Ever since she was a little girl, Jennifer Benton loved writing stories and dreamt of growing up to be an author.
Now Benton, an insurance agent from Tebbetts with four children, has realized that dream at 34. Benton self-published her first novel, "The Dark One," last summer.
An adult horror novel following a serial killer with split personalities, "The Dark One" is available online at Barnes and Noble and Amazon.
Benton said she had always wanted to write, but was unsure of how to begin without any connections in the novel industry. She finally made time to write her first published book by way of an accident that turned out to be serendipitous.
"I sustained a pretty back injury, so I was out on medical leave stuck at home, not being able to move around," said Benton. "So I just kind of took advantage of the time to write and thought "what better time than now than to actually try to get it published?'"