Meet Chris Harris | Children’s Author and TV Writer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Chris Harris and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Chris, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
I always knew I’d be a writer, partly because that’s what I love, and partly because I’m painfully unqualified for anything else. I’ve gotten injured just looking at a hammer. I have the computer-coding skills of French toast. My people skills are even worse.

In terms of making a career out of writing, I’ve done well with the advice to “sure, always follow your dreams… but maaaaaaybe those dreams aren’t set in stone?” In other words, as they say, go where you’re wanted. I’d dreamed of being some great best-selling novelist, but then I got a chance to write for several big magazines, so I decided that magazine writing was actually what I’d always wanted to do; and that led to a chance to write for television, so then TV writing became the thing I’d always dreamed of doing…

I started writing children’s poetry when my own kids were younger. After they were born, I wanted to create something wonderful for them–because I was inspired to, but also because I secretly feared that their love for me might end up being merit-based instead of unconditional. I didn’t want to take any chances. I was able to use the skills, knowledge and advice from my other careers to write my first collection and find a publisher. Since then I’ve been very fortunate that my books have found a wide and enthusiastic audience.

So now here I am, decades after first setting out, and somehow I came full-circle back to writing best-selling books, which was my original dream (!)… but I never would have gotten there without putting that dream aside and–for a while, at least–going where I was wanted more.

In my new collection I have a whole poem about that journey, titled “We’re Not Who We Used to Be Going to Be!” The final stanzas go like this:

Now, you can be anything you set your mind to—
You’re young and you’re clever (the world will agree!).
But as you live life, well, someday you may find you
Could trade in old dreams for ones you’re more inclined to.
Don’t worry—that’s all part of living—it’s fine to!
The best part of dreaming is: dreaming is free.

And when you’ve grown older, your hair is all thinning,
And you’ve had adventures as wild as the sea,
You’ll look back to when you were barely beginning,
The things that you thought before life sent you spinning,
And all the surprise ways you ended up winning…
That day, come and join us in saying while grinning,
“We’re not who we used to be going to be!”

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?

I’m lucky enough to get to work in two creative fields these days: writing children’s books and (most recently) running the new Frasier TV show. They’re so different–in one I work mostly on my own to come up with silly rhymes for kids; in the other I lead a seasoned group of brilliant, hilarious people as we come up with sophisticated, clever stories and jokes for a wildly talented cast. I love how each of these roles uses a different part of the creative brain. Each has helped me with the other, too. Collaborating with hundreds of others on a TV show taught me how critical it is to bring others into my book writing–to share, to get feedback, to hear the perspectives of others and ideas that I never would have come up with on my own. And writing for kids has helped me develop a simpler, more direct style of speech that can be incredibly powerful in the right situation on TV.

The biggest lesson I’ve learned that I would attempt to pass on to others is, as you set out to achieve your goals, to always be open to new ideas, new experiences, and challenges and opportunities and surprise open-doors that may present themselves, even if they’re not exactly what you had imagined for yourself. Go where you’re wanted. You may be surprised.

You can’t yet know all you may be–
The seed does not contain the tree.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I did this 100% all by myself without any help from anyone else, so the person I’d like to give credit to is ME.

I’m kidding! I’m kidding! So many folks helped me get to where I am. Family, of course, above all: the family I grew up with for filling me with a love for reading, an affinity for puzzles, and confidence in my ideas; and the family I’m in now for challenging and inspiring and collaborating with me in every wonderful way. I also credit all the amazing authors and artists who taught me the hilarious delight of looking at words and people from other angles, no matter how ridiculous or absurd they may be: from Shel Silverstein and Norton Juster to Monty Python and David Letterman. All of these are creators I admire and try to draw inspiration from in my own writing.

Website: justchrisharris.com

Instagram: @imjustchrisharris

Twitter: @justchrisharris