Julie Hutchings is a deranged lunatic who lives down by the trashcans at the end of my driveway. She either commands a small army of woodland creatures or she does battle against them? Honestly, the mythology of her situation escapes me. Regardless, despite being some kind of forested hobo, she’s hella funny and a hoot on social media and here she’d like to talk to you about panty peddling, public book pitches, and why you should sometimes do the scary thing instead of the safe thing. Her newest is Running Away.
* * *
I was a highly paid professional panty peddler. For ten years, through my wedding bells to babies crying, and I was happy as hell. Climbing the ladder from the ground up, I was treated like lingerie royalty; met models and celebs, was given jewelry and trips and praise. Loved it.
Until I didn’t.
Retail has an expiration date on it. Working your ass off to make money for someone else, even if you like them a whole lot, gets tired. I didn’t know it until I was on maternity leave with my first baby, sleep-sucked and blubbery, dreading going back to work. It was that fear and possibly weird attachment to my kids that gave me the emotional cojones to write RUNNING HOME.
RUNNING HOME took me years corporate visits, pumping milk in the office on conference calls, manhandling bras at all hours, crying during my commute, stopping shoplifters, running sales meetings, treating that store like my home away from home, but it wasn’t. It wasn’t my home.
My home had my family in it and it felt like me. I thought about scribbling away at a novel that I had no idea what to do with while I was at work. Playing with panties, not doing the thing I went to college for, not doing the thing I’d wanted to do since I was an awkward kid with my mother’s haircut.
I went to work a miserable disaster at the thought of leaving my kids to do something that at the end of the day meant nothing. Being away from my kids made me physically ill daily. My job suffered, my family suffered and I was certain that if I stayed another year, I’d be dead at the end of it. Even my staff and my boss had an intervention with me, afraid of what was happening to me.
So I said FUCK THIS and I left my career to make a life.
I’d show my boys that you don’t have to do the safe thing to survive. I didn’t want them to know me as the withering martyr. They deserve to know the mom that isn’t fearless but is brave. Passionate. A fighter. An occasional pigheaded jerk. I want them to want to take risks and know they’re worth that. I want to show them I’m worth that too.
Sure, it was scary leaving the bulk of my family income, 401K, our health insurance, to depend on the scraps of a vampire book. I threw all of that fear and clawing determination into a main character. I made her afraid, and rash, dumb at times, and defensive. But strong. Determined. And most importantly, self-trusting that she was meant for something more.
Going on a feeling when it looks like fate has something else in mind for you entirely is goddamn scary. But my entire life I’d been a jumper-inner-and-never-looker-backer, and not only was I not about to stop, I was going to do it harder and faster now that it was mine.
I went from shyly telling people in the confines of the stock room that I was writing a book to querying, blogging, tweeting, going to conventions. I did public query critiques on giant screens with agents and writers, I live pitched, phone pitched, read my first 3 pages out loud to rooms full of people.
I defended writing a vampire book by making it my vampire book. All or nothing.
I was one of only 7 authors published with Books of the Dead Press last summer, and the only woman. I knew I’d done something.
Now RUNNING AWAY, the sequel to that first book, is going public. They’ve both been received better than I ever anticipated, and for that I’m not only grateful but fulfilled. I never really cared that the world thought vampires were overdone; they hadn’t seen mine, and fuck ‘em if they can’t take a joke. I strongly believe that if you write the book you need to write, readers will need to read it. I never feared rejection because I don’t write to be accepted. I write because I must. I write because I love the look on my boys’ faces when they see me pound away at the laptop. And I write because I’m an animal without it.
I’ll forever do the thing that makes me bleed, not the thing that holds me together. Now read my goddamn vampire books.
* * *
About Julie: Julie revels in all things Buffy, has a sick need for exotic reptiles, and drinks more coffee than Juan Valdez and his donkey combined, if that donkey is allowed to drink coffee. Julie’s a black belt with an almost inappropriate love for martial arts. And pizza. And Rob Zombie. Julie lives in Plymouth, MA, constantly awaiting thunderstorms with her wildly supportive husband and two magnificent boys.
On Running Away: Eliza Morgan is desperate to escape the horrors of her mortal life and understand why death follows her, leaving only one man, Nicholas French, in its wake. He’s the one she loves, the one she resents, the one fated to make her legendary among an ancient order of vampires with a “heroic” duty to kill: the Shinigami.
On a ghostlike mountaintop in Japan the all-powerful Master guides Eliza’s transition into a Shinigami death god. Sacrificing her destiny will save Nicholas, who is decaying before her eyes. But she’s not afraid to defy fate, and must forge her own path through a maze of ancient traditions. To uncover the truth and save her loved ones, Eliza will stop at nothing, including war with fate itself.
