Following a shocking encounter at knife point, Harrison was forced to flip her perspective and start investing time into a personal quest which could fuel her self-confidence but also her need to empower others.
This is made apparent in Harrison’s recent investment in her children book series, ‘Archie’s Adventure’, which she believes will encourage a younger audience to gain a deeper understanding of their own world and the world that they live in through empowerment.
“Empowered thinking enables infinite possibilities!”
– Stephanie Harrison
According to Harrison, she set out a plan to write a book with words of empowerment around 10 years ago, challenging herself with putting words down on paper that made sense not only to her but to others. Yet she was not certain on the subject and found it difficult to structure her narrative. However, two years ago, she was driven to the idea of writing a children’s book that was filled with purpose and meaning while also had fun.
Ellie Wright interviewed Stephanie Harrison on May 14th to delve into the influence behind this Yumscrubbilydumptious world of make belief.
Given her background of being a therapist and coach for the past 15 years, Harrison feels experienced within a social workspace, but wishes to encourage an even larger audience. Aspiring for this book to act as a “inner tool kit” for children as they set out to navigate the world around them.
‘Archie’s Adventure’s in a Yumscrubbilydumptious world’ follows the eye-opening experiences carried out by a friendly and excitable dog which is based on Harrison’s dog. This acts as a personal engagement for Harrison as she is implementing something well-known into the story. Yet also Harrison is thinking tactically, using a symbol of companionship, love and trustworthiness to put her readership’s best interests first. Who does not love a good book about a dog? The message behind the cute companion is one that Harrison believes to be really important for children and adults to acknowledge that we all experience the world in different ways and that it is we should accept that so that we can work on striving towards being our best selves. And Harrison is already on track to do this, admitting that it has “helped loads of children”.
The wording of the book came to Harrison within the night, she reacted quickly grabbing a torch and wrote the words on paper. Even when morning arrived, Harrison did not change her mind about the use of ‘Yumscrubbilydumptious’. This use of creative and experimental vocabulary does not come as a surprise from an author heavily inspired by the Roald Dahl immersive world.
The future of Archie is already in motion, with Harrison reaching out for eBooks and audiobook version of the ‘Yumscrubbilydumptious world, believing that these books should be “accessible for all”. A second book is underway as we wait patiently for the illustrations to be polished before the release at the end of July. Harrison wishes to get down the next “four, five, six or seven” more books down onto paper to continue this whimsical world of her furry friend.
For aspiring writers, Harrison shared that although she struggled to find a format that worked best when steering a storyline, she ended up developing her own technique in order to help her visualise a narrative structure that worked best: encouraging others to do the same. Harrison found that saying the words aloud whilst recording them then listening back and typing, suited her the best as it allowed her to experience “the flow” her tale better.
