When she was just 12 years-old, Long Beach’s Karley Cable self-published Raisin: A Doggie’s Tale, a 52-page picture book that was inspired by the adoption of her pet pug Raisin.
Now four years later, the teen author has just finished writing Blood, Sweat, and Cheers, a 352-page coming-of-age teen novel about a young girl’s high school experience.
“I encouraged her to draw on her own experiences,” said Karley’s mother Katy Cable, who co-wrote the book. Cheers is about Chandler Clark, a fictional famous teen actress and model living the life of luxury in Orange County.
“[The character] has to juggle high school with acting and modeling,” said Karley, who is an actress and model herself, having appeared in Arrested Development and 8 Simple Rules for Dating my Teenage Daughter as well as commercials for Macy’s, Sprint and Disney.
During the novel, Chandler’s world turns upside down when she doesn’t make the cheerleading squad, which Karley says was inspired by herself not making Wilson High School’s team.
“I tried out for cheer my freshman year with all my friends and was the only one that didn’t make it,” said Karley.
Cheers—which also deals with very pressing issues for teenagers such as bullying, suicide and social media—was entirely self-published thanks to some family friends who own printing companies. It took Karley and her mother a year and a half to write, and was finished in April.
“If I found any free time I would just write it because I enjoy writing”, said Karley of how she juggled writing with school. “Since I wrote the Raisin book when I was in 7th grade, I thought it would be fun just to write another one.”
The young novelist plans on not only releasing the book next spring and putting it on her resume for college applications and scholarships, but is also hoping to bring Cheers to the small screen.
“We’re going to show it to a few producers and see if we can turn it into a TV show,” said Karley, who plans on continue pursuing acting during and after college.
Despite being only 16 years old, Karley Cable already has advice for anyone who is considering writing a book.
“I say follow your heart and write what you want,” she said. “I think if you have a good imagination you can write a really good book.”
To purchase Raisin: A Doggie’s Tale, visit www.amazon.com.