Rhiannon says:
I LOVE YOU JULIE!!!! *throws panties on stage*
October 2, 2014 — 7:33 AM
deadlyeverafter says:
*inspects panties but not in a weird way* I LOVE YOU MOOOOOOOORE
October 5, 2014 — 10:55 AM
deadlyeverafter says:
I might have thrown up just now. I’m on Terrible Minds.
October 2, 2014 — 7:39 AM
wildbilbo says:
Great post – quitting a solid job to write is ballsy as all hell. Respect.
October 2, 2014 — 7:48 AM
deadlyeverafter says:
Gah, thank you! *eats canned tuna for the rest of my career*
October 2, 2014 — 9:39 AM
terribleminds says:
SOMEBODY GET THE MOP
October 2, 2014 — 7:50 AM
deadlyeverafter says:
*pukes on mop*
October 2, 2014 — 9:40 AM
Laura Quirola says:
I feel you. I’m holding down the bile with everything I have. If I quit my day job today (and Gods only know, I dream about it just about every waking, existential-crisis-having moment), I’d probably curl into a little vomit-spewing ball of quivering panic.
SERIOUS RESPECT, Julie.
October 2, 2014 — 8:52 AM
deadlyeverafter says:
Ugh. YOU. Trust me, I was depressed as hell for weeks, and felt useless and stupid, but it evens out. It always does because it has to. Think of your heart first. I’m rooting for you, Laura.
October 2, 2014 — 9:41 AM
Paula says:
Great author story! Glad you followed your dreams 🙂
October 2, 2014 — 7:42 AM
deadlyeverafter says:
Thank youuuuuu! xx
October 2, 2014 — 9:44 AM
J.C. Lillis says:
Jules, you are the Mad Hatter of our tea party and I LOVE IT (and you). Every time you talk about your crazy-brave author story I want to shut my eyes and swan dive into the unknown. Someday, lady…SOMEDAY. (If it doesn’t work out, can I move in with you and be your au pair?)
October 2, 2014 — 8:21 AM
deadlyeverafter says:
I already have an oooooh pair, but if you want to come stay here and watch me shop for bras online, that would be cool.
I love you desperately and couldn’t do this without you.
October 2, 2014 — 9:45 AM
Patti says:
I need to grow a set of balls. Fast.
October 2, 2014 — 8:28 AM
Paul Baxter says:
I think I saw an ad on the Internet for that.
TRY THIS ONE WEIRD OLD TRICK TO GROW BALLS FAST.
And lose weight. Or maybe lower your cholesterol or something.
October 2, 2014 — 9:27 AM
deadlyeverafter says:
This is by far the oddest compliment to me and I could cry my face off that I may have inspired you to push harder.
October 2, 2014 — 9:46 AM
Paul Baxter says:
Juan Valdez’s donkey ALLOWED to drink coffee?
Try and STOP him.
It’s in his contract.
October 2, 2014 — 9:29 AM
deadlyeverafter says:
Donkey contracts. Donktracts.
October 2, 2014 — 9:46 AM
Betsy DuBard says:
Thank you, Julie. I, too have written a vampire book. I didn’t write a vampire book because everybody else is, has, is planning to. In fact, when I sat down at the computer, I didn’t plan to write about vampires at all. But that’s what flowed out of my fingertips when I started to type. So I really, really, appreciate your saying this: “I strongly believe that if you write the book you need to write, readers will need to read it.” Because that’s what I keep telling myself!
October 2, 2014 — 10:00 AM
deadlyeverafter says:
YES BESTY. YES, YES BETSY. For the record, vampires never actually go away, and people always want to read them. But they want to read them done with freshness and heart. YOU CAN DO THAT.
October 2, 2014 — 10:59 AM
Juli says:
I’m so close to being done with what I can only think of as my heart story (and the epitome of a “hard sell”) and I’ve been STUCK like this poor dog covered in tar I just saw in a video. Took them three days of rubbing vegetable oil into the poor thing’s fur to get it off him. This post is MY vegetable oil.
That metaphor came out WAY weirder than intended, but the crux remains: thank you for this. I’m’a go write now. Right now!
October 2, 2014 — 10:39 AM
deadlyeverafter says:
See this is the kind of stuff that makes me want to read your work. NOW WRITE IT AND GIVE IT TO ME.
October 2, 2014 — 11:00 AM
itsfamilyjules says:
Yes’m. 😀
October 2, 2014 — 11:11 AM
smkay70 says:
I’m gonna read your goddamn vampire book.
October 2, 2014 — 10:53 AM
deadlyeverafter says:
HAAAAHAHAHA! THANK YOU! I hope you love it!! 😀
October 2, 2014 — 10:58 AM
Christi Frey says:
I, uh, never pictured Hutchings as a lacy underthings peddler? Frankly I’m stunned at these revelations. (FYI I worked retail for one Christmas season ten years ago and I still want to murder Santa, so, you’re made of sterner stuff than I am.) Julie is also a kick-ass editor who is helping me whip my shit into shape. PLEASE BUY HER BOOK SO SHE NEVER HAS TO PANTY WHORE EVER. AGAIN. HIGH FIVE.
