Today we’d like to introduce you to Chemine Sharpe.
Hi Chemine, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My story begins with “Once upon a time, there was” like most tales of folklore do.
“Once upon a time, there was a girl at the age of four who lived in worlds of music and words and had no choice but to create her own.
She started off as a lyricist, writing and singing songs, before taking in one too many fiction novels to make the emptiness around her seem a little more small. Eager to become the next J.K. Rowling, she started writing her debut in high school before turning to poetry in college and publishing two collections of work thereafter.
She got to where she was today by allowing herself to be more than she dreamed. It was important to her to grow, and that meant embracing the challenges of navigating uncharted territory and surrendering to God’s grand design. In a deeper sense, she went from sharing her work in class, in a form she hated, to waking up every day at 3 am to share it on social media (Instagram)
Some may call her crazy. Perhaps she was. But it worked; Harper Nightingale, the pseudonym she writes under, is now home to 50,000 plus readers. She found her purpose. She made her mark. And the rest is history.”
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I wish I could say it’s been straight sailing, but alas, far from it! You wouldn’t believe my terrible luck. In 2017, my phone dropped in the tidal basin, and I had no record of the poems I hadn’t posted to the Instagram platform saved. Everything I had thought I was going to put in book 1 was gone, and trying to reconstruct and remember what I had written proved to be too futile.
And even still, just last year, I lost all the work I had written for book three out of the blue. I write all my poems on my iPhone notes app so I can jot down inspiration in real-time, and one day I just checked, and over 7,000+ worth of notes were magically missing, spanning from July 2020 to August 2022. It was devastating to say the least, but a wake-up call for me.
While the road hasn’t been smooth, additionally dealing with writer’s block and burnout, a loss of readers totaling about 10,000, nothing worth doing ever comes easy, and if I didn’t push through I wouldn’t have the platform I have now, and the books that I wrote under my wings.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I consider myself a multi-disciplinary artist, but predominately I’m a writer specializing in poetry. Since 2014, I’ve used my gifts to write and post snippets on Instagram. Considered part of the era of “modern IG poets”, i.e., Rupi Kaur, Atticus Poetry, and Nikita Gill, I’m known for my original verses of love, strength, comfort, and hope. I remind people of their worth, of who they are in Christ, and who they’re called to be. I also remind them that they are never alone.
I never dreamed I would publish two collections before a fiction novel (I highly disliked the form ten years ago), so I am most proud of my ability to expand and not give up on trying to define what poetry is to me and what it can be to so many others.
What sets me apart is my desire to, in my work, transcend the nature of loss and heartbreak and instead focus on the magic left behind, often unrealized, to rebuild in the process.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Growing up, I was the resident theatrical drama queen and avid reader, singer, and dancer of the entire family. I was top of the class for AR Reading, I collected hardcover Nancy Drew books, was obsessed with mysteries and inventions, and loved gymnastics, sunsets, and Tumblr. Pink was my favorite color, I wanted purple streaks in my hair, FUN. was my favorite band, and I dreamed of being on American Idol or Broadway.
I was creative, full of life, curious, adventurous, and determined. I’m happy to say I still am.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.harpernightingale.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/harpernightingale/
- Other: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BHQT17V5
Image Credits
Mo Mihalik
