A six-figure book deal at age 25 is a dream that became reality shortly after former Daily Helmsman arts and entertainment editor Johanna Edwards graduated from The University of Memphis.
Edwards, now 33, has published five books in her young career: "How to Be Cool," "Your Big Break," "The Next Big Thing," and the young adult books "Love Undercover" and "Go Figure," which are written under the name Jo Edwards. She credits much of her success to the fact that she is an avid reader.
"(Reading) has been instrumental — from the moment I could, I've been reading. I used to ask for books for Christmas," Edwards said. "I've always known I wanted to be an author since a very young age. I started ‘writing' before I could even write properly. Before I went to bed at night, I would tell my dad stories, and he would write them down. We actually still have them. They were really bad."
Her struggles as a young author did not last long. Edwards, who still lives and writes in Memphis, commented on her success recently during a speech at a banquet, where she was receiving the Outstanding Young Alumni award.
"You have to follow your dream. I had a bunch of people tell me that I'd never get an agent and nobody would ever read my query letters. People would tell me, ‘You'll never be a novelist,' and show me all kinds of statistics for why it wouldn't happen."
Edwards graduated from The University of Memphis with a Bachelor's degree in journalism in 2001. She started off as a business major, but quickly realized accounting wasn't for her.
"I read an article in Business Weekly that talked about journalism being a dying major. I was in business for about a semester and a half before I realized it was one of the worst mistakes of my life," Edwards said. "I always read The Helmsman while I was a business major and that kept my passion alive to follow my dream."
Edwards worked for The Daily Helmsman for seven semesters before graduating. While working for The Helmsman, she learned how to write with deadlines and distractions, criticism and praise.
"I'd probably still be working at The Helmsman today if I didn't graduate," she said. "They literally had to kick me out of the door. (Helmsman General Manager) Candy Justice has been great on so many levels. She taught us the ins and outs. She told us things straight and gave us tough love."
Johanna began writing chick-lit in 2003. At the time, she didn't know that her genre of writing had such a specific title.
"I was really into shows like ‘Sex in the City' and ‘Bridget Jones' Diary,' and when I submitted my writing to agents they were like ‘Oh, this is chick-lit,'" Edwards said.
