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Julie’s Year In Books

Julie’s 2024 Year in Books

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2025 Reading Challenge

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Julie has read 24 books of her goal of 24!

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Julie Hammonds

Goodreads Author

Born

The United States

Website

http://www.bluemountainrose.com

Genre

Fiction, Science

Member Since

March 2010

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Julie Hammonds fell in love with "Hamlet" during a high school trip to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and has nurtured her passion for Shakespeare ever since. She studied the plays in school, stage-managed "The Winter’s Tale" and "Much Ado About Nothing," and helped create the Flagstaff Shakespeare Festival. Her quest to complete the canon as an audience member has taken her from a community hall in Juneau, Alaska, to the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon. She has four plays to go. ...more

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Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Julie Hammonds The seed for "Blue Mountain Rose" was a scene that popped into my imagination one day. Two characters are rehearsing a funny, romantic scene from Shak…moreThe seed for "Blue Mountain Rose" was a scene that popped into my imagination one day. Two characters are rehearsing a funny, romantic scene from Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing."

The characters are a famous British actor (think Benedict Cumberbatch or Tom Hiddleston) who loves live theater and a woman with stage fright who really doesn't want to be up there rehearsing with him no matter how famous (or gorgeous) he is.

What circumstances would get that woman onstage with Ben or Tom in the first place? How would she deal with her stage fright? Would it get stronger, or maybe go away? What would that take?

I played with the possibilities. Maybe the woman works at the theater where the actor is auditioning for a role. Let's say she's the loyal assistant to a famous director. Maybe the director wants to see the actor do a comedic scene from Shakespeare, but the scene calls for two people. Nobody else is around to help, so the director asks his aide to jump in.

How would that feel? Would she feel scared, or exasperated with her boss? Where would she find the courage to face her fear? Would she figure, "No use arguing with Mr. Famous Director. Let's get this over with"? Would her dread change when she saw this gorgeous actor make his entrance?

I've been a stage manager for a few shows. As a writer whose creative work is mostly accomplished alone, I find the collaborative art form that is live theater fascinating. I've never been an actor, but I love watching actors work with a director to puzzle their way through the conundrums of character and circumstance that make a compelling story.

When this scene rolled through my brain, I typed it out, played with it for a few days, then put it away. But the scene and those three characters wouldn't leave me alone. Where was this theater? How famous is Mr. Famous Director, and what would it be like to work for someone like that? Who was this actor, and why was he auditioning here? That spark I noticed between the actor and the woman ~ what would happen to it?

When an idea won't leave you alone, you have a choice. You can ignore it, or you can go back to the writing desk and see what happens. What happened for me was "Blue Mountain Rose: A Novel in Five Acts," my first published book.

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Do I have to understand Shakespeare or read "Hamlet" to understand "Blue Mountain Rose"?

Julie Hammonds According to readers, the answer to this question is no—and I’m proud of that.

Blue Mountain Rose takes place backstage at a Shakespearean theater. Som…moreAccording to readers, the answer to this question is no—and I’m proud of that.

Blue Mountain Rose takes place backstage at a Shakespearean theater. Some readers worry that if they don’t already love Shakespeare’s plays, they won’t be able to appreciate the story.

When I started writing this book, I knew some readers would love Shakespeare and others might still have nightmares from high school, when they had to look up all the unfamiliar words in Romeo and Juliet.

At the start of her review, one reader wrote, “I wasn’t sure I was going to like this book because of the Shakespeare angle.”

No matter what a reader’s history with Shakespeare might be, I wanted to give everyone a warm welcome backstage. The Blue Mountain Rose Theatre Company is getting ready to produce Hamlet, but nobody should be scared off by that. You don’t have to know the plot of Hamlet to understand this book.

The Blue Mountain Rose is not a snooty or exclusive place. I’ve volunteered as a stage manager a couple of times. In my experience, everyone who’s interested in theater is welcome to try it. Joining with other people to tell a story onstage is hard at times, but it’s fun and meaningful, too.

