When JoAnn carried wood as a pre-teen so her Great Aunt Martha could stoke up the iron stove to prepare dinner, she wasn't thinking, "I could use this in a novel someday." Yet, the skills she learned from her horse-and-buggy ancestors translate into backdrops for her historical romance and paranormal suspense novels.

Believing it's never too late to create your dream, she resurrected a life-long desire to write as she started retirement. She made her first sale October 24, 2007, to Samhain and is now proud to call herself a fiction writer.

When she's not writing, JoAnn is a volunteer for various community nonprofits--maintaining websites, writing press releases, and holding offices. She likes to walk, swim, and read. She lives in California with her son.