BRINGING CHARACTERS TO LIFE

In 2020 and 2021, Sydney entered her first two writing competitions at the Derby Public Library and won first place twice. One of her stories can still be found on their blog. It’s called “The Darkness in the Woods” from April of 2020.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Sydney was incredibly bored and had nothing but free time. She created a character (the protagonist of her book) and was so fascinated by him that she decided he needed an entire book to explain his life and story. 

Summer 2021 - This was when she first started taking online Cowley College classes!

In 2023, She had been working on PLAGUED for some time and decided to send it to a freelancing editor, from whom she received the edits a month later. Sparking her fourth re-write, it was finally perfect, only needing a professional edit and polish.

December 31st, 2023 - She signed the first contract with her publishing house, Archway Publishing. That was the first big step toward publication.

March 4th, 2024 - The official day her book was published! At 18 years old, she had written a 136,000-word book. She also graduated with honors as a dual credit high school student the same day after taking every class online.

If you notice, her last name on the book does not match the name that we are using. Sydney Winegar will become Sydney Beatty following her wedding scheduled for September. So, she chose to go with her "forever name" on the book instead of her maiden name because once a book is published, it can not be changed. 

She is currently working and wedding planning, and in her spare time, Sydney serves at her church and is, you guessed it, writing a sequel to PLAGUED. She shared that she has big things in store for the series and hopes to continue to write and publish many more books. She has lots of poetry she wants to share, and many more fictional story ideas waiting to be explored and written.

Hunter Ferguson | Integrated Communications Specialist
Cowley College
125 S. 2nd Street
Arkansas City, KS 67005
hunter.ferguson@cowley.edu