‘A Dog’s Journey’ brings Bruce Cameron’s Bailey back to life — and back again

It may not come as a surprise to hear that W. Bruce Cameron, whose bestselling novels, “A Dog’s Purpose” and its sequel “A Dog’s Journey,” depend heavily on redemption and life born anew, gives credit for his success to a higher power.

But it wasn’t always that way. “I learned the wrong lessons from my early successes,” he said.

After his 2002 book ‘8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter’ was adapted into an ABC sitcom that ran for more than two years, it gave him all the evidence he needed to think he was calling the shots in his life, he said. “I was such a great writer. It was all due to me.”

Putting himself at the center of his artistic universe soon took him off his career path. “I lost track of my spiritual relationship with God,” Cameron said. “I just thought, I don’t need his help. As it turns out, I do.” But overall, Cameron has relied on his Christian faith to anchor his work, which has ranged from self-help (“How to Remodel a Man”) to non-canine suspense novels.

It was shortly after he turned to God again, in the late aughts, that Cameron said he got the idea for “A Dog’s Purpose,” which came out in 2010 but topped the New York Times fiction bestseller list in early 2017 when the movie, produced by Stephen Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment among other top Hollywood media companies, came out in 2017.

For the full story: https://religionnews.com/2019/05/17/a-dogs-journey-brings-bruce-camerons-bailey-back-to-life-and-back-again/