Paige Harbison is not your typical Towson student. Besides the fact that she is currently enrolled in nine classes (or 25 credits), she is also writing her second book. Her first book, Here Lies Bridget, was published this year and can even be found at our local Barnes and Noble. The movie rights for the book have been published and it was also featured in Teen Vogue! With all of this, she still manages to lead a very active social life. So how does Paige manage to have it all and not lose her mind? Her Campus Towson had the opportunity to interview Paige and find out how!
Q: What inspired you to write a book?
I was on an unbearably long train trip from Florida to D.C at the end of my freshman year at Flagler College (one of the prettiest campuses on the globe), and I got bored. I was in coach, surrounded by elderly people snoring like cartoon characters, and sitting next to a nagging boyfriend. I needed something to do, and so I just started writing.
Q: Have you always been interested in writing?
I never, ever thought I’d be a writer, even though my mother is very successful (Beth Harbison, author of Shoe Addicts Anonymous—soon to be a movie starring Halle Berry!). I was always good at it in school, and I loved to read. But I never even considered it!
Q: What is it like being a published author?
It’s really awesome. It gives me something cool to say about myself. I also found that it made me really resentful of having to take another English class. I felt all, “Really? You can’t just, like, waive it or something? I’m a published freaking author.” But no…apparently an ounce of success doesn’t mean you don’t have to be a real person anymore.
Q: What was the publication experience like?
I have never met wittier, more intelligent people than since I’ve been in the literary world. They’re all so well read and eloquent that their jokes and jabs are biting and unique. They’ve been all around the world through books, so they almost always have something interesting to say or suggest. Being surrounded by these people has made it a wonderful experience. I got represented and published four months after writing the book, and then started editing. Its been awesome.
Q: How did you manage your time, being a college student, so that you were able to write a book? Do you have any advice for students who may need help with their time management skills?
You just have to do it and choose to be good at it. I wanted to finish school so that I can start focusing on work solely. So I’m actually in nine classes and a lab right now, and all the while I’ve been writing and editing my second book. If I can do it, anyone can. My social life is still thriving and unaffected for the most part, even. The thing about time management is that you just have to do it. Don’t stress out about it, get things finished as soon as you can. Don’t sit around whining about how busy you are, just do it, and be aware the whole time that it’s a push you just need to get through. I did all my work, but allowed myself guilt-free time for relaxing. I still went to parties, and didn’t feel guilty about having fun instead of working, because I know that my social life, my rest, my food, etc. is all what keeps me doing the hard stuff.
Q:What has been your favorite memory at Towson?
Oh, this last weekend has been the best. Up until then it was last year’s blizzard. “Blizzfest 2010” as we called it. We were snowed in together, all of our friends, at the University Village, and we just cooked chili and crepes and watched movies and played games—it was awesome. But this past weekend was Cinco de Mayo and my boyfriend’s birthday, Tigerfest, then another birthday party the next day where we sang Karaoke with a bunch of fogies in Fed Hill, and then last night I saw Donald Glover/Childish Gambino at Ram’s Head. Met him. Got stuff signed. Towson University is an awesome place, and there is so much to do. Oriole’s games, Fell’s Point, Federal Hill, Inner Harbor, Ram’s Head—endless opportunities for fun.
Q: What will you miss most about your time here?
I’ll probably most miss the life in which you are surrounded by peers that mostly listen to similar music, get all of your TV and movie references, and the fact that you’re always able to do something. There are activities, there’s free food, there are parties, and you can scream a curse word aloud without fearing that you’re making a parent mad somewhere. College is worth it, a million times over.
Q: Do you have any new projects coming up?
The rights to the movie version of Here Lies Bridget were bought a couple months back, so I’m just hoping that works out! Same producers, Galgos Entertainment, who are doing my mom’s movie. Other than that, I just finished my second book New Girl, which is kind of a modern adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s (and Alfred Hitchcock’s) Rebecca. It should be out later this year!
Q: Do you have any other advice or anything else you would like to add?
I’m not an overly sage person, but all I can say—and all I’ve ever heard from anyone with great success—is that if you have something you want to do, you just have to do it. Don’t stress too much about it, but just do it. Put yourself out there. Go where you want to go, and don’t waste time think about what you ‘shouldn’t’ do or what’s ‘impossible.’
Are you interested in reading Here Lies Bridget? You can purchase it online through Amazon or Barnes & Noble. If you would like more of Paige check out her website, Facebook, and Twitter pages!