Julia Marie Davis is an American poet and novelist. Julia’s writing has appeared in The Bangalore Review, The Dillydoun Review, New Note Poetry, Moonstone Arts Center’s Nasty Women’s Anthology, and TaintTaintTaint Literary Magazine. She holds a BA in English from Boston College and an MFA in Creative Writing from Fairfield University. Her forthcoming novella, Catbird weaves a personal fictional narrative with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, delivering a poignant lyrical message of hope and resilience in the face of global turmoil. Meet Julia: 

You are an author, but is it your day job? If not, what fills your days? In my “day job,” I’m a crisis and PR/communications expert. The main character in my book, Catbird, is also a crisis expert, so my work informs her consciousness. What fills my days? Working, walking the beach, paddleboarding, and writing.

Did you always want to be an author? When I was twelve, I planned on being a professional cellist in the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Which is pretty out there for a kid goal. Imagine a tall thin girl carrying a cello in a weather-proof case to school for band. That was me! In sixth grade, I auditioned for the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra (GBYSO). My teacher explained to me that this was a trial run for the following year. Unfortunately, she neglected to teach me how to tune my cello. It was mortifying. I’m unsure how I played for the audition after the team asked me to tune my cello! My dad stood in the hallway and picked up the pieces when I came out. Clearly, that was not my destiny!

I put down the cello and started a journal. I began considering becoming a writer at about 16 or 17. In college I planned to be a psychologist, with a double major in English. But after working with the mentally ill, I realized I wasn’t mature enough to try to help others and I took my first job as a journalist.

What is your most recent book and what inspired you to write it? My first book is a novella, Catbird, which delves into the complicated emotions we feel in the wake of geopolitical turmoil. I wrote it at the start of the Ukraine invasion. I found myself witnessing the unfolding tragedy of the Russian invasion of Ukraine with a sense of outrage and shock. Catbird is a raw and visceral exploration of the impact of war on both a personal and universal scale. At the story’s heart is the protagonist, a woman of European heritage whose identity fuses with the battleground. Through her eyes, the reader processes the harsh realities of war and the profound sense of survivor’s guilt that comes from witnessing the suffering of others while residing in relative safety. Catbird unfolded in real-time as I grappled with my own emotions and perceptions of the world at that time.

How do you hope your book uplifts those who read it? I want to make a difference. I care about the climate, social justice, women’s rights, and democracy. I hope people who read my book will be inspired to vote and support democratic activism to preserve our freedom.

What are you most excited about with this book? I love the idea of getting my work into the hands of people who need to hear it most. I hope it gets translated into Ukrainian, Polish and Russian. That would meet a true goal.

How did writing a book help your career take off? Although the main character is in the same world, this book is separate from my career as a crisis and communications professional. However, it does serve as a great conversation starter!

What advice would you give to someone wanting to succeed in your professional industry? To succeed in writing – you must be persistent and ready for rejection, and you can’t take feedback personally.

How do you handle setbacks and criticism? You can’t be insulted or defensive when anyone suggests changes to your work. Expect it, roll with it, learn to listen intently, take your ego out of the equation, and hear what people think. When my fiction writing is rejected, I consider it criticism rather than a setback. And it makes the acceptance much more glorious.

Being an author today is like running a business. How do you manage all your publicity, social media and keep your engagement up with readers In between working for my clients, developing new work and editing my next book, I try my best to keep up! I set up a reasonable schedule and easy-to-meet weekly goals for social media. If I create too much content online it takes away from my writing time.

How do you hold yourself accountable and achieve the goals that you set forth? I set loose weekly or monthly deadlines. Years ago, I would force myself to “write for 20 minutes” to stop the avoidance and writer’s block. Now, I like to provide a structure that gives my stories space to come out and shape themselves, so I wake up in the morning and find somewhere to write before the day starts.

How do you structure your day and make time for writing? Writing for me has to start in the morning. Then I turn to my day job.

What do you find most fulfilling in the career that you’ve chosen? I have had the benefit of being part of some great projects in my career. My company won an award and a commendation from First Lady Laura Bush for our work on the National HIV Testing Day campaigns. I represented South Station in Boston during Occupy Boston and the Marathon Bombing, helping to shape the public narrative. And I’ve been able to take those experiences into my first book, Catbird.

What book uplifts you? Citizen by Claudia Rankin. Monkeys by Susan Minot. Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls. Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens, Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout. These books illuminate the raw truth in stories with universal meaning.

Anything else you’d like to share with your readers? My mother was a former botany professor who taught us to garden, to appreciate wifelife, to bask in nature. She set up a record player on our screened-in porch, and we’d listen to recordings of bids, learn to do bird calls, and take me on birdwatches with the Audubon Society. As a result, nature is an enormous part of my daily life and my writing. In nature, every day is a surprise, so it gives you a sense of wonder about the world and I think – a vast source of optimism. Life is ever-evolving in the most breathtaking ways if you let nature in.

Connect with Julia and learn more about her work and books via her website.