Julie Bryson and Catherine Sharpe Interview

Q: Let me start with asking you to tell us a little bit about yourself.

A. Cam: Well, I will start with some commonalities that Julie and I share. In some ways, we truly have parallel lives. We both live in southwest Louisiana, have three children, and have been writing together for over 10 years. Our fathers were in ministry, Julie’s dad was a Baptist minister and my dad was a non-denominational minister. When we met the connection was instant! Our friendship has always been rooted in our love for the Word of God and it drives everything we do in life.

Q: When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

A. Julie: When I was as a little girl, I loved reading and listening to books on tape. I would memorize the harder books from the tape and then “read” it to my parents to watch them in awe of my ability. Something about that experience stuck with me, and I knew I wanted to become a writer and entertain people with words. But it wasn’t until my youngest daughter was born that I found my voice as a writer. As for Cam, she wrote poems as a child and had toyed with the idea to write a book a few years before we met. But it wasn’t until I approached her to write with me that she took up the challenge.

Q: Could you give us the highlights of your professional writing career including how you got your first writing break?

A. Cam: That is a tough question because I can’t really say that I have had a “writing break”. The vast majority of my writing as an adult has been academic, until we began the Eternity’s Account series.

Julie: Like Cam, I am not sure if I can say that I’ve had a “writing break”, but I have had a collection of experiences that have made for good writing. My first book, “Out of the Ashes: How Autism Changed my Life”, was birthed from my experience with our autistic daughter and how my faith was affected by that journey. Writing that book really re-sparked my passion, and I continued by researching for a new story concept based on the things I was learning from the Bible.

Q: Would you tell us about your current book release “Eternity’s Account: Rulers”?

A: Cam and Julie: “Rulers” is the fourth book in the Eternity’s Account series. The series takes the reader through the middle of three eternities. If that makes you scratch your head, then you need to pick up book one, “Stones of Fire”, and see how it all unfolds; however it is not necessary to follow the “Rulers” story. “Rulers” takes place around the year 700 from creation during the time of Enoch. We have basically been following Cain’s line and Adam’s line or as some would say, Seth’s line. These lines are in two different kingdoms and are developing their own rulers in our story. They set the precedent for all rulers to come, for each of the kingdoms. We use both lines for setting up patterns that will physically and spiritually continue after the flood.

Q: Where did you get your inspiration for The Eternity’s Account Series?

Julie: Well back in 2007 I was attending a church where I met Cam (Catherine). We started doing an online study program of biblically-based classes. That helped build a passion in me about the Bible. When you have a deeper understanding about the Creator, your relationship becomes more personal, just like with a friend or your spouse. Deeper, more intimate relationships come from a deeper understanding of one another, which makes the relationship far more special. It actually makes you want to please that person and vice-versa. So, since we really felt we were better off because of these nuggets, we thought others would be as well.

Cam: Julie had been doing a lot of in-depth study on her own and just had her first book published. She came to me and said “Hey, I have this great idea for a book. Would you like to write a fictional novel with me?” Her original idea for a storyline grew exponentially, and that is when we really took what we were learning and fleshed out the idea.

Julie: The funny thing is that when we first got together and started working on this series, it was going to be seven books. It was supposed to go all the way through the Bible. Our first book was supposed to go to the flood and here we are on book four in the series and we are still not to the flood!

Cam: Another reason we wanted to do this series was because of the confusion surrounding biblical truths because of some of the popular series at the time such as The Twilight Series, Harry Potter Series and many others that were bringing in young adult readers. We wanted something that would provide similar adventure stories, but that would be grounded in Biblical truth. And being able to take the Word, and as we like to say, “weaving fact through fiction”, we were able to weave these biblical facts, these patterns, into a story form that can be enjoyed by any age reader. This, of course, was all by the hand of God.

Q: What is the main thing you hope readers remember from this story?

A: Cam and Julie: The primary theme through the entire series is for the reader to understand that there is a much bigger picture that we are all apart of in life. We hope that the books will ignite a fire in our audience to go to the Bible and find out what it says about the beginning, because we can only understand the end form the beginning. Now key points from “Rulers” would be associated with understand how outside and inside forces can manipulate our actions. There really is a battle for your soul.

Q: What inspires you to write?

A. We see this series as more than a form of entertainment but a personal mission. We each feel called to write and share the story. So would “divine intervention” be too corny to say? LOL the very fact that we can introduce Biblical treasures and patterns is an inspiration in itself!

Q: Would you share with us what you are working on now?

A. Our fifth book is in the research stage. While we have the outline for the first few chapters, we never really know where it will go. One of our biggest hurtles is starting another part of the story because it is hard to imagine that we can write another book as good as the last. Yet, through the Hand of God, it happens every time. This really is His project and we are honored to come along.

Q: When you’re not writing what do you like to do?

A. We actually love to talk about the Bible and new patterns we are learning. We can spend hours discussing these things. So, we have learned how to use our time wisely. This is why many of our talks are done while running or biking. We love to do endurance triathlons. The training is always a strong counter balance to our sitting and writing.