Julie
Spencer has a very full life managing the Gratiot Conservation District,
writing grant proposals, newsletters, articles, and watershed management plans.
In the evenings she goes home and writes stories. She has now published her
sixth book with more on the way.
Julie
has been writing since she was in junior high, but prior to publishing her
first novel, The Cove, her only
published work was her master’s thesis, titled GIS Approach to Identifying Areas for Preservation in the Chippewa
River Watershed.
The
science Julie Spencer embraces so much in her job as the Administrator for the
Gratiot Conservation District is a far cry from the rock stars and love stories
she writes about in her books.
“I
have a lot of stories in my head and characters who talk to me,” Julie said.
“Some say I’m crazy, but people still love my books.”
Amazon
reviewers agree… for the most part.
“I
got my first one-star review after publishing my book, The Man in the Yellow Jaguar. It’s about a 25-year-old woman who
falls in love with a man twice her age. The reviewer called it ‘awkward’. Oh
well, can’t win ‘em all.”
Julie’s
books mostly earn four and five-star reviews and most reviewers seem to love
that her stories usually contain a big twist they didn’t see coming. That, Julie
says, is the best compliment she can get.
Writing
has always been a passion, but Julie didn’t really take it seriously until
people starting reading her stories and asking where they could purchase her
books. Seeing no local bookstores within an hour drive, Julie made her stories
available on Amazon as paperbacks and Kindle versions. She always carries a box
of paperbacks in her car in case someone wants a signed copy.
The
genre of Julie’s stories is a little unconventional and barely exists. She
writes mostly New Adult Clean Contemporary fiction, but has several non-fiction
projects in the works.
“Almost
all my stories contain some sort of Christian slant, although they don’t fall
into the traditional Christian fiction market. I don’t shy away from controversial
topics like drug abuse and the sanctity of marital relationships. I write about
rock stars touring the world, returned veterans struggling with PTSD, and a
youth minister in an inner-city church in Nashville who also happens to play
drums in a rock band. I’m a bit of a square peg in a round-hole publishing
market.”
None
of her fiction writing has anything to do with soil and water conservation.
Julie’s education is in geography, environmental analysis, map making, earth
science and land use planning. She has a Master’s of Science in Geographic
Information Systems (GIS) and loves writing grant proposals almost as much as
writing stories.
Julie
has also been doing some public speaking about her work here in central
Michigan. She shared results of the Pine River septic study from last year at
the State of the Bay Conference in Bay City in September, serves on an invasive
species task force with the Saginaw Bay Cooperative Invasive Species Management
Area (CISMA), and was chosen to serve on an advisory council for a two year
grant project in partnerships with the Great Lakes Commission (GLC), Great
Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI), Institute for Water Research (IWR), U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and Michigan State University.
“How
I was selected to be on an advisory council for a project called Researching
Effectiveness of Agricultural Programs (REAP), I have no idea. I think it all
stems back to the pilot program we conducted over the past four years called
the Bad River Watershed Sedimentation Reduction Program funded by GLC. I guess
we were successful in our project if they are now implementing it at the
regional level. The Great Lakes Basin is a pretty big watershed! I’m honored to
have the opportunity to serve.”
What’s
Julie’s favorite book? The prequel to her Buxton Peak trilogy, appropriately
titled Buxton Peak: The Early Years.
“Most
of the Buxton Peak series takes place when my rock stars are adults, but The
Early Years starts when my main character, Ian Taylor, is only eight years old.
He is identified as a child prodigy who can play any instrument and goes on to
start a rock band at the age of fourteen with his three best friends. By the
end of the series, they’ve traversed a lot of challenges. A recovering addict,
a Mormon rock star, an atheist and an inner-city youth pastor… what could possibly go
wrong?”
If
you’d like to reach Julie Spencer for Gratiot Conservation District business,
her email is Julie.Spencer@macd.org and check out their website at www.GratiotConservationDistrict.org
Want
more information about her books, go to www.AuthorJulieSpencer.com or JulieSpencer1998@gmail.com
.
series and
series into superstardom.
novels (the
series ended, I know, we’re all still crying!) they started writing stories
that they wanted to read. That’s exactly what happened to me! I wrote 
in the summer of 2011, before
this genre even existed! No wonder I couldn’t define its genre or convince a
publishing company to embrace it!
by
Deborah Halverson. I’ll update my blog as I come across interesting details
that I want to share! Would you like to come with me on this journey of
discovery? What’s your opinion? - Julie L. Spencer
and I decided to write a book review of it! I’m highly analytical in my reviews and want to approach this one in a similar manner. I like to analyze the characters, plot structure, a little bit of plot summary, how I felt when reading the novel, and what I liked & disliked. I also like to give an indication about whether the book was predictable and whether I’d read it again. Before I begin, I want to address the biggest criticism I’ve received about 
. I’ve been told that it doesn’t explain well enough the jargon that I use with regards to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There is some truth to that in that there are a few uses of jargon in the first few pages that are more ‘foreshadowing’ and if the reader continues reading, a good deal of the confusion would be cleared up. I’ve also been told that the beginning of the book is a bit slow, but that if you could get past the first couple of chapters, you won’t be able to put it down. I don’t see that personally. But, I’m a bit biased! Now, on to the actual book review:
is a unique novel. I’ve never found a book quite like it. Not to insinuate that it is better or worse than any other novel, I’ve just never found one like it. It is too romantic to be a Christian novel but way too Christian (and clean!) to be a romance novel. It’s a bit scandalous in that the two main characters enter into an inappropriate relationship prior to marriage. But that is one of the main themes of the story; that waiting for intimacy until marriage is a very difficult thing to do. Another main theme is that the power of repentance is real and important! Another unique characteristic of 
is that the main female is not a heroine! She is a selfish, spoiled brat who destroys the lives of the three men who love her! Most people will not relate to her and will not like her very much. That’s okay. The reader falls in love with Todd, who is the real protagonist in the story, and the reader feels sorry for the other two gentlemen who (for some reason) love Gail. The plot of 
has a couple of interesting twists and at least one surprise that either shocks the reader or leaves them a feeling of ‘I knew it!’ There is a happy little ending that ties things up nicely, a lot of romance, and even a few (chapters worth of) tears! I’ve read 
many times, and would read it again in a heartbeat. I highly recommend it! Have you read 
? What’s your opinion? –Julie L. Spencer
as well as the disclaimer I wrote just after finishing the novel: