McKinley tackles the tough issues



By REBECCA VAN DYKE

MOSCA — Adam McKinley got a new computer for Christmas last year and started writing a story.

Last week he released his first book.

McKinley graduated from Sangre de Cristo High School last year and is now a freshman at Adams State College. A “jock” by his standards, McKinley never planned on becoming a writer. When his parents got him the computer, he started writing every night, and three months later, ‘When All Else Fails’ was completed and printed into a manuscript.

He hadn’t meant to write a book. But when an idea struck him, he followed through.

It sat for some time in a three-ring binder. After awhile, McKinley figured if he wasn’t going to try to get it published there was no point in writing it in the first place.

‘When All Else Fails’ is about a high school athlete struggling through abuse and death, attempted suicide, and eventually educating others to help those struggling like he had.

Writing always came easy to McKinley. In school “writing didn’t feel like an assignment,” he said.

He began researching publishing houses, and of the three he chose to submit to, all of them accepted his manuscript.

McKinley signed a contract with his first responder, Publish America.

The book is currently available online through Publish America’s website.

Since the release of his book, McKinley is expecting some questions to fly about his book’s content. “Most people in the Valley know me or my family. They know my father didn’t beat me or kill my girlfriend,” he laughed.

He is currently in the Human Performance and Physical Education department, aspiring to become a personal trainer. McKinley hopes to keep training as a hobby and let his writing pay the bills.

His second book is now complete and a third is in the works. Once he completes his third, he plans on submitting the second manuscript. The next will deal with racism and telepathy.