Three years later, Huston-Holm had a similar experience with Derrick Seaver, an 18-year-old from Minster who was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives. Meeting him in a breakfast meeting at her job at the Ohio Department of Education, she once again found an inspiration – a story she could not resist.

“I shook his hand, and I just knew he had to be the subject of my next book,” Huston-Holm said. “I knew his story would inspire others.”

Her latest work, “Kid in the House,” tells the story of Seaver’s first year in office as the youngest state legislator in the country's history. Seaver's story is an unlikely one and his age certainly made him intriguing, said Huston-Holm, but his confident persona made him an engaging book subject. In her year spent following Seaver, his family and friends, Husband-Holm learned just how capable a politician he is, she said. 

Seaver won as a Democrat in a predominately Republican area of Western Ohio, said Huston-Holm, because he connected with the people in his district and the issues that affected them. She said she sees Seaver as part of a “new wave” of politics as a “Democrat who speaks like a republican.” He is both pro-life and antigun control – nonconventional stances for a Democrat.

“Derrick can connect with all generations, and both Republicans and democrats alike,” Huston-Holm said.

In writing the true-life stories about these two Ohio teens, Huston-Holm said she believes she is doing writing that others tend to ignore for various reasons. She alleges that her books are “honest,” that she does not try to whitewash the difficult issues of growing up. “I think it’s important to be writing serious stories about teenagers because nobody else seems to be doing it,” Huston-Holm said.

Huston-Holm also said she believed that not having children of her own contributes to her ability to see things through the eyes of her subjects. “Maybe (not having kids) makes it easier for me to write about (teenagers),” she said. “I don’t seem to have lost my sense of what it was like to be one by having to examine their choices through the lens of a parent.”

Both works are in a style known as creative nonfiction, where the author takes certain liberties in telling the story but does not omit major plot details. In conceiving her stories, details of hers subjects’ lives are ever present. Photos of Seaver, his family and his hometown were always at hand when writing the story, and even the music of Seaver’s life – the heavy metal of AC/DC and the island sounds of Jimmy Buffett – played in the background, she said. Also around are her constant writing companion, her dog, Cocoa, and the books of her favorite creative nonfiction authors, Tracy Kidder, Richard Rhodes and Richard Preston. All of these things serve to reinforce Huston-Holm’s inspiration to write, she said.

Huston-Holm squeezes in her writing around a full-time job. Having spent 15 years as a reporter, she now works as the manager of products and customer services and a technical writer within the Ohio Department of Education. She said she would love to make creative writing (ghost writing for others) a full-time career, but until she gets her (fiscal) break, she is content to do it to inspire in her own way – not to make money.

After her first book, Huston-Holm’s husband, Mike Holm, urged her to take time off. After her second book, she is listening and plans to take at least a year off before starting Book No. 3, she said.

Both books are available on www.amazon.com or iuniverse.com or directly from the author at hustonPat@aol.com

“Kid in the House” sells for $10 paperback and $20 hardcover. “Shattered” is $14. If ordered from the author (Patricia Huston-Holm, 9685 Slough Rd., Canal Winchester, Ohio 43110), add $3 per book for shipping and handling.

(Exerpt taken from an article written by Mark Robertson Suburban News Publications, Canal, Ohio)