I danced with Patrick Swayze on Oprah.
Have I mentioned that before? Unlikely, as I rarely do. Okay, that’s a lie. I’ve been dining out on this story since 2007, but wouldn’t you? I still remember the moment I looked over my husband’s shoulder while we were performing our Dirty Dancing-themed first dance on The Oprah Winfrey Show…and saw Patrick Swayze walking towards me. He asked if he could cut in and I pushed my husband aside. Patrick was such a lovely man—and those arm muscles! I sobbed when he passed away from pancreatic cancer.
Author Julia Boggio
I met my husband on a blind date.
A mutual friend introduced us. Except she forgot to mention to me that she was setting me up. I thought we were just going to see her friend in an amateur play. Nope—it was a set up and I was wearing the ugliest shirt in the world. I still have it, just so I can show people how ugly it was (lots of orange, yellow, and purple stripes). He was playing Don Pedro in Much Ado About Nothing, which they decided to do Pride & Prejudice-style. He was wearing riding jodhpurs and had a British accent. Hello, Mr Darcy! We got married three years later.
I was an award-winning wedding and portrait photographer.
Before turning back to my first love (writing), I owned one of London’s top luxury portrait studios, based in Wimbledon. My clients used to come from Chelsea and Mayfair, and would often turn up dressed in Hunter wellies and Barbour coats, as though they expected to have to wade through mud to get to the front door. We don’t call it The Chelsea Bubble for nothing! I’ve drawn on a lot of my experiences and knowledge as a photographer to create a believable world in Shooters.
I have a signed Olivia Newton John photo from her ‘Physical’ days.
I had to write away for it with an actual letter. I loved everything that she was in, especially Grease. Thinking about it now, Grease probably wasn’t appropriate viewing for a 6-year-old, but hey—it was the Seventies. I remember chasing my Italian dad around the house, asking him what ‘fongool’ meant. My friend eventually told me. Shocked, I was.
In 2006, I wrote a film called All Bar Love.
My husband and his mate who had worked on Lord of the Rings—Aside: they dressed him up as an orc for the Battle of Helm’s Deep on his birthday. So cool. Anyway—they started a film production company and they needed a good script. Instead, they got one from me, about a man who was unlucky in love, navigating the confusing machinations of modern dating. It was an okay film. I mean, you wouldn’t be upset if you spent a night in watching it and it’s actually better than some of the dross that Netflix pumps out these days, but it wasn’t Pretty Woman. All Bar Love was bought by HBO in Hungary and dubbed into Hungarian, and my husband had a wider distribution deal ready to go…but then the 2008 recession happened and their distributor went bust. So basically, no one except a few people in Hungary have seen this film. But I’ve got an IMDB credit, so woohoo.
At 48, I’ve taken up roller skating again.
Over the summer, my family and I went to New York City and bought tickets to roller skate in Rockefeller Centre. Roller skating was a huge part of my childhood. I loved going to the roller disco on the weekend. Within 5 minutes, I felt like I had some (not all) of my old groove back and I loved it. Then I started following @the_griffin_brothers on Instagram and decided to buy a pair. I also thought it would be really cool to open a roller disco in Wimbledon, where I live, but I barely have enough time to write as it is!
I have a podcast, even though I hate my voice
.
In June 2022, I started a book podcast called Two Lit Chicks. It’s like desert island discs, but for books. We’ve spoken with loads of amazing authors, like Bonnie Garmus, Damian Barr, Claire Fuller, Joanne Harris, and Kit de Waal (among others). Every episode takes a lot of preparation, but I’m really enjoying it—more than I thought I would. Funnily, my podcast partner is actually a man and not a chick at all—long story! We do four seasons a year and put out a full interview episode every other Monday. And we drop a literary quiz every Friday!
Shooters, the sizzling debut novel by Julia Boggio is published Home by Midnight Publishing - out on kindle for 99p today
"The photography conference simmered with talent: those who had it, those who wanted it, and those who would always suck no matter how hard they tried. Stella Price wondered where she fell on that scale."
Stella is determined to become a successful wedding photographer, even if it means learning from Connor Knight, a wedding shooter with sexy rock star status and an ego to match.
Burned by an affair that ended her last career, Stella should know better than to get entangled with Connor during a residential course in a romantic French chateau. But while his arrogance turns her off, his talent turns her on...
As their clashes start transforming into passion, Stella struggles to frame a future with a man who has famously come to distrust "happily ever afters". Is there a softer side behind Connor’s macho image? Can Stella learn from her past mistakes and teach Connor about real love before he disappears from the picture?
Tagged in author facts