A life coach enters a new chapter in publishing her first novel. It’s being marketed as a YA book, but she hopes to reach all ages.

Glodean Champion moved to Monterey in September 2018 because it’s the second-best place in the world. Well, technically for work—“to be closer to my clients,” she says. “If Disneyland is the first-best place, Monterey is the second. People come here for vacation. There are happy vibrations everywhere.

“I’m looking at the ocean right now,” Champion says from her apartment overlooking Del Monte Beach. “Do I have to add anything else?”

Before moving to Monterey County, Champion worked as a life coach, with a client base in cities that included San Francisco and Oakland, but also Salinas. (Covid-19 helped her business post-move, since meetings with clients migrated online.)

Sometime in 2006, Champion wrote a short story. She realized she liked writing in college, and she went on to earn an MFA in writing from California College of the Arts. She even published the 2006 story in an anthology. But it wasn’t until 15 years later that the story evolved into a novel, which was published by self-founded Black Muse Publishing on March 24.

Salmon Croquettes explores both the personal and political as the main character, 12-year-old Zayla, navigates her own development against the backdrop of a community in turmoil. Set in an environment of racism and everyday police brutality, the vibrant neighborhood of Watts, Los Angeles comes alive as Zayla comes of age. She discovers that her first sexual feelings lead her to first love another girl. She also grapples with the confusion of feeling like a boy in a girl’s body.

“Imagine that you have one parent who is accepting of the situation,” Champion says, “and another who is not. The story is for anyone experiencing some kind of struggle.”

That relatability also cuts across age groups, she says; although the book is being marketed as young adult (YA) literature, Champion notes that it’s receiving “really good reviews” across all age groups. (She hopes for a broader audience for the book, even though the main character is 12.)

Literature is a new area of exploration for Champion, who has years of professional experience under her belt as a coach and a speaker. She already made a leap into self-employment; a year after arriving to Monterey, she quit working for companies and started to coach on her own account.

Champion is also a former high school teacher and college professor. She is working on a sequel to Salmon Croquettes and a memoir, Tough Love: Sh*t My Momma Used to Say, based on her mother, Frances Champion, and “the amazing intentionality” her mother put into raising her.

Glodean Champion speaks and signs copies of her book Salmon Croquettes at 2pm on Sunday, July 25. River House Books, 208 Crossroads Blvd., Carmel. 626-2665, more at glodeanchampion.com. To read the first two chapters of the book, visit blackmusepublishing.com.