SHAWNEE TOWNSHIP, OH (WLIO) - Shawnee Middle School's Jason Freewalt is more than just a social studies teacher, he's also the track and cross country coach, and as of December 2023, a published author too.
7th-grade social studies teacher Jason Freewalt's The Oracle of Chronos was officially published by Amazon last month. The novel follows the story of Jake and a mysterious watch. Much like the author does in the classroom, the book finds a way to make learning an entertaining experience.
"It's just a watch that has a date that he can't figure out how to change, and it starts to become a problem for him. I guess you've got to read the book right? It's not really a time travel thing but I do have the historical stories in there. Something happens and it reminds him of a historical story. He's a teacher, he happens to be a teacher. It's got a lot of stories that I tell from ancient history, mythology," Freewalt explained.
It started out as an idea for a short story, but as he sat down and wrote, new ideas kept coming and the page count kept growing.
"I just had an idea about a year ago and I wrote it up in about a page. Then it kind of sat for a while and then finally I started writing and thought, I have some time, I'm in between seasons," he said. "I coach cross country and track so I'm between seasons and I started really hammering it and trying to work on it, and then eventually it got longer and longer. Then I introduced other characters, and the story just kind of developed organically from that point."
Before he started working on The Oracle of Chronos, Freewalt didn't have much experience writing fiction. But with support from his family and friends, he was able to complete the work in just over a year. He hopes to show others, whether they're students or adults, that they can be authors too.
"Do it. Go for it. Just start working on it and see where it goes, and if it doesn't go anywhere, it doesn't go anywhere. You have something to record for your own history for the future," he said. "But go for it. Write it out, see what you can do with it, and improve it. You know, and if somebody likes it or doesn't like it, or whatever, take their advice or ignore it, whatever, and move on and just go for it."
After seeing their teacher complete and publish his first novel, some of Freewalt's students took those words to heart, and have already begun writing stories of their own.
