ABOUT
This is Julia
Julia Walton received her MFA in creative writing from Chapman University. When she's not reading or baking cookies, she's indulging in her profound love of Swedish Fish, mechanical pencils, and hobbit-sized breakfasts. Julia lives in Huntington Beach, California, with her husband and daughter.
JULIA WALTON was miserable in insurance. She wrote quite a bit of Words on Bathroom Walls on a notepad near her work phone while she was supposed to be, you know, working…So clearly she was a stellar employee and the company was lucky to have her.
Julia talks to herself a lot and cannot pass a reflective surface without checking out her hair. Spoiler...it’s usually a disaster.
She loves avocados, sushi, her mom’s meatloaf, and her grandma’s marinara sauce. If she’s going out to lunch, her go-to meal is a tuna melt on sourdough with sweet potato fries.
She eats candy (Cadbury please) and the occasional, generous scoop of Nutella (Costco size only) in her pantry while her kids are distracted.
She will not put any effort into her ensemble unless her hair is also under control.
She’s afraid of hippos and snakes in that order.
She tells her kids that some shows on Netflix are broken because they are so effing annoying she cannot watch them.
She cannot dance. Or read a map. Or wear high heels.
Sometimes she writes books.
Red Vines are better than Twizzlers.
Pie is better than cake.
Swedish fish and Haribo are superior to all gummies.
Figs and tangerines are underrated.
Blam.
THE FORMAL BIO
A Book Jacket Verion
Julia Walton is the award-winning author of Words on Bathroom Walls, Just Our Luck, and On the Subject of Unmentionable Things. She received an MFA in creative writing from Chapman University and a BA in history from UC Irvine. Julia lives with her husband and children in Huntington Beach, California.
FOR ASPIRING WRITERS
A few things I wish someone had told me.
When did you first realize that you wanted to be an author?
Third Grade. I had a teacher who told me I was a good writer and I latched onto the idea that maybe I could make up stories as a job someday. It sounded like magic.
What is your writing process like?
Chaotic. I have three kids and I can only really focus when they’re out of the house or sleeping, but sleep doesn’t always happen when it should and when it does sometimes I FALL ASLEEP TOO. So it’s a constant struggle to write or sleep or eat or fold laundry. HAHAHA just kidding.
The laundry never gets folded. Three quarters of it gets folded then I stare at the unsorted socks for another two days like they’re strangers living in my bedroom, until there’s a new batch of laundry to drop on top of them. I don’t know why I’m like this. Oh yeah, the writing. I do a lot of it on my phone but I love to write in notebooks when I can. There’s something about trying to decipher my own terrible handwriting when typing it up later. I miss writing in quiet libraries the most. When I have the opportunity to sit in a library, the writing is almost always easier. Unless I’m hungry. Then nothing is easy until I eat something. And I like a nice outline, but nothing too rigid. I just need to know how a story ends when I get started.
Is there a particular thing that you learned about yourself during the writing process of all your
books?
That it is definitely easier to draft a book if you let yourself have fun. That’s it.
What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
I love hot yoga, baking, and travelling! That moment when you get to the airport with your plane snacks and your fresh notebook *chef’s kiss*
If you could go back to high school is there anything you’d do differently?
Yeah, I’d stress less about grades and I would have taken Psychology instead of Biology and done Drama instead of staying on the Volleyball team… By sophomore year I was really done playing volleyball but I had played for so long and I had friends on the team. Plus, I didn’t want to disappoint anyone. I was not a great player by then! I once ate an entire footlong Subway sandwich on the bench and no one noticed. That’s how vital I was to the success of our team. Moral of the story. Try new things and if something isn’t working out, let it go.
What is some advice you have for those who want to become an author?
I don’t have anything particularly profound to say here except: Write if you love writing. For most authors, this is a long journey. It usually takes a lot of revision and rejection before anything happens so if you enjoy creating stories then keep going. I shelved three books before one got published. It can happen. Keep going.
How do you procrastinate when you have something that needs to get finished?
How dare you. I do not procrastinate. However, I will say that my closet never looks cleaner than when I am on a deadline.
What is a book that made you fall in love with literature?
SPEAKING & SCHOOL VISITS
Bring Julia to your school, library, or festival
Topics Include
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A Path to Publication
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Writing, Rejection, and Resilience
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Where Stories Come From
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Q&A with the author
