Athens High School senior Kate Higginbotham recently published her latest novel, “September.” She wrote the novel over a two-year period while maintaining a 4.0 grade-point average.

Just under a month ago, Athens High School senior Kate Higginbotham released her second self-published novel, “September,” on Amazon.com.

Within the 300-plus page book, Higginbotham spins a tale of two star-crossed high school lovers, Reed Davis and September Jones. Set in a small town in Oregon, September must ultimately decide whether she will travel across the world to finish school in a foreign land or remain at home with her first true love.

The story took Higginbotham a little over two years to write, despite maintaining a 4.0 GPA and juggling a course load filled with Advanced Placement classes.

Although she cannot nail down one particular source of inspiration for her latest novel, Higginbotham said she was intrigued by the name “September” and thought it would be the ideal name for her next protagonist.

“From that point, I fleshed out the characters,” she said. “And I decided to do something a little different and tell the story of September from Reed’s perspective.”

Despite the fact that Higginbotham has never been to Oregon, she chose the location for its beauty and mystique.

“I did a lot of research. I figured out that Google street search is a wonderful thing when you’re writing about someplace you’ve never been,” she said. “One day, I’d love to go there. In a way, I feel like I’ve already been.”

She penned the final words of “September” just a few minutes before 2016 passed into 2017. Finishing a rough draft of the novel by New Years was a personal goal she set for herself.

“When I finished, my brother put some soda in a champagne glass to celebrate,” she said.

Noah, her older brother, has been one of her biggest supporters over the years.

In addition to breaking out a celebratory can of soda in her honor, Noah agreed to let her feature him on the book’s front cover.

“I do a lot of photography and had been looking for a setting in the mountains that would capture the what I was trying to convey in the story,” she said. “Noah was such a good sport. He stood in the frigid cold for 30 minutes so I could get the perfect shot.”

It cost Higginbotham about $500 to publish her first novel, which she paid with her own money. This time around, she was more savvy with “September,” personally producing the book’s cover and searching for a freelance editor online who was willing to combine copy and line editing services.

Like her last book, Higginbotham plans to promote “September” by sending copies of the novel to social media-based literary critiques and through local book signings.

When asked how many copies “Keeper,” the first in a fantasy series has sold, Higginbotham had to think about it. She guessed about 350, 200 of which she sold directly to friends, family or at book signings and another 100–150 through Amazon.

“I know that the books could go further,” she said. “There are lots of self-published books that have been picked up by larger publishers.”

“That’s really not my focus right now,” she added. “I’m focused on applying to colleges and finding the best scholarships.”

Higginbotham has her sights set on Belmont University in Nashville where she hopes to major in worship leadership. Throughout high school, she has been an active member of the Epic Church worship team.

“Even though I’ll be studying music, I’m going to take every creative writing course I can get my hands on,” she said.

After all, the ambitious teen has a lot more stories to tell. She is already several chapters into part two of the “Keeper” series and has several other novels swirling around in her mind.