In the end, a theatre is just like other places where people work together. So in my book, the theatre has financial troubles. Someone is thinking about retiring, while someone else want to move up. People fall in love. A mother and daughter face a big question together. None of it is particularly Shakespearean. We’ve all been there, or we know someone who has.

And if my characters sometimes use lines from Shakespeare to express themselves and connect with each other, I wanted it to come across as normal speech. I tried to make sure the meaning is clear.

That’s why I was happy when that reader who wasn’t sure she liked the Shakespearean angle continued her review by saying, “However, I found it to be delightful.”

Another reader said, “I’ve never understood Shakespeare and did not believe I would be able to connect to the plot of Blue Mountain Rose, but the author guided the reader into that world in clever and interesting ways with compelling characters that I wanted to hang out with for a long time.”

In fact, some readers report that reading the book made them want to go see a play! I’m delighted to hear that. There’s something magical and important about live theater. It increases our ability to empathize with people who are unlike us. If you’re one of those readers, send me a note to let me know how it went!

“Even if readers are not well-versed in Hamlet, the author includes just enough information about the play, its characters, and its famous lines to keep everyone in the loop. The author gives Shakespeare a fresh and modern—even fun—take on some of the bard’s notable themes." –BlueInk STARRED Review(less)

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Julie Hammonds’s books

Average rating: 4.45 · 42 ratings · 14 reviews · 3 distinct works • Similar authors

	Blue Mountain Rose: A Novel in Five Acts 4.42 avg rating — 33 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	To Imogene, a Flagstaff Love Letter by Myles Schrag (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Julie Hammonds (Goodreads Author) (Editor) 4.43 avg rating — 7 ratings — published 2019	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Guide to the Plants of Arizona's White Mountains by George C. West, Julie Hammonds (Goodreads Author) (Contributor), Ellen L. West (Foreword) it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.

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Julie Hammonds's Blog: Author Q&A for the creator of "Blue Mountain Rose"

Coming home to the Utah Shakespeare Festival

I’ve visited 13 Shakespeare festivals so far this year, in places ranging from a park lawn in Seattle, Washington, to a re-creation of Blackfriars Playhouse in Staunton, Virginia.

Arriving at the Utah Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City last month, I felt like a wanderer coming home after a long journey.

Utah isn’t where it all began for me, this love affair with the performance of Shakespeare’s play

Julie is Currently Reading

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Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants

by Robin Wall Kimmerer

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Oct 22, 2025 06:57AM

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The Miracle Of Mindfulness: The Classic Guide to Meditation by the World's Most Revered Master

by Thich Nhat Hanh

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Making It So

by Patrick Stewart

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Julie’s Quotes

“The young athlete would be well advised to keep athletics in its place. Be passionately involved in the activity, exert yourself to succeed. Gain from competing the massive satisfaction that competing offers. Yet be a well-rounded, sensitive, literate human being. It is not the job of athletics to produce people who know or care for nothing except athletics. Keep it in its place, behind your family, your concern for the general life of the world, and your education. There are athletes and coaches who prepare to act as if athletics were life; it is not. It is but a corner—and a rich one—of life which will contribute immensely to the holistic development of the individual.
-- Joe I. Vigil”
― Pat Melgares, Chasing Excellence: The Remarkable Life and Inspiring Vigilosophy of Coach Joe I. Vigil

tags: joe-i-vigil, motivational-quotes, running, sports, track-and-field

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“As a resident of the forest, a lover of the outdoors, and an ecologist, I am concerned for our future safety and enjoyment of the San Francisco Peaks. The upcoming years will be challenging. This area’s population has tripled over the last fifty years, a rate exceeding that of the world’s population. This growth, combined with increases in tourism, land use, climate change, consumption, and wildfires, demands attention and action from everyone who cares about the present and future of this special place.”
― John L. Vankat, The San Francisco Peaks and Flagstaff Through the Lens of Time

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