Julie and Julia - How These Characters Inspired Me

Last night I watched the movie "Julie and Julia" starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. I cried. Seriously, I was crying during the movie and I had to keep from bawling. And I’m pretty sure it was not intended to be a tear-jerker movie.

I wouldn't have normally gone to see this movie (I thought this was a movie about being inspired to cook and I knew nothing could inspire me to enjoy cooking), but I was hang'n with the gals and I was just happy to get out!

Related to Julie Powell
Julie Powell is a blogger who set herself the task of cooking completely through Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" in a single year. I was surprised to discover I absolutely related to her in so many levels. I mostly related to Julie's blogging struggles.

In my efforts to be an author, it was recommended to me to start a blog to expose my writing to the world out there and to create name recognition before the “book” was someday published. I too set out to write a blog, posting on a weekly basis, for one year for starters.

It has not been easy, to say the least. I work almost full-time hours, have two active boys, married to a busy husband, live in a house that needs a lot of functional maintenance (can we say, “fixer upper”), try to volunteer at kid’s school, attempt to read a book a month, and I have had to give up any time at all I would have had for myself and exercise so that I can BLOG. Blogging is a sacrifice. I cried because I related to her early mornings and late nights and the sacrifice her husband had to make (and for me my children as well). Then I cried when Julie announced that she had 56 comments and I really started crying when news reporters started calling her and then her photo appeared in the paper and her life changed. Although she sacrificed, her blogging success came to fruition quickly.

Blogging and Social Media-ing Stuff
October will mark one year of blogging. I have discovered most people I know, and who don’t know me, don’t write comments on blogs. There are so many blogs out there that it is difficult to get new attention to my site. And, opposed to Julie, I read blogs after more articles on how to write a better blog, how to increase readership, how to write and submit a book proposal, and I follow several literary agent’s blogs. I have over 100 e-mails, currently in my inbox, informing me that those blogs have a new and latest posts to read.

As recommended by all those professional Social Networking types, I try to keep up my Twitter account and tweet at least twice a day as well as reply to others tweets. I keep up my Facebook and write daily statuses and respond to at least three status updates daily. I also read other blogs on life and being a mom and try to comment on their blogs on a weekly basis. So there is more than just sitting down at my computer and taking time out to publish a post – it is all that other Social Media commotion and learning how to be better that sucks up my other time like my lunch hour and after work time before making dinner.

No 56 comments and no prospect of newspaper recognition. I still sacrifice – but here I want to know why. Why should I continue sacrificing, for what?

Julia Child is Such an Inspiration
Then there is Julia Child. She was married at age 34, she had to wait eight years before her book was published, her manuscript was rejected before another publisher picked it up, she was 49 when her book was published, she moved around Europe for an entire decade, and she was 51 when she first appeared on television. On top of all that, she stood at 6’2” in height. (A bit sobering when I whimper at being 5’9 ¼”.)

Julia was full of life and didn’t give up. Russ Parsons from the Los Angles Times said this about her:

“… Child's reaction when she gets the letter informing her that her prospective publisher has decided not to go ahead with her book, something she has spent almost a decade perfecting, ‘Eight years of my life. It just turned out to be something to do, so I wouldn't have nothing to do,’ she says, obviously heartbroken. ‘Oh, well. Boo-hoo. Now what?’

Child was part of the generation that had seen Depression and war. She had known bad times, and she believed that the only way to meet them was head-on. You picked yourself up, dusted yourself off and got on your way.”

She didn’t fuss about not getting 56 comments, or that she spent a decade writing a cookbook, or that she moved around quite a bit (managing to mail recipes back and forth to her counterparts who together wrote the cookbook), and she didn’t moan about being tall for goodness sakes. She was a problem solver and she picked herself up and moved on.

Parsons also said in his article , that came out in The Herald, about the movie “Julie and Julia,” “Come to think of it — just pipe-dreaming here — wouldn't it be great if in addition to absorbing Julia Child's love of food and zest for life, a few moviegoers picked up on a little of that character as well?”

