to the first one and realized that the old ones were really not good so I re-wrote those chapters and I had a better idea of what the plot would be.”
She said her fourth, fifth and sixth grade teacher at her Petaluma montessori school was a big help during the writing process.
“We gave her ideas on the side, but she chose to do everything,” Catherine said.
They say a writer’s work is never done. When asked if Campbell still feels like there is more that could be tweaked with the book, she said she does, however, her father told her that if you keep adding colors to a painting it is just going to turn brown.
She said her favorite part of the book is the end, but she did not want to give away any spoilers.
The artwork was done by Campbell’s 15-year-old cousin, so all work was kept in the family.
“I really like coffee, and I really like making coffee, probably more than I enjoy drinking it … and once I have enough money I want to open a little coffee shop,” Campbell said of her goals.
The shop would be in a decorated trailer, almost like a mobile coffee house. Half of the funds from the shop would go towards the homeless.
“Eventually I want to end up opening like a huge hotel so that people who do not have homes can get their lives together, clean up and get a job,” Campbell said. “I have lots of goals.”
The first few copies of her book are now available at the Copperfield’s in Petaluma, and she’s also landed four other seller contracts with other Copperfield’s locations throughout Sonoma County.
She will also be doing a book signing at the Healdsburg Copperfield’s on Matheson Street on Dec. 7 from 10 a.m. to noon.
“It will be my first meet and greet, so people who are reading this should probably come to that,” she said.
