(Republic, MO) -- How old were you when you figured out what you'd like to do for a living?  Some of us are still pondering that question, but an Ozarks teenager has his future sketched out in manuscript form.  And boy is it a page-turner.

"I use this," says Taylor Sly, as he whips out his Dad's laptop. "Dad ever so gratefully just lets me use it whenever I please."

Barely stopping to take a breath, 12-year-old Taylor points and clicks through files faster than most eyes could keep up.  He opens the file containing his latest work, over 300 pages of his latest novel.  It's a sequel to the one he started in first grade.

Taylor's love for writing started young.  He wrote, he wrote some more and the words just kept coming.  And at the ripe old age of 11, Taylor, with help from his parents, self-published his first novel, "The Catniptopia Chronicles."  It's sort of a cats-versus-the-evil-dog story, partly inspired by his roommate, a lazy golden cat named Miguel.  Taylor wrote the story first, then flushed out his characters' personalities on his bedroom wall. 

"Several summers ago, he came in and said that he was bored," says Taylor's Mom Lorie Sly.   "He asked me if he could draw on his walls.  At first I said 'no', then I thought, 'Well, why not' and turned him loose with a box full of colored Sharpies.

Call it Mom's intuition, but somehow Lorie Sly must have known that Taylor's well thought out characters and compelling narrative would lead to something great.

"He was always like a little adult, even after he was born," says Taylor's Dad, Jim Sly.   "And I always talked to him like an adult." 

The writing, along with the illustrations on the wall and the finished product culminated in something great indeed, something few sixth graders will ever experience, a book signing at Borders in Springfield.

"I never met someone at a show, writing for the age he's writing for," says fellow author Levi Fox.  "I love his artwork and the way he illustrates the books.  He really draws kids in."

Taylor's best friend Alex Reynolds has read "The Catniptopia Chronicles" six times.  He's also the only person outside the family to read the sequel, "Rise of the Evil Empire," due to be released this fall.

"It's better than the first one.  I think it's really good," Alex says.

As far was what this young wordsmith might do for a living, Lorie Sly stares into space and only says, "lots of things."

"I can see him working in the film industry, making films," Lorie continues.  "And he's got a great sense of humor.  He's a funny guy.  But he also loves to cook and enjoys playing drums so maybe he'll start a rock band?"

Taylor's Facebook page offers a sample of animated shorts he's written, produced and even performer character voices for.  The longest work is a stop-motion animation short, about a disgruntled fast food worker and an equally disgruntled drive-through customer.  The film is just over a minute long, but took him only about four hours to produce despite having to take hundreds of still photos and edit them together to create motion. 

"In fact, he's studying Japanese," Jim says, continuing a long list of Taylor's interests like history and automobiles. 

Clearly life in rural Missouri, at least for the Sly family, is anything but slow.  As for Taylor, he has nine lives like his characters do, just imagine the epic ahead.

You can find Taylor Sly's "The Catniptopia Chronicles" at Border's, Renaissance Books & Gifts, IPA Educational Supply, The Cottage House in Republic and the Barry County museum.