Jillian is a New York Times Bestselling Author of the memoir Some Girls: My Life in a Harem, and the novel Pretty, as well as her newest memoir Everything I Ever Wanted. In this episode, hear about how Jillian rediscovered her love for writing during some growing times in her life.

Jillian shares that her dream was to publish a book and have a career as an author. After writing her first novel, she got lucky when an agent read her book that she picked up from a slush pile. Despite having the support of her agent, they weren’t able to sell it to a publishing company. Learn how Jillian dug deeper into her life and her writing, and what her agent did to get her books published and ultimately land on the most coveted list in publishing.

Jillian also opens up about becoming a mother. After years of waiting for a baby, she and her husband were able to adopt a boy from Ethiopia. It was during this journey that she began to blog about their adoption experience and exercised her voice as a blogger.

Jillian’s charismatic storytelling draws you in to understand what the process is like for an author to identify as an entrepreneur. She shares key books any writer should read as they embark to write a book. She encourages all writers to be active with your local writing community.