WRIGHT, Julie 1972-

PERSONAL: Born May 13, 1972, in Salt Lake City, UT. Hobbies and other interests: Hiking, eating, family activities.

ADDRESSES: Agent—c/o Author Mail, Bonneville Books, 925 North Main, Springville, UT 84663. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Writer.

MEMBER: Utah Writers Guild.

AWARDS, HONORS: Media Play short fiction award, 1997, for "Man in Mandalore"; Cedar Fort literary fiction award, 2001, for To Catch a Falling Star.

WRITINGS:

Loved like That (Mormon fiction), Bonneville Books (Springville, UT), 2002.

To Catch a Falling Star (Mormon fiction), Bonneville Books (Springville, UT), 2002.

Also author of short stories, including "Man in Mandalore."

WORK IN PROGRESS: Two works of Mormon fiction, Heart of the Stars and Nineteen; a science-fiction novel, The Inheritance.

SIDELIGHTS: Julie Wright told CA: "My love for literature and the written word came from a childhood filled with books. I started writing my first book when I was fifteen years old. It grew from an award-winning short story of seven pages to an award-winning novel of 297 pages. I completed it when I was twenty-four and found the nerve to find a publisher when I was twenty-nine. The first novel was inspired largely by Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. I am also inspired by Jane Austen and Robert Jordan.

"Since I started to do book signings and publicity for my first book, I found the most common thing I am asked is 'How can I write a book?' The answer: Sit your backside on a chair and don't get up until you have a page written every day. Most people who want to write but never do are only held back by procrastination and the artistic temper tantrum of writer's block. I never get writer's block. Even if I lose a thought on my current work, I can move to something else and get the creative thought back.

"The subjects I have chosen to write about are things I hold dear. I write Latter-day Saints fiction largely in part because I want to give people who want to be entertained without the smut something to read, and because it is where my heart truly is. The other subjects are topics that have always intrigued me and given me pleasure in learning."