Beth and I brought in 2010 by watching Julie & Julia - a movie about two women in different eras aspiring to be writers. Julie Powell worked a dead-end job, was a wanna-be writer, and needed some excitement in her life. So she started a blog journaling her crazy resolution to cook her way through Julia Child's book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking.Julia Child worked for the OSS (pre-CIA) during World War II. Her husband, Paul, continued to work after the war for the US Embassy in France but Julia had no job, no hobbies, and no aspirations. Finally, she signed up for a cooking class for professional chefs in Paris. Food soon became Julia's passion.
Julia saw a need for a book on French cooking written in English for "servantless Americans." It took eight years of hard labor to write the book and appeal to publishers but the book eventually became a success.
Julie's blog began with no fanfare and no readers. Over time, she gained followers and before the end of the year she had a successful blog and publishers, TV producers, and film makers calling. It is a great story of success through nothing but good old-fashioned hard work.
I appreciated the movie because it shows how difficult and how hard it is to write and publish a book. As a wanna-be writer myself, I was encouraged and challenged by Julie and Julia's persistence and perseverance.
If you are writing a book or want to write a book, Julie & Julia, might inspire you. It's not easy. That's obvious from the film. But hard work often pays off when you stick with it. Congrats to Julie Powell who blogged her way to success.
PS - The movie was a lot of fun to watch. Meryl Steep was incredible as usual!
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