Mary Jane Wijtyk once wrote office technical manuals.

But, she made a jump to writing a novel, which she titled "Tears of Dragons Gone By."

Before writing the book, Wijtyk prayed about doing so. Then, she got the idea for a short story, which eventually became a long story.

Wijtyk, who lives near Hamburg,began the book in hotels while traveling between places where she was teaching software programs.

A secondary reason for writing the book was she wanted to inspire her niece to try writing.

She is a librarian in Monroeville and works with young people, Wijtyk's target audience.

"I was like a typewriter," Wijtyk said. "I sat down and it just came out."

As a kid she trained and showed horses until she went to college at West Chester University and then to the University of Maine. She could have made a career with the horses, but she left them behind when it was time for college.

After college, she taught high school. She enjoyed that better. Then, she moved on to the software training program that involved travel up and down the East Coast.

She enjoys getting people to meet their potential. She and her husband Zenon, an artist, have their own Internet company now.

They work with the Ken Crest organization, in Delaware and Pennsylvania, which works with autistic and disabled people.

A friend of hers, Judi Himes, is in sales and the product she sells is placement of the Ken Crest people in jobs suited to their abilities.

She stays and works with people in their new jobs until they understand them well enough to be on their own.

"I never saw anything so uplifting in my life," Wijtyk said.

But the challenged people are not only helped but are expected to give back to the community. They recently raised $350 for Habitat for Humanity.

Once a month, Wijtyk goes to Ken Crest and works on their email program to keep it updated and working well.

She said her book is designed for young adults but finds adults enjoy it also.

The story is about a young girl whose father travels. One day when he returned home, he gave his daughter an unusual gift a little golden statue of a dragon. There is a story behind the statue but the father does not know it since he was given the statue by a friend at the Bangkok Museum.

The statue has personality and comes alive at night and runs around blabbing. People in Thailand and Cambodia want the dragon. The story is based on the people who want it.

"It has an ending that I won't tell," said Wijtyk.

She guarantees there is no swearing or sex in the book. Her granddaughter told her that is not the way people write today but the granddaughter's mother has to explain why Wijtyk's way is just as right.

A friend who was proofreading the book called her at 10:30 p.m. one night. She said she hated the way Wijtyk had the chapters lead directly into the next one so the book does not have a natural spot where someone can put it down.

Wijtyk is also working on a book about abuse, a murder mystery; and one about depression.

Ten percent of the money made from her fantasy book will be donated to Ken Crest. She did not intend to publish the book but allowed herself to be talked into trying.

In a list of publishers she came across Tate Publishing, which works with writers for young adults.

It did not seem to be a conventional publisher and she put the book away for a year. Tate accepts 6 percent of the books submitted and "Dragon" was one of that 6 percent.