From flying to writing
11-year-old Arcangeli publishes his first book
By Caitlyn Kelleher JOURNAL REPORTER

It all started with an essay for, what many fourth-graders dread, the MCAS.

Now, Ben Arcangeli, an 11- year-old from Westminster, has published his first book, "Expedition," which is the story of a group of explorers from New York City that continue to run into trouble with their plane and their adventure.

"I started writing and I thought of just writing a small book. It just kept getting more and more pages," Ben, now a fifth-grader at Westminster Elementary School, said.

It has been about 18 months from the time Ben started writing the book to the first time he saw the printed copy of it two weeks ago.

"I didn't think it would be this many steps," Ben said.

Ben sent his work to an editor that his father, Jim, had found online and had contacted through e-mail. The pair sent Ben's handwritten work and drawings to the editor to review and turn into proofs.

"It was kind of time consuming," said Jim. "Though never once did we run into anyone dis- agreeable. … It was an investment for us."

After the editing process, the book was published by AuthorHouse and is now available on Amazon.com and on the publisher's Web site.

"Expedition" is not a book totally developed from Ben's imagination, he was able to use some of his real life flying experiences.

Ben has taken flying lessons out of Fitchburg Airport's flying school for the last two years. He has to wait until he is 16 years old to fly solo, and then until he's 17 to get his license.

So far he has accumulated 36 hours of training time in a Cessna 252.

"It's not really tricky any more," he said.

Although, he admits landing was the hardest thing to learn because of the multiple steps that must occur within the timeframe.

He still writes whenever he gets the chance, in fact he is working on a second book that he hopes to publish. This time he is working on a book he's entitled "U-Boat Portside" based on the United State's Navy in World War II.

"A while ago I was reading a lot books about World War II," he said of his inspiration.

Ben knows he has to write 120 to 140 pages, by hand, for a similar length book. Ben says he thinks of the story better when he handwrites it instead of composing on the computer.

"We'll try to get this done through the same process," Jim said.

He said they know more about the basic steps process now and the length of the whole thing as well.

Ben does not focus only on his flying and his writing but is also a member of the jazz and concert bands at Westminster Elementary. This is his second year playing the trumpet.

He also plays baseball and soccer as part of the town's youth leagues.