Jane Harrington is an author, a mother, and a soon to be grandmother. Harrington came to the school on November 30, 2016 to talk about her inspiration for writing.

and her career as an author.

“I always liked to write, but it wasn’t until I became a parent and I was staying home with my kids- that was when I discovered I liked writing about them and the things they did,” said Harrington.

Thanks to her children, Harrington could publish her work.

“They were the big inspiration for me to create actual stories that I could get published,” said Harrington. “I started getting published in magazines and then started writing longer books for children.”

Harrington has been writing for over 20 years.

“My first short story probably came out in about 1995 or around that time, So that was when I first started getting published.”

Harrington has had many of  her works published throughout the years. She currently has had four books for children and young adults published, including: Extreme Pets, Lucy’s E-journal, and Four Things My Geeky-Jock-Of-A-Best-Friend Must Do in Europe. She has had about three shorts stories published in magazines for kids. Presently  Harrington is working on several pieces of writing, including a novel.

“I’m working on some short pieces and a novel and writing some professional essays. The novel is an historical fiction so that takes some time,” said Harrington. “I have to work on other things or I won’t get anything published.”

Harrington will also be teaching a fiction writing class and a children’s literature class in January at Washington and Lee University. She has also taught at Southern Virginia University where she taught writing and children’s literature.

Now that Harrington’s kids have all grown up, the oldest being 32 years old and the youngest being 26 years old, they look back at their mother’s work with great joy and it seems to bring back old memories.

“They think of them as fond memories. I think they like knowing that they appeared as fictional characters in these books,” said Harrington.

Since Harrington’s eldest daughter is having a baby soon, Harrington would like to start writing picture books. She is looking forward for her future of writing and becoming a grandmother.

“I haven’t been writing children’s books since my kids got older, so I am hoping to start writing picture books since I will have a grandchild to entertain,” said Harrington.