Amie Jane Leavitt fell into a writing career by accident.

While working as a schoolteacher, Leavitt and her coworkers discussed what their dream jobs would be.

"I wanted to write and tell people about places I have been or places around here," said the Payson resident. "Then, two weeks later, I went [online to] AOL, and there was an ad that said, 'Do you want to be a freelance writer?'"

She applied, and the Internet giant hired her to write travel articles.

Since then, she has written magazine articles and 37 children's books. Her books include biographies of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and 'tween pop star Miley Cyrus; a children's "translation" of the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. She also has written gardening books geared to kids and took photographs to illustrate them.

The hardest book she's written to date: A choose-your-adventure story about the siege of the Alamo.

It took Leavitt six months and four rewrites. She had to research the 1836 battle from both the Texas and Mexican sides.

That work paid off when she got a request from a boy who was doing a book report about her book and her.

While Leavitt enjoys writing children's books, she plans to expand into blogging and try her hand at writing her own stories.