Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Julie Dawn grew up in southern Jersey, spending the summers collecting bee stingers in her feet. After graduating from Richard Stockton College, she dipped her toes in the environmental field for a few years, got married, moved to North Carolina, and finally got to become a mom. Four years of living in state parks was enough to make her relocate to the Oregon Coast. Under bright stars, she started writing again, determined to change the world one story at a time.
YOSEMITE RISING is her debut novel.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Yosemite Rising: a zombie novel. I started wanted to put my degree in biology and my love for Native American lore to good use.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I used to write between 8pm and 4am after bedtime stories with the kids. I’ve tried to squeeze in writing time anywhere I can and starting this year will finally be writing full time.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
A lot of authors have influenced me. Poe was a favorite when I was little. I read Jurassic Park when I was 8, before the movie came out. The movie was amazing, but it showed me that the book is always better. A huge chunk of my young adult years was spent reading non-fiction serial killer books in hopes of becoming a profiler for the FBI. I guess I’ve always dreamed.
What are you working on now?
Oh the ‘Fight Club’ question. Don’t you know you’re not supposed to talk about Fight Club?
My readers would expect me to be working on Yosemite Rising’s sequel, but I have a different apocalyptic story that is taking my breath away currently.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
This is a question I have not discovered any promising answers to yet. So far, I’ve enjoyed interacting with other writers and readers.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Be passionate. If you think ‘I can’t put this in there’ do it! It takes a tremendous amount of courage to put yourself out there. Tell your stories. Close your eyes and jump.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
I’ll say it again, read Stephen King’s On Writing. I keep a copy on my desk. When I get discouraged, frustrated, want to delete everything, I crack it open and read a line or two. That’s all it takes.
What are you reading now?
I am currently reading The Stand by Stephen King, The Descent of Woman by Elaine Morgan, and Steve Jobs biography on audiotape.
What’s next for you as a writer?
To keep on writing. I hope that among the pile of books out there, I’ll find my tribe. Until then there are nine other stories awaiting their turn to get out of my head.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, On Writing by Stephen King, and the Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe.
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