Local author, wood carver, jeweler, puppeteer, and chocolatier Debi Knight Kennedy has self-published her first novel.

"Destiny, Just Another Tall Alaskan Tale," is a coming-of-age story that follows a 19-year-old woman who moves to rural Southeast Alaska.

"She lives her life, she makes mistakes, she carries on," Knight Kennedy said. "It's just the story of her life and her experience - which a lot of the stories are mine, fictionalized."

The story mirrors some of Knight Kennedy's own experiences from moving to Haines in 1995. Knight Kennedy moved to Alaska at the age of 38 following a series of abusive marriages. She had two teenagers at the time.

"I think I was just as naive as her," Knight Kennedy said.

One incident in the book reflects Knight Kennedy's own memory of nearly freezing to death in an uninsulated dry cabin. In the book, Destiny, the main character, gets hypothermia after getting lost on a very short outing from her cabin.

"In the book, it's 20 below, but in my life, it was four below. But I'd never experienced four below, so it felt scary," Knight Kennedy said. "I'd come back, and I was in this little shack like she's in, no insulation and a little tin stove, terrible little thing. And I was scared. Because I knew I had a certain degree of hypothermia."

Destiny also falls in love with an "overly enthusiastic" and "ruggedly handsome" man named Hank.

"She does fall in love, but puts it off for a really long time because she wants to live independently," Knight Kennedy said. "She wants to know herself, and she doesn't wanna get entangled."

Knight Kennedy did not intend to create a novel, but after constructing a short story for her writing workshop, she decided to give it a shot. She had no plan for the plot, but just kept writing, she said.

"I don't know what I'm gonna write when I'm writing," Knight Kenendy said. "I have no idea where I'm going. I don't plot. I really don't. I just see what happens and follow the characters, get to know them."

Knight Kennedy began working on the novel five years ago. She made her finishing touches in Bellingham, Washington, in the midst of her husband's cancer treatment. The novel was her "escape," she said.

"Like (Destiny), I am way stronger than I have ever given myself credit for," Knight Kennedy said. "I have learned that I like her, and so that helped me like me, and give myself credit. I could let go of embarrassment over any dumb mistakes I made and be like, 'Well, she made them and I like her.'"

As a self-publisher, Knight Kennedy personally designed the layout for each page and took her own cover photo. She compared the design process to the "fine sandpaper" step of woodcarving.

"Since I'm a person who makes things, it feels really right for me to make the book, too," Knight Kennedy said. "It would be really weird not to. It would be like carving something and handing it over to someone else to finish it."

Knight Kennedy has published two other pieces. "Becoming Pearls" is a collection of poetry, short stories and essays, and "The Way Things Are" is a fable written and illustrated by Knight Kennedy.

Knight Kennedy's book is available for purchase at The Bookstore, in Haines, and online at alaskanforgetmenots.com.