This is America At Work. I’m Debra Stamp.

I told my Mom, as a child, I said, “If I live to be 500 years old, Mom, I don’t think I can do everything I want to do.”

Whether it’s music, dance, design, acting, office work, or the current focus of her attention, writing and publishing, Juliana Morgan tackles everything with gusto. She credits her general joy of life to her upbringing; home life was always full of creativity, fun and something new to discover.

We woke up with music. My Dad loved to dance; he was the one that taught me to dance. My mother’s very creative and involved in everything that we did and just had a very exciting childhood.

Her first book, ‘Zach’s Tracks,’ was inspired by the beloved family dog, Zach and the events and encounters that transpired when he wandered off from home. She took notes about the whole adventure, spoke with people involved and mused that one day she might even write a story about it all. But she put those notes in a draw and that was that. It took a while, but eventually Juliana did write that book.

When Zach passed at the age of 15 he had a lot of other adventures and this was just a way of me healing. It was one of those things, that I thought, “Well, I miss him so much, I want to remember the good times, the fun times, and oh, my gosh, now I remember that adventure, why don’t I bring that out.”

It’s no secret that many authors test drive their books with various people and Juliana did just that. She sought the reactions of her father, who had become legally blind. She figured it was something fun she could read to him.

So, I start reading and of course, I’m reading in an animated voice and this is a dog that the whole family just loved so much. My Dad did not say a word through the whole story and this must have been about 30 or 45 minutes, this is the quietest this man has ever been in his life and so when I finished there was a slight pause and I didn’t know what to expect and it startled me when he said, “You need to make that into a book so we can remember Zach.”

Chalk one up for a positive reinforcement. But it would still take a couple more years before her story became a book. During that time, she sent her manuscript to big publishers and attended some classes and seminars on writing and publishing. So, when did that pivotal moment finally occur, when she found a way to get her story published? Author wannabes, take note. There’s power in local events.

Oh, there happened to be a seminar, or workshop rather, at Pomegranate Book Store in Wilmington and I hear that a publisher is going to be there. And this was like in three days. And so I had my manuscript in hand and had all the corrections made and I went to hear what this publisher had to say.

A rep from LuLu Publishers based in Raleigh, North Carolina, explained the whole process of independently publishing your own book.

It’s becoming a very popular thing now is to get your own story published instead of, you know, spending money for that literary agent and going through all the hoops and everything. Because in independent publishing, you don’t lose any of your rights. I wanted to be involved in everything, every step of the way.

But it requires authors to upload their manuscripts, something Juliana hadn’t a clue how to do.

One of the authors that was there came over to me and said, “I’ll be glad to help you upload your manuscript,” and it just blew me away the kindness, the willingness to help someone like me.

Well, having a hand in everything is exactly what Juliana did. Okay, so how did she find an illustrator?

I felt like I couldn’t find an illustrator that could illustrate Zach as cute as what he was and this was a dog that had his picture made constantly. I just started pulling through all the photo albums, pulling out different shots.

And who designed the cover?

Erm, I did. I wanted Zach with paw prints all around as if he was still walking all over the place, trying to find his way home. I had a teacher that helped me with the name, she came up with ‘Zach’s Tracks’ and I thought, “Oh, wow, that is so catchy.”

She was a woman on a mission. And she discovered a big stubborn streak when it became something she really wanted to do.

Every little thing that was stopping me, well, I went, “There’s a way.”

If someone said, ‘No,’ she just went somewhere else.

That was so much fun. The people that I was meeting along the way. I got to where, you know, I never felt that, “No, I can’t do this,” was directed towards me in a negative way. It was like, that just wasn’t the right person, but I would find the right person, because when you’re excited about things people want to help you. It’s when you’re, have a negative outlook, that turns people off.

Once everything was together, Juliana ordered one copy of her book to check everything out. So when she opened up that package, what did she think?

It was really exciting, but I do have to tell you, that the way we loaded it up, the first copy and what’s now is like night and day and I take that with me to show kids in the school, because it wasn’t, it wasn’t a pretty picture. I’m not embarrassed to say on my website there are 16 versions.

All of those versions were just the result of trying to get everything right. She says it was like trying to find her little dog all over again, but in book form.

When it did come in, it was so worth the time and effort, I mean, I just want people to know that it doesn’t always come out as an easy process. Sometimes you just really, really, really have to work hard at something.

People have to see the book, to read it. So now what?

The very first thing that I did was I went back to thank the lady at Pomegranate Book Store, Kathleen Jewel, and then she said, “Now that you’re a published author, I would love to have your book in my store.” And I thought, “Wow, that was just really easy.” And so, I got brave and I thought, “Well, there are a lot of stores that I really enjoy going into and shopping, that the people know me.” And so I would try from that standpoint. But also I’m a member of a group of writers called the Costal Carolina Writers Guild and we go to all the festivals that they have along the beach and we sell our books there and that has been very, very helpful in getting a lot of the books out.

When I first met Juliana at a library event, she carried a wonderful bag that really caught my attention.

Well, the pocket book that I carry, which is a large bag with an actual photo of a Yorkshire Terrier close up is always an ice breaker. People identify right away with the pocket book and it really opens the door for a lot of conversation. And then when we have the festivals, I have a tea-shirt that has paw prints going across the top of it, and so that’s one thing and then I purchased some little cloth bracelets that have paw prints, then a little charm that hangs down from the bracelet with a cut out imprint of paw print. Anything with paw prints has just really been our trademark.

So has this whole process unleashed author Juliana?

I thought for so long that I was a one trick pony. But one morning I woke up and it was a thought that I had from the last dream, I guess, just before you wake up and when I woke up, I thought, “Oh, my goodness, this is a really cute little story.” So this one’s called, ‘Buddy Gets A Second Chance,’ and it’s about a child’s toy rabbit with long ears, long arms and legs that nurtures him as he grows up. So, I want to show children that it’s okay to have that toy that you go to, to talk to, when you need a friend, or when you need to tell a secret, because you know they’ll never tell it.

America At Work. Hear more at AmericaAtWorkStories.com