FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Julia J. Austin, jj@jjaustin.com
COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho – Prince Charming, a knight in shining armor and “happily ever after”: all popular dreams that many little girls hope will come true. As a result, women in the United States put much thought, time and effort into planning the wedding of their dreams. In fact, according to Theknot.com, there are more than 2.4 million weddings in the United States per year, and an estimated $72 million is spent yearly on U.S. weddings. With a national divorce rate hovering at 50 percent, what happens when these story-book weddings end in heartbreak?
Julia J. Austin, author of It Starts With You!: Every Woman’s Guide to Personal Growth and a Successful Love Relationship. (Jackie Paper Publishing, September 2007, ISBN 978-1-4327-1359-1-51595, $15.95), has been there. Just like many little girls, she dreamed of her Prince Charming and hoped that one day she would find fulfillment in marriage. Four failed marriages later, Austin began to realize that in order to be successful in marriage she first had to be marriage material.
“In each attempt at marriage, my relationships were dysfunctional or we weren’t compatible,” Austin says. “I began to look at myself, realize that I was a common denominator in each relationship and, in order to find marriage happiness, I needed to start with me.”
As Austin began to focus on overcoming her weaknesses, she attracted a man who would become her best friend and husband. Twenty years into her fifth-but-successful marriage, Austin’s new book It Starts With You! gives readers insight on how to avoid many of the mistakes she made in marriages one through four, and demonstrates how “starting with you” before starting a relationship is key to lifetime relationship success.
“Many times we see women head down the aisle without doing the self work first,” she says. “The wedding day is just a moment in time compared to the marriage, when the real work begins. If I can save one woman from making the same mistakes I did it will all have been worth it.”
It Starts With You! is divided into four sections, starting with a section on self-evaluation and “starting with you.” Sections two and three focus on finding the right person and determining if he is right for you and ends with a discussion on making marriage last a lifetime, in section four. It Starts With You! Features interactive activities like a self-evaluation quiz and practical tips for keeping marriage vibrant. Meant to be a guide book for women, Austin’s book is endorsed by best-selling author John Gray, Ph.D., author of
Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus.
Austin frequently speaks to women’s groups on the subjects of relationships, marriage and personal accountability. She is currently writing a follow-up relationship book for men, Stop Screwing Around: What you Need to Know When You’re Ready to Settle Down and Find the Girl of Your Dreams. Austin lives with her husband near Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.