Welcome!
I am making a home inside myself where grace blooms in grand and glorious abundance, a shelter of kindness that grows all the truest things.
Hello, welcome! I am immensely happy that you are here.
I'm Julia.
I am a poet, an author, a life coach, a teacher, a semi-regular practicer of yoga, and a sometimes-painter (though, it’s been far too long since I picked up a brush).
I am also a wife to a great guy named Matt, a mom to two beautiful daughters, Marielle & Lily (age 22 & 19). Our family would not be complete without our very smart & sensitive Border Collie/Australian shepherd mix, Lucky, our wild, weird (and sometimes gentle & sweet) cat, Watson (who just happens to be Lucky's bff), and our newest addition—a very energetic, goofy, & loving dog named Roo (short for unROOly & many other things) - who loves to chase the cat.
I am most at home by the ocean and in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, and with pen and paintbrush in hand.
I grew up a "military brat," born in Germany, and then moving from place to place most of my childhood. As a child and young woman, I had a deep aching to feel rooted in a place, a longing to be connected to people and purpose.
After college, I continued the moving trend, living in four different states in four years - always seeking a feeling of home.
At age 27, I set foot in Oregon for the first time and knew I had found my place. The moss covered trees, the wild beauty of the Oregon coast and forests, even the smell in the air - all of it whispered welcome home. After living here for the last 24 years, my roots are deep in the soil of this place.
Writing is one of the most important ways that I make a home inside myself. The page is the place that never judges, never rejects, never asks for anything back - a shelter of great kindness, for sure.
CLICK ON THE BELOW LINK FOR SIGNED COPIES OF MY NEWEST BOOK
A little bit more of my story….
In the first photo of me (above), I am on a writing retreat with author Natalie Goldberg in Taos, New Mexico (way back in 2006). The second photo was taken right after my second book “Staying in Love” was published (in 2021). I’m pretty sure the second thing would not have happened without the first.
Since I was a little girl in pigtails, carrying around one of those little lock journals, putting words on the page has been my medicine. The page always listens, never judges, never asks for anything back. Writing has been my lantern, my listener, my ladder, my lifeboat - my greatest love.
Eighteen years ago, when my daughters were still wee ones, and I was deep-in-my-bones tired from giving my everything to them, I boarded a plane for Taos, New Mexico, where I had the great privilege of studying with the author and amazing human, Natalie Goldberg (author of the book Writing Down the Bones).
For five, blissfully quiet, spacious days, I, along with a beautiful circle of writers/seekers, sat elbow to elbow on black zafus, set a timer (usually for 10 minutes), put pen to page, and wrote and wrote and wrote. And wrote some more.
The only “rules” were that we had to keep our pen moving—no stopping to cross out or re-read, no trying to find the perfect word, no attention to spelling or punctuation—no editing of any kind. I can still hear Natalie insisting that we Break open structure! (in her lovely New York accent).
This kind of free writing was, well, incredibly freeing. But it was the permission Natalie gave us to: Feel free to write the worst shit in the world that allowed the words to finally flow free.
Before that deeply healing time in New Mexico, I was trying so hard to be "good," that I couldn't write true.
My time in Taos was so transformative that I returned the next two summers after that first one, and haven't stopped writing/sharing my writing/facilitating women’s groups and classes since.
This new space will be a safe space to share my poetry & ponderings. And to (hopefully) encourage/inspire/nudge you to start (or continue) to pour words onto the page—to write yourself a little closer to free.
There is enough hard in the world. May this be a place of great softness and deep connection.
Thank you for being here.
With a whole ton of love,
Julia xo
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Here’s to growing all the truest things.
Julia xo
