ryan rae harbuck
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ryanraeharbuck.bsky.social
ryan rae harbuck
@ryanraeharbuck.bsky.social
1.5K followers 1.5K following 1K posts
WHEN I GROW UP I WANT TO BE A CHAIR memoir & PB (Barefoot Books, Spring '26) | Words in NYT, Huffpost, Newsweek, Insider | All things ♿️ rep | #SCBWI | Boy mom-Reluctant omnivore-Sitter of wheelchairs-Denverite-Underwater meditator
www.ryanraeharbuck.com
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ryanraeharbuck.bsky.social
I'm a glamorous multi award-winning author...

I drive an 18yo Subaru. I have to fill out a time card for work. I finish my kids plates instead of having my own. I look for coupon codes for everything. I haven't cut my hair in 10mos. I get nervous just talking about my writing.
December 10, 2025 at 2:43 PM
ryanraeharbuck.bsky.social
We could all learn a thing or two from kids:

Yesterday, I coaxed a kindergartner in the lunch room to eat his PB&J, and then I'd let him lock my wheelchair brakes.

Today, he brought me this because this is how you make friends.
December 4, 2025 at 11:36 PM
ryanraeharbuck.bsky.social
You just can’t beat the feeling of getting a text from one of your friends who finds your book out in the wild (and face-out no less!!)
November 11, 2025 at 9:01 PM
ryanraeharbuck.bsky.social
<>
see her wheelchair
know her mom is dead
trust her own mind
<>
confront & accept her past
find love
see herself for the first time again 

E OLIPHANT x WHAT ALICE FORGOT
#questpit #Q #A #DIS
November 5, 2025 at 7:22 PM
ryanraeharbuck.bsky.social
She didn't know about the accident. 
She didn't know about her paralysis. 
She didn't even know about her dead mother. 

But what if they told her?
E OLIPHANT x WHAT ALICE FORGOT
#questpit #Q #A #DIS
November 5, 2025 at 3:14 PM
ryanraeharbuck.bsky.social
My kiddo picked out the coolest pumpkin in all of the land.
October 24, 2025 at 8:29 PM
ryanraeharbuck.bsky.social
It's clearly Halloween time at my writer's desk...😱🎃
October 22, 2025 at 7:12 PM
ryanraeharbuck.bsky.social
A journey of self-discovery and acceptance, but when your mind is a t h i e f
and you can't even trust
your
own
reflection.
It's the THINGS WE CAN(NOT)

E. OLIPHANT x WHAT ALICE FORGOT

#DVPit #A #DIS
Journal open on table. Cell phone with incoming message from Mom. Sunflowers in the corner. Journal has meaaages like "don't forget" and "AGAIN" in bold, red handwriting. Post-it notes with Dr Gil's hospital room number and reminder "your mind is a thief" along with a bunch of photos of Paris landmarks-- Mona Lisa, Notre dame, Sacre Coeur.
October 8, 2025 at 8:01 PM
ryanraeharbuck.bsky.social
She didn't know about the accident.
She didn't know about her paralysis.
She didn't even know about her dead mother.

But
what if
they
told her?

E OLIPHANT x WHAT ALICE FORGOT
#DVPit #A #DIS
Moodboard with words, "I cannot forget what I can't remember." In cursive. With black and white photos of a crowded Paris street, a car accident, a wheelchair, a lioness, and a texting phone. Color images of a young brunette woman, a black man with dark sunglasses, the Mona Lisa and Sacre Coeur. All in squares and rectangles with white border.
October 8, 2025 at 7:01 PM
ryanraeharbuck.bsky.social
What if there were toys made for everyone, no matter how different we are or what we can’t do?

Mavis is on a quest to be the best toy un-maker she can be, but just as long as those whispering onlookers don’t get in the way first.

STRICTLY NO ELEPHANTS x THE INVISIBLE BOY

#DVPit #PB #DIS
Hand drawn with pen on paper, a young girl sitting at a table with curly short hair, smiling. She's holding a screwdriver in one hand and a wheel in the other. Tiny hearts on either side of her face.
October 8, 2025 at 6:01 PM
ryanraeharbuck.bsky.social
<>
see her wheelchair
know her mom is dead
trust her own mind

<>
confront & accept her past
find love
see herself for the first time again

E OLIPHANT x WHAT ALICE FORGOT

#DVPit #A #DIS
Image of a woman with overlaying wheelchair, Venus de samothrace and a lioness at the top center. Green transparent forest and road in the background. Colors are muted-- greens, yellows and corals.
October 8, 2025 at 4:03 PM
ryanraeharbuck.bsky.social
MAVIS THE UN-MAKER takes apart toys. She cuts them and hammers them, she glues them and sews them just for her friends. But when others gasp at her dismantled creations, will they keep her from showing the world that not everyone is made like a brand-new toy?

#DVPit #PB #DIS
Illustration with yellow background. Child with long brown hair, a pink bow and shirt smiling with eyes closed in the center. Sitting at a table With crafting supplies all over the table-- including an eye-less teddy bear and giraffe with wheels. Two children in the background on either side of her in horror. Photo of friends in the background.
October 8, 2025 at 1:02 PM
ryanraeharbuck.bsky.social
E OLIPHANT x WHAT ALICE FORGOT

She cannot forget what she can't remember.

