Jamie Sumner: Don’t Chase Perfection
In this interview, author Jamie Sumner discusses how pumpkin carving with her family helped inspire her new middle-grade novel, Glory Be.
Jamie Sumner is the author of the Roll with It trilogy, Tune It Out, One Kid’s Trash, The Summer of June, Maid for It, Deep Water, Please Pay Attention, Schooled, and Wish You Well. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other publications. She loves stories that celebrate the grit and beauty in all kids. She is also the mother of a son with cerebral palsy and has written extensively about parenting a child with special needs. She and her family live in Nashville, Tennessee. Follow her on Instagram.
In this interview, Jamie discusses how a pumpkin-carving activity with her family helped inspire her new middle-grade novel, Glory Be, her advice for other writers, and more.
Name: Jamie Sumner
Literary agent: Keely Boeving at WordServe
Book title: Glory Be
Publisher: Atheneum (S&S)
Release date: March 10, 2026
Genre/category: Middle Grade Fiction
Previous titles: Trilogy: Roll With It, Time to Roll, and Rolling On; Other works: Tune it Out; Maid for It; One Kid’s Trash; The Summer of June; Deep Water; Please Pay Attention; Schooled; A Fish Like Me
Elevator pitch: As she searches all over New Orleans for her lost dog, Glory discovers some things about her city and herself. Enough to make her wonder: How do you know when to hang on to the ones you love…and when to let go?
What prompted you to write this book?
It started with pumpkin carving. My kids were sitting at our picnic table, and I was standing next to them with the worst pumpkin in the patch—a long, squat, dumpling of a pumpkin. I decided to carve a pet to match—a, long, squat, dumpling of a dachshund. I couldn’t get this dachshund out of my head. My best friend’s family comes from New Orleans, and we grew up having Mardi Gras birthday parties and searching for the baby in the king cake. In my mind’s eye, I could see that dachshund running free in NOLA—a quirky character to fit in with the beautiful quirks of the city, but also a vulnerable character when lost and alone in a place with haunts and a layered history. The story spun out from there.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
I am a very fast first-draft writer. I think I wrote the initial draft of Glory Be in two weeks. But this is always messy and written in bits and pieces (especially with my books in verse). After that it took three months of editing before sending to my agent and then more revision before sending it off to my publisher.
Through all the drafts, the idea didn’t change, but the complexity of Glory’s story and her relationship with her dad became much more nuanced, to the point that I wasn’t sure how to end it. There were several alternate realities with Glory and her family.
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
This was my third book in verse, and I would say that I have learned a great deal through the first two. Luckily, this one was relatively smooth. The most delightful surprise were the illustrations within the chapters! I’ve never had a novel with illustrations, and they were absolutely gorgeous and gave the book the flourishes and character it needed.
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
Once Glory’s voice came to me, it became clear that this was more than a story of a girl’s search for her dog. It was also a story of a daughter’s love for her father, who is a complicated and angry man. It’s a story of seeking and finding, and also of letting go.
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
I hope they will fall for the squat dachshund Roux and root for Glory and see the magic of New Orleans, and understand that families are complicated and messy—just like love.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
Please don’t chase perfection. Get it on the page. You can always pick it apart later. The point is to do what you love.