October 2, 2014 — 11:03 AM
Christi Frey says:
(Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I occasionally wear underwear myself.)
October 2, 2014 — 3:09 PM
deadlyeverafter says:
You are NUTS and I love it. Thank you for this! And yes, though I am occasionally a little too interested in foods in aspic, I am considered attractive enough to work for Victoria’s Secret.
October 2, 2014 — 6:01 PM
Denise McInerney says:
Julie, thank you! Wow, still resonating. Needed to hear this today. Don’t usually read vampire stories but off to get your book. And thanks, Chuck, for continuing to bring us inspiration from so many different directions!
October 2, 2014 — 11:38 AM
deadlyeverafter says:
*hugs your face in half*
October 2, 2014 — 6:02 PM
Jonah says:
Interesting post, Julie. As someone who is extremely risk averse, it’s great to hear a different perspective. I doubt I’ll be a professional writer in my lifetime, but it’s fun to dabble a bit and read about those who write professionally or for recreation.
October 2, 2014 — 4:09 PM
deadlyeverafter says:
Oh, I get comfortable reaaally easily too. I worked there for ten years, for crying out loud. But it wasn’t just about me anymore after a while. When your heart isn’t in something and you force yourself to do it, it affects everyone around you.
October 2, 2014 — 6:03 PM
Willow says:
Wow. Never wanted to read a book just off an author bio before, but this hit home. Serious respect, Julie.
October 2, 2014 — 4:16 PM
deadlyeverafter says:
Oh my god, you read my bio. This is harder than getting people to buy books! Thank you so much, Willow. That means a lot to me, honestly.
October 2, 2014 — 6:04 PM
James L'Etoile says:
Julie puts the vamp in vampire. She is a fricken awesome author and all round bitchin’ person. Go read her stuff.
October 2, 2014 — 10:22 PM
CL Frey says:
Nooo I didn’t mean it like that at all! If you had said you used to be a dolphin trainer or a skydiving instructor or a Lara-Croft-style tomb raider-slash-archaeologist, I would not have blinked. There is a dearth of lacy underthings in your twitter stream, is all. LOL.
October 2, 2014 — 10:46 PM
wizki says:
“I strongly believe that if you write the book you need to write, readers will need to read it. I never feared rejection because I don’t write to be accepted.” True and much-needed words! Thanks for posting this, Chuck. I love how you give so many other authors a chance to be heard on your blog even while being very busy yourself.
October 3, 2014 — 2:08 AM
deadlyeverafter says:
Seconded. The Wendig is my hero for so many reasons, and his support of other authors is among them.
October 3, 2014 — 9:36 AM
Kay Kauffman says:
“I threw all of that fear and clawing determination into a main character. I made her afraid, and rash, dumb at times, and defensive. But strong. Determined. And most importantly, self-trusting that she was meant for something more.”
This reminds me of my main character. He can be an idiot at times, but he’s a lovable idiot and he means well.
Best. Post. Ever.
October 3, 2014 — 10:28 AM
deadlyeverafter says:
I love you, Kay.
October 3, 2014 — 12:12 PM
Wendy Christopher says:
Dear Julie, please can I borrow you as my inspiration now?
After first escaping my soul-sucking full-time job to have a baby, and subsequently rendering myself un-re-employable because I can only work term-time school hours and NOBODY WANTS THAT SCHIZZLE (but yaay, go me… not that I say that out loud, of course…) I finally began writing my first novel. I might not get it published in the end (since people liking it is not exactly guaranteed) but I’m blimmin’ well gonna finish it. And then write the next one, and the next, and the next…
Thing is, it’s great to know there are not only people who’ve trod a similar path to me already, but trod it and rocked bells as they did it. It gives me hope that I might be able to do it too – even if I only end up rocking a little bit of bell. Thank you for waving that juicy looking carrot. Dipped in chocolate.
October 3, 2014 — 1:41 PM
Beau Hall (@beauhall) says:
“I never feared rejection because I don’t write to be accepted. I write because I must. I write because I love the look on my boys’ faces when they see me pound away at the laptop. And I write because I’m an animal without it.” Thank you thank you thank you.
October 3, 2014 — 3:17 PM
deadlyeverafter says:
*kisses your little face*
October 5, 2014 — 10:52 AM
Cat York says:
You rock, Hutchings.
October 5, 2014 — 3:39 PM
deadlyeverafter says:
Na uh. YOU.
October 5, 2014 — 11:07 PM
David J Delaney says:
Great story about a complete sea change, work wise. I’ll have to check out the book.
October 5, 2014 — 8:50 PM
deadlyeverafter says:
Thank youuuuuuuuu!!!
October 5, 2014 — 11:07 PM