About My Writing:

Barbed is my first book-length publication. As a manuscript it won runner-up in Nonfiction from the 2018 San Francisco Writer’s Conference, and in 2019 it was shortlisted for a Journey award from Chanticleer.

Two of my short stories, “Dying for Love” and “Iris,” were selected for the Desert Sleuth’s biannual mystery story anthology in 2019 and 2021 respectively. (See my Writing page.)

Other manuscripts have won prizes but are still finding their way to publication. The Portals of Peril, a sci-fi novel for middle grade readers, won the grand prize in Chanticleer’s 2018 Gertrude Warner Awards for middle grade fiction. A Fairy’s Tails, a middle grade fantasy novel, was awarded First Place in that same category in 2020. Also in 2020, my short story “Convenient Fictions” was among Writer’s Digest’s top ten for literary fiction.

Sometimes words find me that require not only a different genre but a different form of writing altogether. For these, I am exploring poetry. I occasionally share original poems on my Facebook page, and in 2020, my poem “Western Girl” earned Honorable Mention in the Arizona Authors Awards.

I hope to share and publish more prose and poetry alike after completing a Master of Fine Arts degree from Seattle Pacific University (2023).

You can also find and follow me on Facebook and Instagram:

https://www.facebook.com/JulieMorrisonWriter

https://www.instagram.com/juliemorrisonwriter/

Photo credit: Lisa Schnebly Heidinger

About Me:

I am at least but not exclusively an Arizonan, horsewoman, dog person, swimmer, dancer, hiker, sampler, coffee drinker, planner, fountain splasher, flower smeller, walk elongator, and enthusiastic-if-not-dedicated Spanish language student. If there were hats for these, I would buy them ALL—I am a fool for a great hat. I fear I will never be much of a chef or gardener, though I do love to pull weeds, especially right after a rain when the ground is soft and the air still smells like the lazy remnants of the storm. I do not love to do dishes, stormy weather or not.

About My Riding:

I am privileged to have horses among my friends and educators. I grew up showing registered Quarter Horses in what are termed “performance” events (mostly recognizable for having no objects to chase, jump, or race around.) In my late teens and college years I switched to riding and showing Hunters, horses that navigate a pattern of jumps at a leisurely approach pace, doing all they can to manage up, so to speak, to keep their rider in the saddle. In my late 20s and early 30s I showed Reiners, horses that slide and spin in an arena the way they might if working a cow.

I discovered dressage on a trip to Spain in 2016, and have been doing my best ever since to keep the charms of both art and country close. I am privileged to learn and practice dressage with coaches in Arizona and California, though on some days my horses might be better at Spanish than I am in the saddle. ‘Twas ever thus as a lifelong learner.

The photos here are representative of some of the most memorable of my recent rides.