Support for first book amazes local author

WORLAND – Pursuing a longtime dream and taking inspiration from her children and her everyday life, local massage therapist/author Angela Smart-Hetzel decided to pursue writing a book about people celebrating their gifts and seeing the wonderful in everyone.

The children's book that she wrote is appropriately titled "Wonderful" and seeks to help children realize that everyone is special and has their own talents, no matter what the talent is.

THE STORY PROCESS

With the story already being formed in her head over the years based off of experiences with her children, it took her two short months to shore up the story, and a total of seven months for her to work with a contact from a publishing company to see her dream take shape.

"The fact that I had a child illustrator and this book is for children it was a really good fit," Smart-Hetzell said.

The child illustrator that she asked to help draw her story and bring the words to life is Ten Sleep seventh grader Grace Gertsch, who Smart-Hetzel met when she was invited over to a Ten Sleep art class to read her book early in the process.

"I had very specific ideas in my mind of how I wanted the pictures to look, everything that she gave and everything that she produced was spot on it was just so perfect," Smart-Hetzell said. "I think that her innocence and wonder that is still there in her life really influenced the innocence of the pictures."

The concept of "Wonderful" leads to a conclusion that allows for an open discussion for children to help recognize all of the individual talents that children can have such as imagination, seeing the good in others and sharing.

"I focused on not average talents for the purpose that people can see that everybody has gifts and talents," Smart-Hetzell said. "Even if it is not something that is a recognized talent there is still something that is special about you."

With her primary job being a massage therapist at Cloud Peak Chiropractic & Wellness, Smart-Hetzell decided that she did not want to go throughout her life and have any regrets at the end for things that could have been. This decision led her to begin writing each day for at least 30 minutes, which she would like to encourage young writers or people who have always had a passion for writing to do, as it is just like another talent and you should practice it every day to succeed in it.

FUTURE PLANS

Smart-Hetzel hosted a book signing and reading along with Gertsch on Saturday, and was amazed to see all of the support that had come since she had decided to release "Wonderful."

"It was mind blowing," Smart-Hetzell said about the response.

Even though she has always had plans to write at least five children's books, she is pursuing a release of another children's book this year that is focused around changing negative thoughts into positive ones to impact the world around you in a greater way. On top of the plans to release another children's book, Smart-Hetzell is also working on a personal development book for adults that is titled "Get more joy."

These books are the start of a career geared towards writing stories to help improve the everyday lives of children, as well as adults, and continuing to have a positive impact on her own children, as well as the community around her that has shown tremendous for "Wonderful" ever since the moment it was released.