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Millennium graduate publishes 2nd book

BY LAUREN SERRATO

West Valley View Staff Writer

During the pandemic, many college freshmen are adjusting to life in a dorm room and navigating their way through online classes.

Abi Celaya has focused on writing and publishing her second book in her “Two Red Flames” trilogy.

The 18-year-old NAU freshman published her fi rst book, “The Goddesses Throne,” in January 2021, when she was a senior at Millennium High School.

Now, despite her busy college schedule and moving to Flagstaff, Celaya said she’s excited to see her fantasy series continue to come to life for others to experience with her newest book, “A Throne of Their Own.”

“This is the second book in a fantasy series that I’m writing,” she said. “This book picks up directly after the fi rst book, and it left off on a little bit of a cliffhanger, but it just sort of explores a new villain, explores the character relationships and how the characters have grown from the fi rst book to the second book.”

From a young age, Celaya knew she wanted to write. In middle school, she came up with story ideas, plots and characters. But it wasn’t until high school that she put her ideas on paper and created her fi rst novel.

However, her fi rst book didn’t go the way she wanted.

“When I actually wrote my fi rst book, I didn’t publish it, but I really enjoyed the process of writing a novel,” she said. “I just wasn’t confi dent in that exact story, so I decided to scrap that one and start on another one. And that is sort of how I started writing my current fantasy series.”

Celaya’s writing journey offi cially began in summer 2020, when she fi rst sat down to write her trilogy.

Abi Celaya is a freshman at NAU, pursuing a degree in journalism and creative writing.

(Photo courtesy of Abi Celaya)

“I ended up publishing my fi rst book in January 2021, and then immediately after I published that book, I took a two- or three-week break and then I started working on this book,” she said.

“This book defi nitely took me longer, just because of college. That was a big part of it. My fi rst semester of college I didn’t really work on it that much. I had some people help me edit it because it was already written by the time I started college. It took maybe double the time that the fi rst one took.”

Within the fi rst few weeks after releasing her fi rst book, 50 paperback copies and seven Kindle versions were purchased. Celaya hopes to top that.

“It was really nice. Everybody was super supportive,” Celaya said, refl ecting on her book launch in high school. “Everybody was just really excited because I don’t think anyone in our town knew somebody who had

Books...continued on page 26

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WEST VALLEY VIEW NEWS | FEBRUARY 2, 2022

Benevilla hosting Dinner in the Desert fundraiser

BY WEST VALLEY VIEW STAFF

Benevilla is kicking up its heels for the new year by hosting its annual fundraiser, “Dinner in the Desert,” on Friday, March 25, at the Barn at Desert Foothills in North Phoenix.

The event includes fi reside cocktails at sunset, dinner, dancing, raffl es and music by Honeygirl, performing old and new country favorites.

In addition to an evening of dinner and dancing, there will be fundraising activities that support Benevilla’s work. These include chances to win raffl e prizes for various dining, sports, shopping, staycation and entertainment items.

Benevilla is a West Valley not-forprofi t organization that enriches the lives of older adults, intellectually disabled adults, children, and the families who care for them.

Benevilla has been serving others for 41 years through life-enriching programs and services, including day

Benevilla will host its annual Dinner in the Desert fundraiser on Friday, March 25, at Barn at Desert Foothills in North Phoenix. (Photo cour-

tesy of Benevilla)

programs for adults with dementia and other disabilities, intergenerational programs, free grocery shopping services, transportation to medical appointments, caregiver support groups and other vital services.

Individual tickets to the event are $175, or $2,000 for a table of 10, the latter of which includes the name on event signage and listing in the event program book.

There are also several sponsorship levels available from $500 to $3,000.

For more information about Dinner in the Desert, tickets or sponsorship opportunities, visit benevilla.org or call Daphne Vincent, donor relations manager, at 623-584-4999.

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ANSWERS ON PAGE 26

King Crossword

ACROSS

1 Kitten’s cry 4 Opera set in Egypt 8 Garden intruder 12 Eggs 13 Some deer 14 -- -bitty 15 Containers for laundering 17 Appease 18 “So there!” 19 Pittsburgh pro 21 Emphasize 24 Droop 25 Chop 26 Pirate’s potation 28 Yokels 32 “I’ve Got -- in Kalamazoo” 34 Pinnacle 36 “-- come back now, hear?” 37 Trifled (with) 39 PC alternative 41 Roman 151 42 “-- the season ...” 44 NASA vehicle 46 Critic’s essays 50 Part of DJIA 51 Send forth 52 Give a faded look to, as jeans 56 Lettuce variety 57 Think (over) 58 HBO rival 59 Sheltered 60 Between jobs 61 Layer

DOWN

1 Trim the grass 2 Actress Longoria 3 Remove by cleaning 4 Tennis legend Ashe 5 Debtor’s note 6 Society newbies 7 Admin. aides 8 Know-it-all 9 And others (Lat.) 10 Diminutive suffix 11 Color worker 16 Dinner for Dobbin 20 Corn spike 21 Excellent, in slang 22 Toy block name 23 Place 27 May honoree 29 Aftermath 30 Vogue rival 31 Thin cut 33 Beatles classic 35 Standard 38 Conk out 40 Pamper 43 Sage 45 Farm female 46 Country’s McEntire 47 Actor Jannings 48 Unspoken feeling 49 Gulf War missile 53 Unwell 54 Yon maiden 55 Sweetie

by Linda Thistle

The idea of Go Figure is to arrive at the figures given at the bottom and right-hand columns of the diagram by following the arithmetic signs in the order they are given (that is, from left to right and top to bottom). Use only the numbers below the diagram to complete its blank squares and use each of the nine numbers only once.

DIFFICULTY THIS WEEK H

H Moderate HH Challenging HHH HOO BOY!

Place a number in the empty boxes in such a way that each row across, each column down and each small 9-box square contains all of the numbers from one to nine.

DIFFICULTY THIS WEEK H H H

H Moderate HH Challenging HHH HOO BOY!

EVEN EXCHANGE

by Donna Pettman

Each numbered row contains two clues and two answers. The two answers differ from each other by only one letter, which has already been inserted. For example, if you exchange the A from MASTER for an I, you get MISTER. Do not change the order of the letters.

SCRAMBLERS

Unscramble the letters within each rectangle to form four ordinary words. Then rearrange the boxed letters to form the mystery word, which will complete the gag!