A book followed, which was then turned into Julie Julia. 'It's beyond surreal,' says Julie, reflecting on her sudden success. 'It knocks you for a loop.' Of her onscreen character, played by Amy Adams, she says, 'She's much sweeter than me.' Her own preference would have been for Kate Winslet, 'because she can curse like a sailor, and she looks like she could keep down some creamy French food. When they told me they'd cast Amy, I thought, "But she's so wee".' Still, she has now seen the film seven times and is 'getting used to it'. 'My ambitions got in the way of each other,' she says. 'I kept halfheartedly doing both and never had the confidence to commit to the writing. But doing the blog, I realised I did have a perspective that was mine and that I felt was unique. That was a great confidencebuilder.' Although Julie says her life today is the 'shiny, happy version of what it was', not all the changes resulting from the project have been so positive. Her next book, Cleaving: A Story Of Marriage, Meat And Obsession, had its publication date delayed in the US to avoid horrifying fans of the upbeat Julie Julia.