Middle Schooler Publishes First Novel

A Realm Between Realms Author Sage Garrett Credits Faith — and a Little Help from her Friends

Twelve-year-old Sage Garrett was recently featured on NBC 5’s Wake Up to Something Good segment where she introduced her first authored book, A Realm Between Realms. This book begins a 12-book series set in an unknown population hidden from the world. Her principal, Jared Laginess, at International Leadership of Texas, Keller K-8 was thrilled when she was published and invited an NBC 5 reporter to visit the school and introduce her accomplishment.

School may be out for the summer, but not for Sage and her small but mighty group of school friends. They are putting their skills to the test as they collaborate, write, and edit another book all summer long.

Reading has been an important part of Sage’s life since she was very young. She read many classic fantasy series at least six times each. These 900-page treasures have always been food for creative thoughts. From a young age, she wanted to be an author, with the decision in 5^th grade to begin writing her first book. She and her friends share a Google doc where they collaborate, suggest edits, and Sage develops the story and shares. This group spent the last day of school brainstorming all day for the next book.

Sage loves writing and is not very interested in the money that comes from sales. Impressive is the fact she takes only 25% of her profits and distributes the rest among her editing friends. She values their friendships and wants them to share in the success of their efforts. They are each named with the descriptors of her book for sale online. Sage also thoughtfully introduces her younger brother as one of the characters in her book and even the family dog gets a part.

Recently, Sage attended her Young Women’s summer camp with 200 girls ages 12-18 from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, of which she is a member. At camp, the focus on Christ was powerful to her. She approached a recent deadline for her book and became very anxious about meeting it for publishing. But Sage says she put her trust in the Lord. She knows He is there for her and is calmed by her faith in Him. When she returned from camp, her editors had made 75 Google doc comments to her latest writing. She busily went to work and ended up re-writing the first three chapters of the newest project.

As the mother of Sage, Megan says her daughter has a “very imaginative brain. When she was born, she came out creative. She is also a strong leader. People follow her example.” Megan shared that early on, her daughter told her she was going to write a book. She didn’t think much of it and thought it was a nice idea. But when it came to fruition, she was pleasantly surprised.

When asked if she and her husband Reed had aided Sage with her project, Megan said they only assisted with details related to setting up the book for sale online. Sage’s parents are pleased with her self-motivation to set goals and stay focused to accomplish them. They also love her generosity as she includes her editors to share in this venture and profits. Yes, they are proud parents.