avg_rating: 3.6
name: Julianne Lee
about: In the words of Bill Cosby, "I started out as a child." I was born in California, at the age of about zero, on the United States Naval Base at Point Mugu. Dad was a pilot and Mom a former WAVE. For about a year I was an only child, but then my brother was born, and over the years I collected siblings like they were beanie babies. A brother, two sisters, later on a half sister, and we'll not get into the scads of stepbrothers and former stepbrothers.At twelve I began to write for fun, which I think is the only real reason to write fiction. I figured it beat reality any old day, and I liked sitting at the desk in my room, pretending to be doing something worthwhile. Daydreaming with a purpose, and gradually I realized I could gain approval fo In the words of Bill Cosby, "I started out as a child." I was born in California, at the age of about zero, on the United States Naval Base at Point Mugu. Dad was a pilot and Mom a former WAVE. For about a year I was an only child, but then my brother was born, and over the years I collected siblings like they were beanie babies. A brother, two sisters, later on a half sister, and we'll not get into the scads of stepbrothers and former stepbrothers.At twelve I began to write for fun, which I think is the only real reason to write fiction. I figured it beat reality any old day, and I liked sitting at the desk in my room, pretending to be doing something worthwhile. Daydreaming with a purpose, and gradually I realized I could gain approval for the very thing teachers used to criticize me for in class. I wanted to be an actor, and by the age of sixteen my dream - pipe dream - was to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts . But I knew it would never happen. The Academy was in New York, and that was too far away to even contemplate seriously. So I started college as an art major. I was a terrible artist. I did a good job of fooling myself and everyone around me, but eventually I gave up the charade and left home for Los Angeles at twenty.What, ho! When I got there I found the American Academy had recently openedup a campus in Pasadena. By the kindness of some people I met in L.A., I was recommended to the school and accepted. The following two years was a turning point, that changed my life in ways that are still unfolding. Though an education in theatre bestows skills that are not terribly marketable in ordinary life, the things I learned at that school have benefited me every day since. Stage fright has not since held the terror it once did. At the school, I discovered I could be funny, a fact that might have saved me a lot of grief had I known it in grammar school. I could have been a fabulous class clown. In addition to this self-discovery, while I was at the Academy I wrote my first novel. In longhand. I still had no idea I wanted to be a writer; all I knew was that there could be peace in living inside a story about someone else.Almost immediately after graduating from the Academy, I met and married Dale Lee. We left Los Angeles, but I was kicking and screaming the whole way. Twenty-odd years later, I still miss the place. We had two kids right away, so I now had three children, one of each: a boy, a girl, and a husband. There were a couple of acting jobs, most notably two days on "At Close Range," a feature film starring Christopher Walken and Sean Penn, and a TV movie starring Ann-Margaret. But in trying to be an actor in Nashville, I realized most of the other actors in town were looking forward to their big chance to leave for Los Angeles, and I knew that would never be a possibility for me. At thirty I decided I was getting old faster than I was getting famous, so I looked for something to do besides acting and changing diapers. Throughout this time I'd kept writing, though sporadically, and about then I began a second novel. Gradually an inkling came there might be a possibility of becoming published. I sure wasn't any good at anything else I might have done locally. On January 27, 1987 I bought my first copy of Writers Digest. Another turning point in my life. For the next several years I wrote manuscripts, sent the work out, joined writers groups, and workshopped my novels with the Green River Writers in Louisville, KY. After seven years I sold my first short story, Culture Control, to the now defunct Cosmic Unicorn. Immediately afterward I was hired by the local newspaper. From there I went to writing actor interviews for Starlog Magazine , a job for which I was singularly qualified.I also wrote some video sleeve copy for Fox Home Video. That stands as the most highly paid time per hour I've ever spent, and I loved it even if it did attract sympathy from misguided folks who thought it less ...more