Dana Pennett O'Neil started her freshman year at Penn State with the same mentality as many other freshmen.

She had no idea what she wanted to do.

"I always loved sports. Somewhere along the line, I found that it could be a job," O'Neil said.

O'Neil, a 1990 Penn State and The Daily Collegian alumna with a major in journalism, is now a successful sports writer for the Philadelphia Daily News.

In her years as a sportswriter, she has written about most of the major sporting events, including the World Cup, the Super Bowl and the World Series.

More recently, she wrote a two-part feature on Penn State running back Austin Scott just after he was charged with rape.

She is also the co-author of the new book, How to Be Like Women Athletes of Influence: 32 Women at the Top of Their Game and How You Can Get There Too. She wrote the book with Pat Williams, who is the senior vice president of the Orlando Magic.

"He decided he wanted a woman co-author for this book," O'Neil said. "He asked for recommendations from his reporter friends, and they all gave my name -- independent of each other. It was kind of strange."

Williams said choosing O'Neil came easy.

"Everyone said, 'that's a no-brainer,'" Williams said. "And that's called a unanimous vote."

At first, O'Neil was unsure about writing a book.

"I was a little intimidated," she said. "I'd never done a book before. I'd always wondered what it was like, but I never pursued it."

Williams said she shouldn't have been so nervous about beginning to write her first book.

"Dana was hacking out chapters while covering Villanova men's basketball and raising two young kids. She truly is Wonder Woman," Williams said.

The book includes writings about 32 female athletes.

"Our goal was not to just send out biographies. We wanted to offer insight and inspiration. Not a single one of these women had it easy, with medical, family strife and so on," O'Neil said.

O'Neil said the main message of the book is to stay persistent and "keep fighting."

"The life lessons are really the highlight," Williams said.

O'Neil said the selection process for choosing athletes to be featured in the book was difficult and started with a list of 75 athletes.

"We whittled it down, or it would have been too massive. We went back and forth with a lot of them," she said. "A lot of people could argue about the athletes that we left out."

The book includes chapters about athletes such as tennis players Serena and Venus Williams, figure skater Michelle Kwan and soccer player Mia Hamm. O'Neil said she was familiar with many of the athletes from her job as a sports journalist.

"But a lot of these people -- you see them now, but you don't often go backward. It was fun to learn more about them. It was an education for me," she said.

O'Neil said there is not a distinct target audience for the book.

"I would hope it will appeal to athletes and young women," she said. "But it doesn't end there. I think young men should read it, too, and anyone who wants to know how to become a better person."

Kasey Hetrick (sophomore-hotel, restaurant and institutional management) said she doesn't consider herself an athlete, but might consider reading the book for its lessons.

"I feel proud when I hear that Penn State alums did this and that," Hetrick said. "I'm like, 'yea, Penn Staters did it!"