A 2020 Purcell High School graduate is fulfilling a life-long dream of being an author.

Haiven Culp already has two books published and is working on a third.

Culp, who went to Eastern Oklahoma State College in Wilburton, was a homesick freshman when she took up writing.

“For me growing up, writing was always my safe place,” Culp told The Purcell Register. “It’s a little escape.”

She published her first book when she was 18 about a fictional small town.

“I knew I was only three hours away from home but when you grow up in a place your whole life it can be hard.”

The book, Small Town Secrets was totally fictional, Culp reports, but was based on some of her experiences growing up here. It is about 150 pages.

Culp’s second successful published book is a 300 page must read. Culp brings The Prairie girl stories to the pages in her own way.

It’s about a girl, Grace, who comes to Indian Territory from London, England. She meets up with others who are making their way out west.

Culp said it was published Dec. 15, 2023.

Culp, who still lives in Purcell, works at a pre-school in Norman, Experience Learning, that has an enrollment of around 200.

She is currently working on her third book, Roses in the Shadow.

“It should come out around Thanksgiving but I’m not exactly sure,” Culp said.

She gets the titles to her books out of inspiration. The Prairie girl stories just kind of came up, she said.

“But when Roses in the Shadow comes out that will kind of click,” Culp says of the book that is set in Shadow Town, Wyoming.

“It’s not a real town,” she said.

“The hard part is being able to find time to write since I work full time,” Culp said. Finding time to write is the most challenging time of all.

“But I’m fulfilling my dream of writing. I knew when I was seven years old that I wanted to be an author,” she said.

Culp has had a blog called HeavenlyHaiven and a podcast called Life Happens.

“But I’m taking a break from both of those things to focus on being able to write,” she said.

The books can be purchased on Amazon.