Author Success Story: Jamie Harrington

This week I'm bringing in the big guns: People who've traveled down this long and winding road toward publication. Some of them already have book deals. Some have agents. Some have both. They've "made" it.

I want to spotlight someone each day this week to hopefully inspire you, provide a beam of hope along your way, and really prove that you CAN succeed in this crazy business.

But I'm not the only one on-board this positivity wagon. Join us this week for 75 (yes 75!) success stories! Then dream big. Go forth and query. Conquer.

Click here for more inspiration: Lisa and Laura Roecker, Beth Revis, Leah Clifford, Victoria Schwab, Kirsten Hubbard, Susan Adrian, Dawn Metcalf, Kim Harrington, Carrie Harris, Amy Holder, Kathy McCullough, Suzette Saxton and Bethany Wiggins, Gretchen McNeil and Tiffany Schmidt.

I will be featured on Lisa and Laura Roecker's blog this Friday (and just so you know, I asked LiLa to do an interview and they had the idea to spread it across the Interwebz. They are genius personified. So yeah). Please go check out all the posts this week, because you never know who's going to say exactly what you need to hear to keep moving forward.

Today? The amazing Jamie Harrington.

SKETCH MCGEE in a tweet: Sketch McGee's a 16yo SuperVillain that changes the future w/ her drawings. But, she's also a band geek in love. Watch those worlds collide.

(And, I may or may not have spent extra time getting that to equal exactly 140 characters just to prove I am the ultimate twitter queen, but whatevs.)

Was there ever a time you felt like giving up? Why didn't you?

So many, many times Elana. In fact, let me illustrate this with a handy dandy little time line:

Yeah, it’s pretty much like that. The thing is, I kind of feel like if there weren’t times I wanted to give up, then the wins and successes wouldn’t matter as much, ya know? [Elana interrupts to say that Jamie received like, five offers from agents. She is repped by Victoria Horn at Liza Dawson Associates.]

What has been the hardest part of your road to publication so far? And why?

I don’t even have to think about this one. It’s the waiting. That’s hands down, without a doubt the hardest part. It’s worse than rejection, it’s worse than wrestling with a difficult chapter, it’s worse than running out of snacks mid-edit, it’s the WORST.

What's your best advice to aspiring authors?

I wordled them for you! (ALWAYS put your book through wordle--it’s the bomb!)

Super Secret: If you could meet anyone, alive or dead, who would it be?

I want to say something profound here, really I do—but I think I’m going with the Ask A Ninja Guy:



Find Jamie online:
Jamie's blog
Jamie tweets!
Read Jamie's journey--and her query letter--on QT.