Thanks so much to Amy Harmon, our June Featured Author for taking the time to sit down and chat with us. We hope you LitStackers will check out Amy’s books and look her up on all her social networking spots ath the following:
Website / Facebook / Twitter / Amazon / Goodreads / Instagram
LS: Amy thanks so much for sitting down to chat with us. I’d love to hear about the genesis of your writing career. Have you always written? What were those early 
stories like?
AH: I have always written. I have stories with Snoopy as the main character that my mom held onto. Writing for me has been my most comfortable form of self-expression. Some people dance and sing and talk and have sex. I write. Although I’m not opposed to dancing, singing and the rest. 😉
LS: I’m curious about the setting of many of your novels, particularly the connection between many characters and the town of Levan. What about your hometown informed the settings in your novels? Do you think you will always write about small towns?
AH: I think it’s important to write about things you understand, about settings that you truly know. I am a small town girl. It would be much more difficult for me to write about a big city or a European city and get it right. I worry a lot about getting it right. It’s important to me to be honest in my portrayals.
LS: Has there been one stabilizing force that has kept you motivated to publish? Has that changed since your first book?
AH: I wish I’d been more aware of what was going on in the self-publishing world, but I was teaching and pregnant and not as plugged in as I could have been. I had already written Running Barefoot long before I ever published, but it was the financial mess my family was in, along with my oldest son’s health and the fact that I had a new baby and wanted to stay at home. I just jumped off the proverbial cliff and started doggie paddling. I am so glad I wasn’t afraid to go for it.
LS: What variables led you to write Song of David? How did those variables impact the consistent validation of the work moving forward?
AH: When I wrote The Law of Moses, David Taggert was such a compelling character that I really wanted to delve a little deeper into his story, and The Song of David was born. It’s not sold very well, but I think it’s a pretty fantastic story. I am so proud of The Song of David and really believe it is an original, well-written, compelling read. Hopefully, people will pick it up. I’ve been very, very discouraged lately with what sells, what doesn’t, what is lauded, what isn’t. I can’t figure it out. And it is hard to work as hard as I do and not feel like it pays off. I know many authors feel this way. I would like to disappear for a while. Seriously. Just go off the grid and write, with no plans to ever publish again. Chipper today, aren’t I?
LS: Indie publishing has been very generous to you. Do you think there would ever be a circumstance that would have you turning over your work to a traditional publisher?
AH: I feel like I haven’t reached my audience yet. That is the only thing that spurs me toward wanting to possibly do a deal with a traditional publisher. I feel like there is a huge audience out there that would embrace my stories, but I can’t reach them. I’m not cutting through in the Indie world. That is the only thing that would make me want to publish traditionally. The only reason. I love self-publishing. I love the freedom and the readers and the fact that I’m steering my own ship. But I do feel like I haven’t found my home. Maybe I never will.
LS: Talk if you would about the element of strong families and spirituality in your books. How does your personal life and your own spirituality influence your stories?
AH: I am a spiritual person. I’ve said before that books without spirituality are, for me, like cake without icing. I think there is incredible beauty in the world, and the source of that beauty is almost always spiritual in nature. I’m not talking about religion. I’m truly talking about seeing beyond the obvious, embracing goodness, expecting miracles, being open to something larger than ourselves. To me, writing without spirituality would be so limiting.
LS: What is your idea of career fulfillment?
AH: That’s a hard question. But if I’m being honest, I want to be the next Jodi Piccoult. I want that kind of reach. Crazy? Maybe. But I never dreamed I’d hit the New York Times list, and that happened. So I’m choosing to believe this could happen too. I have had many fulfilling moments in this journey. Huge moments. But I can’t rest on them, nor do they register with me, beyond the brief joy in the moment. Because, truthfully? Nobody cares about the accolades. It’s all about the stories. And a writer has to keep writing. So that’s what I’m going to do.
LS: What’s upcoming for you?
I have started on a story, but I’m thinking I’m going to step back from it and spend a quiet summer working on something totally different. Something just for me. And I will most likely let my agent shop it. I haven’t shopped anything seriously, so that’s what’s next for me. We shall see.
Thanks again, Amy!