My love of books generally stems from my father. There are few memories from my childhood that don’t include my dad with a book in one hand and a Diet Coke in the other. He took me on trips to the library and sent me off to wander the children’s section for as long as I liked. I’m sure it had nothing to do with him wanting me out of his hair so he could browse through James Patterson and Tom Clancy novels in peace, and had everything to do with him wanting me to broaden my own horizons.

I was raised in Salt Lake City and attended Brighton High School where I met the love of my life. After a few detours at BYU and "dear-Johning" him while he was on his mission to Sweden, he came home, forgave me for being awful, and we got married. We moved to a little town in west central Utah, and opened up the only grocery store. Don't ask why we did that; we still have no idea. If this is something you're considering, please write me and I'll talk you out of it. Not out of moving to the country, but out of opening a business in rural America. There are times when I ponder the sanity in such a move, but walking out on my porch at night and seeing the Milky Way satisfies my claim to mental stability.
 
Some of my favorite things to do are: read, write, eat, dance, hike, and play on the beach. I love to go four wheeling with my kids and snuggle with my husband to watch videos. I love Italian, Thai, and Indian foods. I love to travel and believe that if I don't leave my time zone at least once every six months, I'll go crazy and take everyone I know with me. For the sake of marriage preservation, my husband indulges me in this need. I used to speak fluent Swedish (which I learned in college to get out of taking math), but now only speak well enough to cuss out my kids in public. I am an avid fan of Mickey Mouse and go to Disneyland at least once a year. My favorite pasttime is watching Mr. Wright make dinner.
 
My favorite novel of all time is Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, with the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan running a close second. I totally love the book Oh The Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss. Douglas Adams rocks my world! Though I hate admitting it, one of my least favorite teachers ended up having a profound impact in my life. My third grade teacher read The Hobbit to us in class. I despised the man in every possible way a third grader can despise another person, yet I hated it when the half hour he dedicated to reading every day was up. He had an amazing reading voice and he chose good books to read. From those readings I gained a huge love for fantasy. In retrospect, he wasn’t such an awful teacher after all . . .

I love movies, music, art and literature in all their varieties.
 
I started writing when I was in seventh grade at Butler Middle School under the encouragement of Mrs. Brown, a teacher who told me I had talent. It was the first time in my life anyone told me I was good at anything. I kept writing and got serious about it in tenth grade when another teacher told me I would never be a writer. I hate being told what to do, so I ignored him and started my first book when I was fifteen years old. It began as a seven page short story that morphed into a novel-length life of its own, going on to win the best fiction award of my publishing house for the year 2001. This is a good lesson on being careful who you listen to. Had I listened to that tenth grade teacher instead of Mrs. Brown, I would have missed a lifetime of awesome. Since then I've written eleven novels and one non fiction.

I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints ( http://www.mormon.org/ ). I am a member of LDStorymakers and have learned more about writing from that association than from any other source. 

 
Because my reading interests are so varied, it stands to reason that my writing interests are equally varied. I tend to write for the young adult market, and even when I think I’m writing adult books, they get shelved in the YA section, so obviously I’m not mature enough to write for adults yet. I’ve written romance, paranormal, fantasy, science fiction, and contemporary novels. I’m currently working on, oddly enough, a horror novel. I spent years saying I don’t write scary stories, but apparently I lied because I am having a great time doing so now (if by great I mean that I’m enjoying sleeping with the lights on and having nervous breakdowns at noises in the night).

What am I working on now?  

I've completed several new novels since my last publication--

The Thirteenth Month--Middle grade fantasy with specters in the forest, snarky mermaids, and a kingdom in turmoil. 

Death Thieves-- Young adult dystopian science fiction filled with time travel, forbidden love, and evil governments. 

Spell Check--Witchcraft is a pain in the hat when you're dealing with ancient magics stolen from the trolls of the North.

Lucidity-- Young adult paranormal horror--dreams, demons and dead people. Oh yeah . . . it also deals with love and family . . . because you have to have something worth fighting for.

You can see I've been keeping busy! I have included links to sample chapters of most of these here to let you know what there is to look forward to!

If you need anything or have comments or questions, feel free to write and leave your thoughts. I am excited to hear them. Be happy, recycle your cans, and be nice to people.

Love,

Julie