JULIE VISSER - Author
ABOUT JULIE
Julie lives in Idaho with her husband and three children. An avid reader from age eleven, by age twenty-two, reading had become such a severe addiction that she stopped reading completely after the birth of her first child, an effort to remain focused on her family. Two years later, the stories began to develop within her, but five passed before she put pen to paper, and Waves of Sorrow was birthed.
In 2012, Julie worked full time while she wrote her first novel, in the evenings after her children and husband had gone to bed. She completed her manuscript in early 2013 but in 2015 stopped working full time so she could homeschool her children. Thus, her writing career was placed on hold until 2017 when God made it clear that it was time to find a publisher.
Julie worked eleven years in the screen printing industry. She still works full-time, homeschooling her two oldest children, and cherishes every moment that she spends with her baby; moments she lost by working such long hours through Rebecca and Pieter’s childhoods. She and her husband have learned through difficulty that apart from Himself, God places the responsibility of family above all else. The monetary sacrifice they made on the behalf of their children was the most difficult, yet rewarding, decision they have ever made.
BEHIND THE WORDS...
Julie Visser
Growing up, I used books as an escape. I loved school but only in regards to academics -- I love to learn. Socially, I lived in fear, and reading quickly became a convenient way for me to escape; to delve into the lives upon each hastily turned page while I, in turn, discounted my own. My life moved on around me as I ignored it, immersing myself in whatever it was I happened to be reading at the time. It was then that reading became an addiction, one which I would never fully overcome. By the grace of God alone, I've learned to master it.
As I grew to womanhood and set aside my books, writing became my dream, one which I never believed I had the potential to fulfill. I've had no formal education beyond a high school diploma and it's fairly safe to say that my intense reading during my youth has become my means of know how with regards to my writing ability. Alongside, of course, those skills which God Himself has chosen to grant me, and I'm wont to believe that the later has greater strength than the former.
It was several years of dabbling before I made the decision to try my hand at a novel, and I readily admit, it wasn't done very well. Waves of Sorrow as it appears in my book isn't at all what it was at its birth. Its prologue and first two chapters have been rewritten completely, and a vast majority of the remaining text was overhauled, although its context remains the same now as it was during its conception.
Time has certainly been my ally for I didn't give up, instead working diligently to perfect my lone manuscript. Gently, God urged me to continue, and begrudgingly, I complied -- until my perseverance was aptly rewarded.
