Category Joy’s Work

The Curious Reader By Mental Floss

So happy to have contributed to The Curious Reader by Mental Floss! It’s full of facts about authors and their books, from Jane Austen to JRR Tolkien. From the publisher: Readers rejoice From Mental Floss, an online destination for more…

Opening My Book!

I’m writing this on June 8th. Right Back Where We Started From came out on May 4th. It has been over a month now, and I can finally breathe a little after this whirlwind. Promoting and publishing a debut novel…

LitHub Essay: All in the Timing

For Literary Hub, I wrote an essay called All in the Timing: On Publishing a Novel Nine Years After Giving Up on It. It’s the publishing story of my novel, Right Back Where We Started From, which I finished way…

Article: Flight of the Condors

Late last year, I went on a quest to see the critically endangered California Condor in the wild. I wrote about the experience for Alta. I’ve always wanted to see a California condor in the wild. It’s on a list…

Essay: Elegy For A Tree

My neighbors cut down their tree and banished all the birds from our yard. I wrote an essay about it for Entropy. The morning after the neighbors cut down the tree, my yard was quiet. The crows that for the…

Alta Essay: Searching for Mary Austin

For Alta Magazine, I wrote the essay Searching for Mary Austin: Life for the author of The Land of Little Rain was as hard as the inhospitable region she wrote about. Excerpt: Right before the coronavirus quarantine, I went to…

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Alta Live With Carol Edgarian

Recently I spoke with Carol Edgarian about her novel Vera for Alta Live. You can watch here: And if you like that, I also spoke with Carol again on What’s The Story? (Scroll down to find her name.)

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Watch My Keynote!

Here is my keynote for the Southern California Writers’ Conference! I tell the publishing story of my novel, Right Back Where We Started From, and lessons I learned along the way.

Keynote Speech At Southern California Writers’ Conference

This Sunday, Valentine’s Day, I’m giving a keynote speech at the Southern California Writers’ Conference. It’ll be streaming on Zoom, for free. Tune in and listen at 4:30 PM (PST) on February 14th. I’ll be telling the crazy story of…