Bookpleasures.com is pleased to have as our guest Julie Evans who is a licensed massage therapist, ordained deacon, healer, and free lance writer.

Her work has appeared in Healthy You magazine, Pulse maga-zine (Voices from the Heart of Medicine), Fictionique, NPR’s The Roundtable, the Woodstock Times, and Writers Read Online. Later this year her piece Sacred

Touch will be published in the anthology Into Sanity: Essays About Mental Health, Mental Illness, and Living in Between (Talking Writing Books, 2019). 

Julie has recently authored Joy Road: My Journey from Addiction to Recovery.

Julie lives in Woodstock, NY, with her husband, Tommy Porto, and their cat, Marietta.

Norm: Good day Julie and thanks for participating in our interview

Why do you write? Do you have a theme, message, or goal for your articles?

Julie: And a very good day to you and all your readers. For me writing is a deeply healing experience. Writing gives me opportunity to look within or reflect on how I feel about life or people or the sometimes arduous journey of self improvement. In a great deal of my writing I hope to inspire others to live a vibrant and self aware life.

Norm: Was writing always a career move for you or did it grow into one?

Julie:  Writing is thrilling for me. Not the process so much but the afterglow. . . the words on a page, hearing myself read them aloud or imagining someone else reading them. I like to leave an imprint of hope on every heart. Hope that we’ll get through this or learn from this or somehow become more when we rise to our challenges. I’d say that encouraging others has always been the desire of my heart. Even as a young girl I wrote. 

Norm: Are you a full-time or part-time writer? How does that affect your writing?

Julie: I am a full time healer and I do many other things but writing ties it all together. Writing about healing is the sealant that keeps my ship afloat. But truthfully it is very hard to write on schedule. I prefer first thing in the morning after I meditate and pray I like to sit and write but mornings can be very busy here on my little piece of paradise so I actually need to get away to write sometimes.

My new memoir was started on one of many writing retreats that I’ve taken to a friend’s beach house in Hatteras, North Carolina. I’m heading down there again in November to work on my next book. 

Norm: What do you believe makes a good memoir and if people can only buy one book this month, why should it be yours?

Julie: Writing memoir is extraordinarily brave. You are peeling away layers of yourself and revealing it to people. I do it as a gift to myself, to truly let people into my struggles and victories, to open the door to my heart, is an act of love.

I have grown wiser with age and try to avoid giving advice because I trust that the spirit within each of us knows what we need next. I hope that people are drawn to my story and that it lifts them up and over some obstacle or makes them laugh or feel or remember but its up to them to pick up the book and read it. 

Norm: What motivated you to write  Joy Road: My Journey from Addiction to Recovery? 

Julie: Just like most of the people reading this interview, I have been through some hard stuff. I was born to older parents, they died when I was a teenager and there I was this beautiful young woman with nowhere to turn. The choices I made and the journey I have been on is full of colourful characters and deep lessons and I needed a place to let my stories have their own life.

Norm: Could you briefly tell us about your book?

Julie: My story is about starting over a million times to finally find the way that works. I take the reader with me as I start my life in Rochester, Minnesota as the third daughter of Jack and Bette Evans.

I know they wanted a boy and that they’d hoped to name me Jimmy but I came out a girl and I would be there last baby.

Because my mom and dad were older I am what you call a change of life baby and that seems to be what I do with my life. Even in the throes of addiction I’m looking out for others until finally one day what stops me from doing any more cocaine is a tiny little bird that had been sent to my animal sanctuary to be healed. 

Norm: What was the most difficult part about writing the book?

Julie: The most difficult part of writing Joy Road was writing it again! Let me explain that. I had been working on my book for over two years and finally had finished. I was elated.

At that point in time I was also teaching at Empire State College and my editor was also a colleague who I had just sent several student evaluations to record so I didn’t send him my finished manuscript.

I figured I’d just wait until the next day. What I didn’t know was ten minutes after I left my house two young women who were out on a robbing rampage would drive past my beautiful home and seeing no cars in the driveway would pull in, break a window and steal my computer, my back up drives, all our jewellery, money, and everything they could carry.

In other words, they stole my story! I was devastated. I had to start over. Yes, I had the bones of the story but I had to slog through it all again. Dredging up all those stories that I’d thought were already told was some of the hardest work of my life. 

Norm: What do you hope will be the everlasting thoughts for readers who finish your book?

Julie: Norm you ask very deep questions and that is a wonderful skill. You ask what do I hope will remain in a reader after they finish my memoir… I hope each reader finds something they need in Joy Road to help them live a phenomenal life, I hope the power of kindness shines through and inspires them to go the extra mile and believe just a little more that God is with them. 

Norm: Do you believe that the  mental health crisis in the USA  has become so dire that life expectancies are declining, even though the ability its biggest killers - cancer and heart disease - is improving? If so, please explain.

Julie:  Yes I do believe that the one stronghold people have not taken authority over is their own thoughts. Thoughts are powerful and play a huge role in shaping our reality. This natural world has always been troubled and evil has always existed but our thoughts are one thing most of us can begin to take charge of.

I don’t want to think myself sick or anxious or use my thoughts to fuel anger or prolong sadness. I’ve worked in the healing arts forty years and know first hand the damage stress causes which is one reason I use massage therapy as a tool to help people step into their promised land, the land of hope, a land of more peace. 

Norm: What upcoming projects are you excited about? 

Julie: Truthfully, I am excited about every precious minute of my life. I am thrilled to wake up in the morning and to look out my windows and see the stream flowing by, to hear the birds singing and the day begin. I have a wonderful life and give all the glory to God for this abundance of joy.

As I said I write inspirational essays and posters but I’ve recently created a set of what I call Kingdom Cards that have short phrases on them and they came out beautifully. I haven’t marketed them yet so I’m looking forward to getting those into homes around the world and touching hearts with every word. One of my favorite sayings from the box of 111 cards is Receive Your Miracle. Wouldn’t it be great if everyone truly realized there is a miracle on the way and its got their name on it? 

Norm: Where can our readers find out more about you and  Joy Road: My Journey from Addiction to Recovery?

Julie: You can find out more on my author page on Goodreads, Facebook or on my WEBSITE wordsbyjulieevans.com. And of course you can always come to Woodstock for a massage and a visit. Its been nice talking to you all. Hope we meet up some day. God bless. 

Norm: Thanks once again and good luck with  Joy Road: My Journey from Addiction to Recovery?

Thank you Norm I wish you peace in your heart that shows on your face. All my best, Julie