Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I started writing as a freelance journalist straight out of college, mostly inspirational articles and lifestyle stories featured in self-help, inspirational, regional, and fiction publications, including Coping With Cancer, Daily Meditation, Mocha Memoirs, Anotherealm, Horsethief’s Journal, Images Inscript, Complete Woman, and the annual anthology Writes of Passage: Every Woman has a Story!
I’m author of the self-help books Happy Tails: How Pets Can Help You Survive Divorce and Simeon: A Greater Reality, the neo-Noir short story collection Seven Shorts, the inspirational upper-elementary reader, Hootie, and the romantic comedy When Pigs Fly Over The Moon.
I’ve ghostwritten novels, non-fiction, screenplays, and other projects for clients, locally and through Upwork.
Writing awards include the 1999 Writer’s Digest Writing Competition Grand Prize Winner for the short story “House Call.”
Others:
1997 Golden Triangle Writer’s Guild Screenplay First – Driver
1998 Writer’s Digest Stage Play First – Garage Sale
1998 Writer’s Digest Short Story Honorable Mention – “Estate Sale”
1999 Writer’s Network Stage Play Honorable Mention – Garage Sale
2000 Writer’s Network Screenplay Honorable Mention – Killing Grounds
2005 Fade In magazine’s Screenplay Semi-Finalist – Grave Jumper
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
When Pigs Fly Over the Moon is my latest. I headed out to Luckenbach, Texas with my family on vacation and started thinking ” . . . what if?”
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Story ideas come to me fairly frequently, each one worth considering, but not all for taking into a completed project. I keep a running list, and regularly go to this list to revise its concepts. Not entirely unusual in itself, except that I often dream about the ideas on the list, too.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Stephen King, Thomas Harris, Dean Koontz, Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Gilbert, J.K. Rowling, Annie Dilliard, C.S. Lewis, Jack London, Arthur Conan Doyle, H.G. Wells, T.S. Elliot, Patricia Cornwell, Mary Higgins Clark, Dan Brown, William Shakespeare.
What are you working on now?
A historical fantasy.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Amazon author website.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t be afraid to take some time off now and then to observe and experience life. Allow yourself to be in the moment, not tasking anything. Most writers I know overthink everything entirely too much, which begins to drain them over time. The breaks that life tries to push your way, the interruptions– are entirely necessary.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write what you want to write.
What are you reading now?
I’m researching for my next book, so I’m not presently reading any one book in particular.
What’s next for you as a writer?
There’s always half-a-dozen projects on the back burner waiting to surface, but life has a very particular timing to it. I’ve learned not to resist.
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?
Now that’s a tough one, because that list keeps changing every few years.
Author Websites and Profiles
Julie Rogers Website
Julie Rogers Amazon Profile