When a paralyzing accident takes her mobility & her mom, Jolie must be brave enough to confront her past & see herself for the first time again or risk losing her future entirely.

It's the THINGS WE CAN(NOT)

#DVPit #A #DIS
Sample book cover with overlay of a woman standing, a woman in a wheelchair, the Venus de Samothrace, and a lioness. Text in cream color and soft hues of green and peach. THINGS WE CAN(NOT)
October 8, 2025 at 12:01 PM
ryanraeharbuck.bsky.social
I made a thing.

Layered with an able-bodied woman and wheelchair user. Layers of the Venus de Samothrace and a lioness gaze. Layers of a highway road.

This is THINGS WE CAN(NOT)✨
October 2, 2025 at 1:12 PM
ryanraeharbuck.bsky.social
Iwokeupthismorning
|somethingiswrong|

Mymindisa t h i e f

ButIcan't forget
whatIcannot remember



#UnhingedPit #A #Q #DIS
September 23, 2025 at 12:54 PM
ryanraeharbuck.bsky.social
#UnhingedPit #A #Q #Upmarket #DIS
September 23, 2025 at 12:53 PM
ryanraeharbuck.bsky.social
Starting the morning off right!🌞

I pitched my adult upmarket fiction novel, THINGS WE CAN(NOT), full of disability rep and truly the story of my very soul.
September 9, 2025 at 12:55 PM
ryanraeharbuck.bsky.social
It's #spinalcordinjuryawarenessmonth. A mouthful, but so much more.

I thought I'd take the chance to reintroduce myself.

I'm Ryan, and I sustained a spinal cord injury from a car wreck almost 29 years ago. Some say I died that night, but I fought to come back. 🧵
1/7
September 8, 2025 at 7:25 PM
ryanraeharbuck.bsky.social
I had no idea how emotional I would feel being able to share the cover of my debut picture book, yet here we are 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
September 4, 2025 at 8:54 PM
ryanraeharbuck.bsky.social
Presenting my #agentsguide for my latest work, THINGS WE CAN(NOT).

•••Coming to query inboxes this fall•••

#Agents, if you're hungry for disability rep in the form of an upmarket/book club read with an unreliable, yet evolving narrator, look no further...
Agent's Guide to THINGS WE CAN(NOT). Black and white background showing a road and wheelchair. Splotches of paint in yellow and teal behind the title. A transparent Venus de Samothrace statue spreading the far left of the slide with wings outstretched. Salmon splotch of color with novel description. Pitch slide with same black and white background, revealing wheelchair. Teal splotch of paint with the novel's pitch Black and white background showing a road and wheelchair in the corner. Moodboard with various photos including a car wreck, the Mona Lisa and the back of a woman's head viewing it, and a black and white lioness. (Comps & Moodboard) written on the bottom in a handwritten font. (Excerpt) in handwriting font on bottom left with yellow splotch behind it. Same black and white background with wheelchair present. Transparent Venus de Samothrace statue to the left and the opening words of the novel in front of a large teal splotch
August 21, 2025 at 3:02 AM
ryanraeharbuck.bsky.social
A nod to the sunflower who could not be caged.
August 17, 2025 at 2:40 AM
ryanraeharbuck.bsky.social
ELEANOR OLIPHANT x WHAT ALICE FORGOT

Unreliable narrator
Whatifshedoesn'trememberthewreck?
Uneasy surroundings
Whyallthestares?
Unimaginable consequences
Whatiftheytellhereverything?
Uninhibited journey

#PosterPit #Q soon #A #DIS
Movie poster for THINGS WE CAN(NOT). Yellow text and images divided into quarters horizontally. Car wreck in rain. Notre Dame in Paris. Guy with blackened sunglasses. Sunflowers. Words say-- UNRELIABLE NARRATOR, RELENTLESS PAST, UNFORGETTABLE JOURNEY
August 16, 2025 at 2:37 PM
ryanraeharbuck.bsky.social
ELEANOR OLIPHANT x WHAT ALICE FORGOT

"I have to forget it.
Leave it in the moment.
        
I choose to let go of the perpetual feeling that everything has fatal holes in it.

Ignore what I see. Ignore what’s real."

#PosterPit #Q soon #A #DIS
Movie poster for THINGS WE CANNOT. Black and white image of a wheelchair in the foreground and a person walking in the background, but faded. Title and author in black and description of the story in white, includes: UNRELIABLE NARRATOR, RELENTLESS PAST, and UNFORGETTABLE JOURNEY.
August 16, 2025 at 4:59 AM
ryanraeharbuck.bsky.social
When the thing is

I cannot FORGET what I can't REMEMBER...

...until I do.

I've got to get out of here. But I can't outrun my past. I can't run at all.

ELEANOR OLIPHANT x WHAT ALICE FORGOT

#questpit #Q soon #A #DIS
August 6, 2025 at 7:09 PM
ryanraeharbuck.bsky.social
It's the final day of Disability Pride Month & I'm reminded I can't feel my legs when I rest a hot coffee on them.

They will burn & blister.

It's frustrating & humbling, & an absolute reminder to take better care of the things I can't feel.

Take care of the things you can't.
July 31, 2025 at 2:43 PM