She was an important figure in the Mormon home literature movement of the late 19th century who published more than one hundred poems, fifty short stories, and five serialized novels.

[9] Like most of the figures in the Mormon home literature movement, Spencer published the bulk of her work in the periodicals established by the LDS church in the late 19th century in order to support their auxiliary organizations.

[10][11] Most of Spencer's published poetry either narrates events in Utah and Mormon history or celebrates the natural beauty of the Wasatch Mountains.

Her first published story, "The Descendent of an Ancestor" (1891), was a "lost world" adventure tale in the style of British writer H. Ryder Haggard.

[15] Many of her early stories were political in nature, and five of these—along with two new stories—were collected in the volume The Senator from Utah and Other Tales of the Wasatch, which was published by the Deseret News Press in 1895.

[8] Much of her early fiction reflects populist themes, such as the importance of labor unions ("The Senator from Utah"), the need for state- and community-owned utility companies ("A Municipal Sensation," and the march of Coxey's Army ("Finley Parke's Problem").

"[24] In 1898, Spencer submitted a collection of previously published poetry to a progressive magazine in san Francisco called The Coming Light.

[25]In her later fiction and poetry, Spencer abandoned most of the overtly populist and socialist motifs, but she continued to write about difficult issues, including divorce, prostitution, sex trafficking, and abortion.