narley ninja Julie Baker Hansen!

Today's awesome #narleyninja is Julie Baker Hansen! I always smile when I talk to Julie ~ she just radiates fun and happiness--and rocks some seriously positive kick-butt attitude. 


Julie's going to talk to us about Warming Up today, or how she get ready to write.

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T-shirts are acceptable. Sweat pants are a must. Curling up on the couch to write just can’t be done in skinny jeans. Know what I’m saying?

Okay. Second, Diet Coke. Non negotiable.

Third, a clean house. I know. Weird, right? For some reason I can’t get my thoughts organized enough to write when everything else isn’t organized too. This is—quite possibly—a byproduct of some kind of latent obsessive-compulsive disorder I have.

Fourth, looking at pictures of places I reference in my book, and photos I think my characters look like, etc. Picking out the details in photos helps me to convert them into my writing.

One thing I DON’T like? Listening to music. Another weirdo thing, I think. Unless its wordLESS music. I start mouthing the words if I listen to anything with lyrics. A total distraction! I settle for a little Hans Zimmer with a splash of Beethoven if background noise is required!

I graduated with a BA in history [yay!], and music minor [woot, woot!] from Brigham Young University in 2008, where I also got to go on a rock awesome study abroad to London [OH YEAH!]. After getting law school out of the way at the University of Nebraska, I made my way into the big bright world of attorney-ing.

Oh. And you should know. I’m totally a legal ninja.

Yes, it is true. For those young grasshoppas not aware, the legal ninja is a stealthy first cousin to the writing ninja. This is because both are hermits, live off of large amounts of caffeine, and can be found huddled behind a lap top . . . well . . . 90% of our waking hours!

That, and pulling awesome ninja moves . . . like this one [insert legal ninja picture].

Speaking of writing ninjas . . . I love to write! I have a long history of trying (and failing) to write books. Until recently, the only one I ever finished was called Treasure Island (original, I know) that I wrote it in a spiral bound notebook at age 7.

Don’t judge. My mom was proud.

Now that I’m a big girl, I write YA! My first novel, Keepers of the Flame, is an exciting pre dystopian political thriller, in which the United States is on the brink of a second revolutionary war. While an evil dude named Elias threatens to tear the country apart, my main characters (twins) Essie and Ethan join the rebel band of Constitutionalists, to save the country they love!

Put your hand over your heart. You know you’re feeling patriotic right now. Heehee.

Although I haven’t been signed, I’m working with an agent to get another draft of Keepers into tiptop shape! Fingers crossed it all works out.

I also enjoy writing about mermaids. Cause really? Why should we limit ourselves to one genre? I’ll take ALL the frozen yogurt flavors over just one, thank you very much!

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I love that Julie is writing a patriotic YA novel! Congrats on the agent-interest, Julie. Be sure to let us know how that goes!


I love giving shout-outs to ninja writers! Just go to the dojo page and sign up on the linky ~ you'll become a narley ninja too, and will have your day here on the blog! I also cross-post on the ninjas write site, which is kind of a quite place right now, but after NiNoCon in February, I'm sure it won't be quiet for long!


If you would like to be a contributor to Ninjas Write, please check out this post for information!

How do you set the stage for an excellent writing session?

And ... #ninjachat this afternoon,
2 pm MST, here at my uchi!