Today I had the honor of interviewing Julie Garmon. Julie defines success completely different from the world's view of success. Success isn't about riches and fame, it's about reaching God's people. To learn more about Julie, reader her short but intriguing interview below...

How did writing become your career? Did it find you or did you find it?

I grew up the daughter of a writer, Marion Bond West. My mom chose me to become her junior editor when I was ten. Without meaning to, I learned to write from editing her inspirational articles and books. I didn't start writing my own words for publication until after I turned 40. Life got hard. Writing became my sanity. I went to my first writing conference and there stood Cec Murphey, the man who led my mother's writing group-way back from my childhood. I whispered, "God if he said one encouraging thing to me, I'll keep writing." That day Cec invited me to his Atlanta editing group!

What has been your biggest obstacle when it comes to finding the confidence in yourself to reach for those higher paying writing assignments and what did you do to conquer that obstacle?

I love this question-what's my biggest obstacle to finding confidence. Fear has been a life-long struggle. This September, I flew to Texas to teach at the North Texas Writers Conference. I'm afraid to fly and I had to fly home alone. Eeeeeeek! Plus, I can't go to the restroom in a restaurant without getting lost. No sense of direction at all. I hate to admit it, but I have social phobia. People are scary to me. What are they thinking? What if I don't do it right? I wanted to hide under the hotel bed, but my name was listed on the program. Terrified, I gathered my briefcase hoping it might make me look more like a professional. My hands were shaking so bad that a techie had to help me attach my microphone. My writing/teaching/speaking requires moment-by-moment whispering, "God, help me. I can't do this without You." He's never let me down. Sometimes I wish I could just write, but that doesn't seem to be the path chosen for me. I write real. Amazingly, this opens people's hearts to want to hear my secrets.

I knew the one thing I had to do to start publishing. Get over myself. Stop caring what people think of me. Stop trying to appear perfect. I had to write about things I didn't want to tell a soul. I wrote about my year of clinical depression for Guideposts magazine's depression series, which was published in 2002. I wrote about losing our third child, born with anencephaly. Our 18-year-old daughter was date raped and became extremely anorexic. She asked me to write her story (Sept/Oct Today's Christian). If I can't feel something, who cares about writing it. Ohhhh, but if I feel a story I can't NOT write it. My ministry, my heart, is for addicts/alcoholics and people who love them, women weighed down with depression, outcasts, the homeless, and rebellious teenagers. I love rebellious teens!

What has been your biggest struggle locating writing assignments and how did you overcome that struggle? In other words, what steps did you take to not only locate potential markets for your writing, but obtain enough assignments that your business is now a thriving, profitable business?

If "a thriving profitable business" means I could live off my writing, then no. I can't tell you how to grow such a business. But if a thriving profitable business means do I work full-time to offer hope, then yes, you can say I run a profitable business. I write what I feel. Ghosting other people's stories is something else I enjoy. Sometimes folks want their stories told and need somebody to write for them. Speaking and teaching follows me around like a pesky shadow. I continue to say yes with trembling hands and a pounding heart. And God's never stood me up yet.

Thank you for this honor.

Visit her at http://www.juliegarmon.com

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