Author: juliajsimpson

I write swoony no-to low spice romantic stories set mostly in fantasy and future worlds. My debut novel, Ashes Swept, was released in 2017.

The Importance of Story

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The Importance of Story

In which I wax poetic about the Oscars, actually…

I realized the other day that the Academy Awards are tonight. I feel weird about watching them these days… there are so many good reasons not to. All that glitz, glamor, and privilege feels intensely wrong in the face of… well… (I gesture broadly at everything.) People are dying in genocides. People are dying from exploitation. People are dying from disease and poverty because their governments are run by greedy men. It feels trivial to care about which movie or which actor wins an award in the face of all of that, and when my own country is in the middle of a coup that not enough people are alarmed about. For all those reasons and more, I wasn’t going to watch.

But…

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Thoughts on Being an Author

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Thoughts on Being an Author

The first time I ever “met” an author, I was eleven years old, pajama-clad, sitting in the back of my mom’s blue station wagon while Romancing the Stone played on the giant screen in front of me. The author’s name was Joan Wilder. She was a romance author. And she looked like this:

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5 Indie Pub Myths (That Drive Me Bonkers!)

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5 Indie Pub Myths (That Drive Me Bonkers!)


Myth #1 – Indie Authors Couldn’t Get Traditionally Published

There was a time, long ago, when self-publishing was mostly used as a publishing backup route for writers who couldn’t land a publisher, but today those writers are in the minority. Now, most indie authors choose to indie publish instead of pursuing traditional publishing. For many, it’s about maintaining rights, having more control over content and publishing timeline, and keeping a bigger percent of the royalties.

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Book Review: Becoming Lili by Julia Blake

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Book Review: Becoming Lili by Julia Blake

Some books are so rich and decadent they demand to be savored—and boy, did I savor this book! I took longer to read this book than any book I’ve ever read… a year and a half! Yes, it’s a thick book, approaching 500 pages, but the story is so compelling and the pacing so swift, you could easily devour it in a few days. But I wanted to climb inside this story and stay for a while, so I took my time… so much time that the worn cover bears the teeth marks of my beloved kitty Maeby, who crossed the Rainbow Bridge almost ten months ago. This book came with me on seven trips to Colorado, saw me through the loss of my mom, and was a constant and comforting reminder that despite the sometimes ugliness of life, beauty always prevails.

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5 Things I love About HBO’s The Gilded Age (And one thing I’m on the fence about…)

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5 Things I love About HBO’s The Gilded Age (And one thing I’m on the fence about…)

I binge-watched HBO’s The Gilded Age (created by Julian Fellowes of Downton Abbey fame) over the past couple weeks, and I have thoughts: I LOVED IT! Since I’m seeing some mixed feelings about this show from other period drama fans, I thought I’d share what I loved–and the one thing I’m a little weird about.

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