We are in the second part of our series with the wonderful Julie Barton. In our previous episode, we talked about Julie’s childhood memories and her path to becoming a New York Times bestselling author with her book, Dog Medicine: How My Dog Saved Me from Myself.

Today, we explore what it feels like to achieve publication success, the reality of making it as a writer, and how to follow your passions.

Getting to What’s True

Julie shares her feelings on the publication success of her book. Although she appreciates the fame that comes with it all, the satisfaction she felt stemmed from uncovering what was true for her and writing it in a way that people could understand her experience.

[bctt tweet=””I do find writing so hard. The most satisfying thing for me is getting to what’s true and putting it on the page in a way that it’s clear. It’s so hard, but that’s the thing I value. That it’s so hard and it takes so much time and hard work” – Julie Barton” username=”AYMPodcast”]

Realizing Everyone’s Story is Important

Julie gives her advice to people who want to write freely. She discusses how everyone’s story is interesting. She encourages people to ignore the little voice in your head telling you that it’s not good enough. The value is when you let go and let what’s there rise to the top.

She says that readers want to know what’s real. They relate to a story when they see themselves in the writing.

“The gold is just letting go enough to let what’s really there rise to the top. So often ego just wants to edit and make it the way that we think it’s supposed to be. When in fact, that’s actually totally boring to a reader. What they really want is the juice. They want the real stuff. The stuff where they’re like ‘Oh my gosh, that’s me but I’ve never been able to put it in words’ or ‘I’ve never been able to say it that way’. They relate to that feeling that’s so interesting. You can’t get there if you’re constantly editing yourself.” – Julie Barton

Reconnecting with Nature

Julie gives an overview of her upcoming memoir and the connection she has felt with the natural world. She shares a brief background on her journey to finding a spiritual awareness of nature and the environment. She wants to honor the healing connection she had with nature when she was little before the world told her it was unacceptable.

She then goes to share her advice to aspiring writers.

“If you feel that drive to write this evening, no matter what it is, do it little by little. It will start to come together. One of the most beautiful things in my writing practice has been the pursuit of truth with a capital T. This meant finding what was really true for me, what my experience was, and trying to crystallize that is a fascinating process.” – Julie Barton

To listen more to Julie’s story and her pursuit of the truth, download and listen to this episode.

Bio:

Julie Barton is the New York Times bestselling author of DOG MEDICINE, HOW MY DOG SAVED ME FROM MYSELF (Penguin, 2016). She has a B.A. from Kenyon College, an M.F.A. in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts, and an M.A. in Women’s Studies from Southern Connecticut State University.

Julie has been published in Brain Child Magazine, The South Carolina Review, Louisiana Literature, Two Hawks Quarterly, Westview, The Huffington Post, and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

She lives in Northern California with her husband Greg, two children, and small menagerie of pets.