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PUBLISHER and Cerritos resident Nathan Grant Schloessmann published a fiction adventure story The Ticking Time Watch when he was in the 5th grade. He now attends Valley Christian. Courtesy photo Sandra and Tom Schloessmann.
April 1, 2022
By Laurie Hanson
While only in the 5th grade, Nathan Grant Schloessmann of Cerritos accomplished something some people long their entire lives to do.
At the age of 10, he authored and published his very own book, The Ticking Time Watch. It is a fiction story about two 12-year-old best friend boys who find themselves sent back in time to the California Gold Rush (between 1848 to 1855), with no way to return to the present.
Nathan and his family just moved to Cerritos in November 2021. His parents, Sandra and Tom Schloessmann, both work in pharmaceutical sales, and he has an 18-year-old sister, Natalie.
“After talking with friends, Nathan thought that Max and Bill’s journey in time would make an engrossing plot for readers,” said his mother, Sandra. “He felt that the Gold Rush was a good timeframe because he would be able to use a lot of descriptive adjectives and adverbs to describe their experience. He felt it would be a place and time where he could use a lot of imagination.”
The now 14-year-old is a Freshman at Valley Christian High School with has broad interests and aptitudes that have for the time being carried him away from the literary world. However, the possibility exists for a series to follow.
According to his mother, Nathan’s aptitude for writing began in the 1st grade. The now a straight “A” student who loves to play tennis, pickleball and hanging out with friends, has interests in Math and Science.
“He’s busy with high school,” said Sandra. “He feels his writing style has changed a lot, and thinks if there were a sequel or series, he’d have to begin from scratch. However, since he now knows how to publish, the potential opportunity is always there.”
“He decided they would not have a way to journey back so that he could write sequels of the book if he wanted to continue it as a series,” she added. “It would keep that door open.”
The family’s interest in reading cultivated Nathan’s interest in writing.
“We read a lot of books when he was younger and visited the library often,” she said. “But what really helped spark his interest was when a group of his friends started drafting a book together. He found that to be so fun.”
It began with Nathan and a group of his friends from different schools attempting to author a book together on Google Docs. The work was never completed, but from there, Nathan decided to start drafting a new book on his own. Most of its research was done online on Google.
“Initially, I read the book with him while he edited it along the way,” said Sandra. “He also read the book with his grandmother for hours over the phone, and she helped him edit it as well. We also took a publishing class through Cerritos Community College. It was just a one-day two-hour course that was informative.”
“Ultimately, we decided to hire someone to conduct the final edit,” she added. “We hired a family friend [Isabella Meader] to draw the image for the book’s cover. It took a little encouragement for him to agree to finally publish it.”
“We’re so proud of him,” Sandra said. “Now he knows the process of how to get a book published from start to finish.”
The Ticking Time Watch is published through KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) and available on Amazon in both Kindle and paperback for $9.95.
Below is the article that appears in HMG-CN’s print newspaper on March 25, 2022. Click on image to view PDF.
