Creekview’s Beth Garriques Realized a Dream

BY GRACE DICKSON

Creekview High School has its fair share of talented people, in sports and academics, featured in its weekly newsletter. But, behind the screen sits an aspiring writer and published author in the Creekview community.

Beth Garriques, administrative assistant to assistant principal Nancy Henson, works on the right side of the 1200 hallway. She is tasked with special education paperwork and document filing, managing the textbook inventory and authoring Creekview’s weekly newsletter, “What’s Happening at the View.” Although she has worked in the school system since 2014, Garriques did not always imagine herself in an education career.

“I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was a child. That’s what I always wanted to do,” Garriques said.

Throughout her college career, Garriques fell into her passion for writing after realizing her disinterest in math and science. Many years after college, when she became a mother, Garriques wrote her first adaptation of a children’s book “Something,” which started as a poem, and was published as a book, 20 years later.

“I didn’t really sit down to write it. It was more, you know, I’d be washing the dishes or doing the laundry, and I’d think of an idea of something. So, I’d just jot down notes here and there, and, then, finally it all came together as a story,” Garriques said.

The idea of publishing “Something” came in early 2020 as a bucket list wish, and with the COVID-19 quarantine, it was a perfect time to work on the book.

Garriques reached out to Yawn’s

Publishing, and after being put in touch with an illustrator, the difficult part started.

“While her (the illustrator’s) work was beautiful, it just wasn’t what I was looking for,” Garriques said.

After much searching, Garriques discovered a friend of a friend who worked as an illustrator and was able to bring Garriques’s vision to life. She requested her children be drawn as the main characters, but had no preference for the other characters. After much back and forth, Garriques finally settled on her perfect design, and “Something” hit the market in July 2021.

“When you write something, you’re really kind of putting yourself out there, and it puts you in a very vulnerable position. Because, if people don’t like something, they are not shy about telling you,” Garriques said.

As Garriques navigates the world of being an author, she finds the positive responses she has received from her children’s book keeps her motivated, and she hopes to publish more in the future.