A little bit about me and my life. As writers seem to, I've had many arcane jobs. I was a quality control technician for ultrasound heart machines (video recordings of ultrasound cross sections of my heart were shipped all over the world with the machines). I've been a genealogical researcher, an office manager, a secretary, a desktop publisher, a digger at an archaeological dig, a quality assurance tech, a webmaster, and an aircraft electrician for the Air Force Reserves.

I graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Utah in 1993 with a BA in Anthropology. When people asked me what I was going to do with my degree, I'd always tell them, "Write Science Fiction." Since an idea I got from one of my classes was directly responsible for "Sea of Chaos," the story that took the Grand Prize in the Writers of the Future contest in 1994, I'd say my education is starting to pay off. The trilogy I'm currently working on has a culture loosely based on the Hopi (American Indians). I've included a list of resources I used here on my website.

I'm active in the LDS (Mormon) church, where I occasionally serve as a teacher or genealogical consultant and currently edit the newsletter for my ward.

I enjoy SF&F fandom, where I've been involved in Star Trek fandom (it's been a lo-o-ong time), in the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA), and filk singing. For the past twelve years I've been the Filk Mom at CONduit, an annual SF&F convention in Salt Lake City, Utah.

I've long been interested in writing. Thirty years ago I hand wrote (on notebook paper, in pencil) a couple of novels. Nowadays I won't even show them to my husband; I'm too embarrassed to let anyone see something that unpolished! But they were good practice in starting and completing a big project. Off and on after that I dabbled in writing, but really got started again in 1988, while I was home after the birth of my oldest daughter. In 1989 I sold my first story (a non-science fiction children's story), "The Best Babysitter," and I've been listing myself as a freelance writer on my income tax returns ever since.

Three days after I sold my third children's story, "Granpa is Missing on the Mars Tranship" (this is a science fiction story), I received word that I'd won first place in the quarterly Writers of the Future contest. In 1995, that story was chosen as the 1994 WotF Gold Award winner ($4000 grand prize). My story, "Sea of Chaos," appears in WotF Volume XI.

I don't think I'd be nearly as successful with my writing without the help of people in the various critique groups I've belonged to over the years. I edit a weekly newsletter for the local group, CALLIHOO, which has been going for over nine years. I was also in an online group, Dream Weavers, on Genie. I occasionally attend a Utah-valley based writer's group, Xenobia. My sweetheart, editor and sometimes collaborator, Brook, is one of my greatest cheerleaders and handholders.

Brook and I have two daughters, Rowan Amber and Danica Brooke. I, of course, am prejudiced, but I think they're two awfully cute and smart young ladies. The rest of the family is composed of animals. The most noticeable are the cats--Miracle, Bear, Chewbacca, Cecie, Sabuda, Phantom, Sumo, Dust Bunny (a.k.a. Wee Bit), and Stormy (Storm Cloud). We also have four goldfish--Harry, Hermione, Jareth and Sarah--and a catfish. We also put a bird feeder in one of the trees in the back yard, right outside the kitchen window. The birds it attracts are great "Cat TV" for our cats (all of whom stay indoors).

Drop into SFF.NET and visit my newsgroup at sff.people.julia-west

Since I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome about three years ago, I've naturally got quite a bit of interest in it. This book, The Clinical and Scientific Basis of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, has tons of information. As part of this disease I've also been battling fibromyalgia, and have started gathering resources for dealing with this and similar chronic diseases.