About me
Hi, I’m Joanna, and I love stories.
I homeschool my three adventurous, messy, magnificent tiny humans and live out my second childhood by playing alongside them.
I worked as a medical writer for a pharmaceutical company and a Chrisitan publishing house that focused on Sunday school material. I also worked for myself as a freelance writer, and I was the toughest boss I ever had.
I married my hero Vince, who is my love and my polar opposite. I’m quiet, and he’s…. less so. I break things, he fixes them. He’s nailed the “speak the truth” thing, and I bring the “in love” part. But the real spark to our marriage is that he does not like chocolate and I… like it a normal amount. We live in our house in the woods near Lake Michigan where we regularly receive visitors needing a break from adult life.
I’ve always loved stories, and I’m an avid listener and story collector.
I’m not talking about the big, colorful adventures that would make amazing social media posts. I want to hear about that thing that makes you feel odd or alone, because it’s likely tons of others feel that way. Tell me your everyday life, occurrences common to most people, and things that might bond us if we talked about it. Maybe it’ll make more sense to you then.
Because that’s what stories do for us.
They are not an escape from the world, but a way to untangle and understand it. So go ahead, tell me your story. It may just make you feel a ton better to get it out there and realize you’re allowed to feel that way… or at least it’ll give you someone to celebrate or cry with.
But hey, I have a secret for you. If your own story has left you raw and broken, try this bad-day medicine.
Go out and hear someone’s story. Walk right up and ask them. It brings a sense of value to the one doing the telling, because in truth, no one wants their life to be invisible or forgotten. Have you ever felt either of those things? Yes, probably. All right, now go do something about it. No, don’t shout your own worth out loud—no one will be listening.
Go out and “see” a person the rest of the world has written off and write them back into the land of the living.
That will speak louder than anything impressive you can say about yourself. So if your own story is too sensitive to share, make this your story—blessing people, breathing life, recognizing value in people the way Jesus did. You can do all this no matter how little you feel you have to offer, no matter what type of person you are. All you have to do is ask, then stop talking.
That’s my writer’s heart in a nutshell.