Introduction

Here’s a great concept: get together a group of women whose names have “Anne” in them, and see what happens. I can’t think of a better way to randomize a blog. Can’t wait to see what varied writings come of this.

Hi, my name is Julianne, a name I’d thought was unique until I was nearly thirty years old and Bruce Springsteen met Julianne Phillips. Imagine my shock when attending a concert in 1984 and I heard Bruce dedicate a song to her. I’d never in my life heard of anyone named Julianne, and thought my parents had made up the name. Up to that point, I’d thought I was the only Julianne on the planet. It took me a full minute to realize he didn’t mean me.

Since then I’ve heard of or met several Juliannes. Julianne Moore, of course, Julianne Hough, several Julianne Lees including a viola player with the Boston Symphony, and my friend Julianne McCoy. Where I live there is also a Julie Ann Lee and everyone who knows her tells me about her. I’ve never met her, but I certainly know about her because when my daughter was fifteen she used to date Julie Lee’s son. That’s life in the small, I guess. Hendersonville is the sort of place where twice I’ve randomly run into people for whom I frequently receive wrong number calls on the telephone. But that’s a blog entry for another day.

In any case, my name is Julianne and I’m an author. Since 1993 I’ve written newspaper articles, short stories, magazine articles, Internet content, novels, newsletters, websites, and video sleeve copy to pay the bills. All my life I’ve been good with words, which sound great but often I’ve wished for skills a little more marketable than stringing words together. After all, one quick glance at the average Facebook wall will tell you that nobody cares much about grammar and spelling any more. So I eke out a living and have sent both my children to college by wordsmithing.

These days it’s all novels. Over the past decade and a half I’ve had ten professional publications in the US, all from Berkley Publishing. My first series of four books, beginning with “Son of the Sword,” were time travel stories set in eighteenth century Scotland during the Jacobite Rebellions. The second series of three, beginning with “Knight Tenebrae,” were also time travel but set in early fourteenth century during the Wars of Independence. My historical fiction is as true to known fact as humanly possible when writing fiction. No Bravehearting for me, and that is why I’ve segued into straight historical where accuracy is paramount. My last three books were “Her Mother’s Daughter” about Queen Mary Tudor, “A Question of Guilt,” about Mary, Queen of Scots, and “Spanish Bride,” under the pseudonym Laurien Gardner, about Catherine of Aragon.

This year I’m off to something else, taking a stab at historical mystery under the name Anne Rutherford. (Still an “Anne.”) The first of these is titled “The Opening Night Murdre,” set in Restoration London and a fictional theatre troupe. I have a degree in theatre art from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and am thrilled to be using that knowledge in my novels for something more than just characterization and plot principles. I’m still in the research phase at this time, and I’m looking forward to the actual writing. The Restoration is such a fascinating period, because of enormous change, great wealth, crushing poverty, and it was a time of awakening for women, who began to have an inkling of their true potential.

Keep watching this space for more and interesting posts from the “Annes.” I think it’s going to be exciting.