Ask anyone who’s attempted to write a book and they’ll tell you: it’s hard. Even seasoned writers who have years of experience under their belt have issues with the concept, because once you get started it’s hard to get it just right. Lalae Mozie may have taken two years to write her novel, “Merely Alive,” but this tale of a young girl sent to Auschwitz strikes a chord with all those who read it.
Oh, and Mozie is 12 years old.
At the tender age of 9, Lalae Mozie (a pen name for the young author) was doing the things a kid does. She went to school, hung out with friends and all the fun stuff that comes with youth. But then she did something quite unusual for her age. Around that time she took a sabbatical from school to travel around Europe with her family, and spent the next nine months overseas. It was quite the experience.
Along the way, Mozie visited Auschwitz, the horrific location of many of the atrocities committed during the Holocaust, and while she was there she watched a video showing how the people were treated. “I saw their belongs and then the hair that they had to cut off,” Mozie says. “And it made me really interested in the whole topic.”
Shortly thereafter, she found herself in English class with a fresh assignment: write a one-page story. So she did, and that one-pager just kept expanding until eventually it would become “Merely Alive.”
This process didn’t just happen, however. Mozie experienced many of the trials and tribulations that come with being an author, and it took her two years to complete the publication. “Sometimes I would be obsessed with it, and other times I would be so bored with it I couldn’t even look at it,” she says. But eventually, she drew closer to finishing the book, she started thinking about the end goal. Was this just something fun to do to be creative, or did she want to do more with it? She decided that she wanted to show it to the world, but how would she accomplish that? “My dad helped me figure out that in order to show everyone and to make it the best you possibly can, it would be a good idea to publish it,” she says. “So I started thinking about that. Then it was my goal by the time I finished my book.”
Accomplished authors can have a hard time getting their books published, so how was Mozie and her family going to do it? Well, it took some research, but they made it happen. “My mom got me an
editor, and then my dad helped me with connections and such. Then I edited it and submitted it to the self-publishing company, Author House.” It was then that the book was polished, refined and prepared for print, and about four months after she started the publication process, she had the book in her hand. What was that like for the then preteen? “I couldn’t even contain myself. I was just jumping, screaming, showing everyone, going around and putting the book right in their face saying, ‘Look what I did!’”
The book itself is the story of a 13-year-old girl named Maya who lives in Denmark during World War II. After her sister is killed by a Nazi, she’s relocated by her parents to a different family. Soon after,
the same Nazi who shot her sister sees Maya, and knowing that she is Jewish, takes her to Auschwitz. It’s a harrowing tale, but it’s definitely a good read.
As for Mozie, what does the future hold other than high school and college? Does she plan on writing more novels? “Of course,” she responds. “Right now I’m writing a fantasy-based story. It hasn’t really been worked out all the way, but I keep writing.”
Does she have any advice for other kids who want to get into the business? “My motto is that you miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take, and I think everyone should live by it. Because if you knew you could not fail, then what would you do?”
