julie ann knudsen julie ann knudsen julie ann knudsen

Julie


In the Middle of Nowhere
Author Photo: Robert Harrington

I always loved to write and even majored in it in college. I attended Clarkson University and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Technical Communications. I would have become a technical writer with my new degree and, at the time, jobs were plentiful. But a family illness kept me entwined in my roots where I was made and raised in the suburbs of Rochester, NY.

While living in Rochester and deciding what I wanted to do with my life, I became engaged to my college sweetheart. After we were married, we moved to Connecticut where I have remained for the past twenty-six years.

I held a number of different jobs when I first came to New England. I worked for an advertising agency in New York City (always a dream of mine), as well as for a small-sized public relations firm. I was a waitress and even an assistant at a surgical supply company.

After three years of marriage and working in various fields, I had my first baby. I wanted to stay home and raise my daughter and was lucky that I was able to. Two more kids followed. Even though I was a busy, stay-at-home mom, I would sometimes find myself sitting behind a keyboard whenever I had down time, intent on writing a book. But the demands of three kids and running a household never allowed me the ability to finish.

While my daughter was in elementary school, I wrote some of the plays for her drama club and really enjoyed it. As my kids got older, I was able to find more time to write. I wrote a few screenplays and even placed as a semi-finalist in two separate competitions. I decided to take a stab at a novel while the kids were off to school. Since I was raising two teenagers and one tween at the time, I decided to write a Young Adult novel. Having left my teenage years behind so many years before, I had forgotten what an angst-filled, exciting and introspective time they can be. The result is the Willow's Journey Trilogy; In the Middle of Nowhere, Somewhere at Last and Everywhere I'd Go.

Read a conversation with Julie Knudsen