Federal Way author inspires through her writing

Published 2:54 pm Tuesday, August 4, 2015

April Knight has travelled the world, panned for gold in the mountains and opened her own art galleries.

In “Chicken Soup for the Soul: Time to Thrive,” Knight wrote in her short story, “Braver than Superman”, her life was not always filled with adventure.

“As a little kid I was scared of my teacher, I was scared of my parents, I was scared of the school bullies, I was scared of everything,” Knight said. “Finally, I got to a point in my life when I just got tired of being scared and decided I would just go for things.”

Knight wanted to be like her hero, Superman, but felt that as a scrawny kid it was impossible.

She eventually thought she needed to be more brave than Superman because he had nothing to worry about other than Kryptonite.

She began her journey to become more brave than Superman by opening an art gallery. It failed as she sold a single frame from a painting and had to close the gallery.

The failure was actually just what she needed. She realized failing did not mean she would never be successful.

The next time she opened a gallery, she sold enough to pay for a trip to Australia.

“There comes a time in your life when you just have to go for it,” Knight said. “It’s not the end of the world if it doesn’t work. You only fail if you don’t try at all to do something.”

Adventures around the world followed her first big failure.

She rode in rodeos, drove a stagecoach in a frontier town and rode on circus elephants among other things.

Knight now hopes that others can experience the same lessons and be encouraged by her writing.

At the age of 13, Knight wrote her first published piece to a magazine. She knew then that she wanted to write. She has been published in over 30 Chicken Soup for the Soul books and has written other books as well.

“My favorite thing to write is murder mysteries,” Knight said. “I don’t write the real gory, terrible murders that make you cringe. I like more like the Agatha Christie type with the puzzle you have to work out. I love being able to fool people when I write a mystery.”

Currently, she is working on a romance book for those 60 and older.

In the near future she is hoping to write a western that draws from her childhood when she grew up on ranches.

“Anybody can write,” Knight said. “Places like Chicken Soup are a good place to get started. They get you in print, they give you encouragement, you get paid and you can say ‘I’ve been published.’ You get rejected sometimes of course, but even the Harry Potter series was rejected like 12 times before it was published.”

Knight was raised in Kansas and has lived in Hawaii.

She moved to Federal Way to be closer to family.

Her murder mystery “Dig the Grave First” was recently published.