About Julie


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            I was born in Columbus, Georgia.  During my high school years I was part of the school drama group and wrote my first novel.  I shipped it off to a major New York publisher, received a fast rejection slip, tossed the manuscript into the garbage--vowing to do better. At sixteen I moved with my parents to New York (after high school graduation and a very brief stint at the University of Georgia), where I focused on drama studies and wrote one-act plays performed by my drama class.

            I was torn between an obsession for writing and for acting (I'd read every play in my Columbus, Georgia, library)--and soon triumphantly combined the two by writing three-act plays (one was briefly optioned for Broadway--the prospective sponsor decided instead to invest in a sugar-free jelly operation) and acting on the Off-Broadway scene.  One play, called DANGER SIGNAL (dealing with the ugly Joseph McCarthy era), became a recent Severn House novel, renamed SMALL TOWN DREAMS.

            I married my producer/director, lived in the colorful East Village, continued to act on Off-Broadway (and toured summer resort hotels and bungalow colonies) until after the birth of my second child, daughter Susie.  During the Off-Broadway period I sold several radio and television scripts--and gradually, along with my husband--became realistic.  Raising two kids required some financial stability--missing in our Off-Broadway existence.

            With candid reluctance ("How will I live without theatre?!") I realized I could be a stay-at-home mom and still work--and earn--as a writer.  I'd managed being part of the Off-Broadway scene and raising my son, Richie, without domestic help except from my husband, but by the time Susie was a few months old I was launched on a hectic career as a full-time writer.  I needed help.  Thank God for Pearl, the kids' wonderful nanny.  Of course--until both Richie and Susie were in school full time, I was frequently assaulted by small fists banging on my tiny makeshift office door.  "Mommie, Richie's pulling my hair!" or "Mommie, Susie's kicking me!"  Pearl would try to intervene, but my guilty conscience made me emerge for brief moments.  And I was grateful that I could combine being "Mommie" and a full-time writer. 

            Pearl remained with me until both kids were in school full time.  I became a single mother when my kids were in elementary school--but I've managed to see both through college and into adult lives.   They are my treasures.  They and my career as a novelist.