Photo provided Indian Creek Middle School teacher Courtney Johnson is fulfilling a longtime dream of becoming an author after publishing her first novel, the YA thriller “Beneath Blackwood.”

Courtney Johnson has long engaged students in literature as an English teacher at Indian Creek Middle School, but now she’s started a new chapter by penning her first novel.

Johnson, who has instructed seventh graders at ICMS for the past nine years, self-published her tome, “Beneath Blackwood,” in February. The young adult thriller centers on teen protagonist Willow Lane, whose discovery of a coded message from her recently deceased mother unearths an abundance of secrets in her town of Blackwood Grove. Johnson said the process of writing to publishing took more than a year and she was excited to share the fruits of her creativity.

“I’ve always loved creative writing, but I didn’t start taking it seriously until I got the idea for ‘Beneath Blackwood’ because I thought it was a story worth telling,” she said. “This was a passion project that helped me find myself more after I had my baby. I couldn’t stop thinking about the story and I didn’t want to keep being scared to try things.”

She was inspired by her now two-year-old daughter, Story Belle, whom she wants to raise to “live fearlessly,” and said her husband Kyle has always been a staunch supporter.

Johnson finally put her thoughts onto the computer screen, saying her story has been influenced by her longtime love of the suspense genre. She was riveted by R.L. Stine’s “Fear Street” series as a youth and carried the idea of a thriller into her own style, while she intertwined the small-town dynamic in what she calls “‘Gilmore Girls’ meets ‘You'” in a YA-appropriate tale. The 413-page book is geared towards ages 12-18 but has gained readers in other demographics.

She also established the format, which includes text message graphics within the story, and British illustrator Tim Byrne crafted the cryptic cover while her father, William Padgelek, Jr., created the interior map. Now she is eager to promote the novel with appearances throughout Pennsylvania and Ohio, including the Authors Festival Series at the Bellaire Public Library on April 25 and the Grove City Book Festival on May 9 with others set locally and as far as Cincinnati and Dayton through early next year.

The Barnesville native graduated from Union Local High School in 2011 and received her bachelor’s degree from Ohio University Eastern in 2015, followed by a master’s degree in education with a focus on curriculum instruction and assessment from Walden University. While she enjoys being a teacher, she is thrilled to fulfill her personal dream. Johnson has shared her story with students in her classroom and said it excites her to see them reading her words.

“I keep a copy in my classroom library and some of my students had copies for me to sign,” she quipped. “I have a book club and they read choice books. Whenever I look out and see the students reading my book, it’s an amazing feeling. This age group is so important, so if you get their attention it’s so rewarding. I wrote this with them in mind.”

Her advice to others is to live their dream and simply believe in themselves. With that said, Johnson is currently in the midst of penning the sequel, “Beyond Blackwood,” which she hopes to publish next winter. Copies of her current novel are available through her website at www.courtneynjohnson.com, as well as BooksAMillion, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.com and her social media at courtneynjohnsonwrites on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.