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Friday, December 3, aoio | The Red a Black
Alumna publishes second book, prepares for third in spring
By ELAINE KELCH
The Red & Black
Jackson Pearce may
never meet all of her goals,
but that doesn’t stop the
University alumna from
considering herself a suc
cess.
Pearce, a 2007 graduate
who moored in English
and minored in Philosophy,
has published two books
since her time in Athens:
2009’s “As You Wish” and
2010’s “Sisters Red.”
A third book, “Sweetly,”
is set to be released in
Spring 2011.
“My goal was to get a
book published and that
would equal success,”
Pearce said. When that
happened, “then the goal
was to get another pub
lished, then to hit The New
York Times’ best-seller
list.”
Although that may not
have happened yet
Pearce is happily enter
tained by raising the bar
for herself each time she
accomplishes one of her
goals.
“The moment you hit
one goal there’s another
one,” Pearce said. “I’m not
satisfied, but I’m happy.”
Pearce has always want
ed to write, a skill that is
more or less the result of a
life-long passion for read
ing.
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Visit www.ugabookstore.com for buyback hours and locations.
If you rented your books
from the FTX Bookstore you
can check them in at the
UGA Bookstore
95/332W8510
BOOK SIGNING
When: Tonight at 7
Where: Borders
More Information: Jackson
Pearce will sign copies of her
books and give a free reading.
Additional lecture: Pearce
will discuss the process of
publishing a book from an
author’s perspective today
from 3-5 p.m. in room 261 of
Park Hall,
According to Pearce’s
Harper Teen biography
an imprint of publishing
house Harper Collins that
put out “As You Wish”
she "began writing when
she got angry that the
school librarian couldn’t
tell her of a book that con
tained a smart girl, horses,
baby animals and magic.
Her solution was to write
the book herself when she
was twelve.”
Today, Pearce does
seemingly the same thing;
she writes what makes her
happy.
“The genre I write in is
the genre I like to read,”
Pearce said.
That genre is young
adult, or YA, novels —a
genre familiar to University
students and alumni such
as Pearce who admire J.K.
Rowling’s mega-popular
magical series “Harry
We helped University of Georgia students save more than $205,000 this fall through Rent-A-Text!
Potter,” or Suzanne
Collins’ “The Hunger
Games” trilogy, Laurie
Halse Anderson’s “Speak,”
or the vampire-werewolf
hit “Twilight” by Stephenie
Meyer.
“[For YA books] the
drama is often said to be
trivial and silly,” Pearce
said. “But everything is a
really big deal, it’s 1,000
times stronger, when
[young adults] experience
something for the first
time. YA books are for any
one who has ever been a
teenager, who’s succeeded,
failed, loved or lost a
friend.”
That universalism in
audience and theme is the
driving force behind
Pearce’s writing, but the
path to publication for “As
You Wish” was almost as
dramatic as the topics she
writes on.
Pearce began her
undergraduate education
at Georgia College and
State University in
Milledgeville before trans
ferring to the University
after only one year.
“Athens is a cool, ftmky
town and I was drawn to
the marching band
though I ended up not
doing it for veiy long,”
Pearce said. “[What] I
didn’t realize was how dif
ferent English programs
could be.”
University of
fMI i Georgia Bookstore
V 111 J Neit to Tte Center • 706-542-3171
ifgs www.ugabookstore.com
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Even with the change,
Pearce’s aspirations to
publish weren’t deterred.
“I spent my fourth year
cleaning up my first manu
script to make it submis
sion ready,” Pearce said. “I
sent it in at the beginning
of my fifth year and every
one rejected it.”
In response, Pearce
began working on another
book, completing it and
submitting it during her
last semester.
“I got an agent in June
and sold it in the fall,”
Pearce said.
Both “As You Wish” and
“Sisters Red” have
received very good critical
success, earning starred
reviews in the School
Library Journal and inclu
sion in school and college
curricula.
For University students
whose hopes mirror
Pearce’s own during her
time in Athens, she has a
bit of advice to give:
“It’s important to
remember that when you
receive a rejection it’s not
saying that you’re a worth
less artist, what it is saying
is that you may be a bad
business decision right
now,” Pearce said. “[You
need to] separate business
from pleasure, books do
have prices on them and
the publishing industry is
set up to weed out people
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Courtesy or Jackson Pearce
▲ A 2007 alumna, Jackson Pearce will be
lecturing today at Park Hall before signing
copies of her book “Sisters Red” at Borders.
that don’t want it enough.”
But if the want is there,
and one’s skill is equal,
success isn’t out of the
question.
Online
Jf Classes]
HUP / de.advisor@georgiacenter.uga.edu
* 1 1 fft The University of Georgia
M JJLa* ( enter for ( ontinmtyi bJucatwn
CLASSES THAT FIT independent and distance learning I
Vi# Webbited e-Cotrespondence
YOUR SCHEDULE 1197 South Lumpkin Street • Athens, Georgia 30602-3603
“You must be stronger
than the business,” Pearce
said. “Write for the love of
it and not because it pays
your bills.”
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By: December 15