Well Mr. Parsons, I picked up on it and she is truly an inspiration to me.

Rachel Gardner, a literary agent, says in her August 21, 2009, post, "Don't get discouraged. Do the things you're learning. Keep writing. Keep reading. Keep learning about marketing. Read books. Read blogs. Go to conferences, meet people. Persevere. Because here's the thing: It can truly pay off.”

I love to write and this blog keeps me writing, researching, and (hopefully) helps me to become a better writer. And for some reason, topics keep coming to my mind. Sure it would be nice if more readers even said “boo” or burped or said, “Hey ya, keep it up,” but if they don’t I am going to keep on writing, keep on finding subjects that people can relate to (or so I think), and keep on entertaining at least one person out there (thanks, Sweetman, for reading my blogs). No moping around here. My head is up and I am continuing on. Here’s to you….

(P.S. Didn't you just love Julie and Julia's husbands!
I just wanted to give both of them a big kiss on the cheek!
And I'm going to give my husband a big kiss on the cheek too.)

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"Love Everywhere"

For the third time this month I have watched the movie, "Love Actually" (released in 2003). I just love this movie for some quirky reason. The movie begins five weeks before Christmas, the setting is London, and the movie is made and produced in Great Britain. And the clip is loaded with big named English actors and actresses.

There are seven stories (there was eight, but they clipped those scenes out) going on at the same time about love. (1) There is Hugh Grant who plays the prime minister and falls for one of the gals who serves him his daily tea. (2) There is Liam Neeson (who is the voice of Aslan in the Narnia series) who just lost his wife and his step son has fallen in love with a gal at school. (3) Kiera Knighly makes her debut (shot right before she left for Pirates of the Caribbeans - the director had strongly encouraged her not to take that "silly" movie - but she did and I'm sure she hasn't regretted it) and at 18 or so she gets married and her husband's best friend (played by Andrew Lincoln) is in love with her. (4) Then we have Alan Rickman (who plays Snape fabulously in the Harry Potter series) with his wife played by Emma Thompson and he is confused because he gives a beautiful locket neckless to his assistant. (5) Then we have Colin Firth (who played the famous Mr. Darcy in the Pride and Prejudice series) whose girlfriend cheats on him with his brother and then the Colin character goes overseas to write and falls for his housekeeper. (6) Bill Nighly (whose birthday is a day before mine and also plays in the Pirates of the Caribbean series) plays this crazed rock star who sings the winning song of the year, "If you Really Love Christmas, Come on and Let it Snow." Bill's character comes out and finally appreciates his manager as his friend. (7) And lastly, and the story line that I find unnecessary, two innocent people stand in for famous people's romantic scenes. As they stand in at these sets they fall for each other. The last story line make the movie a R rating.

At the beginning of the movie they have people greeting each other at the airport while Hugh Grant, as the prime minister of England, says,

"Whenever I get gloomy about the state of the world, I think about the arrival gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion is to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. Seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it is not particularly dignified (scene of a older couple kissing) or news worthy, but it is always there. Fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriend and girlfriends, old friends, new friends. When the planes hit the twin towers as far as I know the phone calls from the people on board were not messages of hate or revenge. They were all messages of love. If you look for it, I got a sneaky feeling that you will find that love is all around."

Okay, it is a bit sickly, but I liked it anyway. A bit naive in a way since there is so much hatred in the world (the wars and bitterness among countries and tribes), but a great reminder of the love we do have in our lives. In the movie they say things like, since it is Christmas I thought I should tell you.... So my challenge to you today is, since it is Christmas, tell someone that you love or care for them. Someone you have never told them that you appreciate them for this or that, or a loved one you haven't told them for a long time that you love them, or a friend that you haven't expressed how thankful you are for their friendship. Then let us know who you shared with this Christmas season.

The ultimate love proclaimed was announced at Christ's birth. God wanted to let us know that He loves us so He sent His one and only son to proclaim His love among us. This is what we celebrate today. May His message have special meaning to you this Christmas. Luke 2:8-14

Merry Christmas.