Joyce L. Miller, author
Hi!
Thank you for checking out my website. Below, I share a few things about myself.
Having mountains near is so special to me. I grew up in Tennessee just west of the Blue Ridge Mountains and just east of The Great Smokey Mountains. Now I live with my husband, Dan, in sight of the rugged Colorado Mountains and like to explore them—to hike, snow ski and go off roading.
Some history first. I worked at a theater concession stand while I was in high school. Free movies was a perk, but the best part was taking home some of the cotton candy and popcorn that wasn’t sold at the end of every work night.
I was an acrobatic majorette then. I marched in front of my high school band turning cartwheels and front overs in parades and at football games. My favorite high school subject was English Lit. I did like to read. I spent a lot of time in my city library looking for books about people and places I knew little about.
After college, I taught writing and literature to high school students in rural Alabama. I was so lucky. My students were sharp, caring, and possessed rich, creative, and active imaginations. They were such fun! One nickname they had for me was MAMA SMURF. Smurfs you probably know are very little blue people only two apples tall. I am less than 5 feet tall so the nickname was a good fit. LITTLE HOUSE was another favorite (from the show Little House on the Prairie about a family living on a farm in the 1890’s). I wore boots a lot like the young ladies on that television show. Later, I taught writing to college students. They were too “mature” to be as much fun, but they were very bright as well!
When my family was young, I worked for NASA (yes, the space agency) researching, writing, and making sure that NASA had permission to put pictures and stories for students on the internet and that its online use of what people created was legal and fair. For a while after that, I did business-type work for a college library, and I worked as an editor correcting books for other authors.
Now, in addition to writing books, I have a company with my husband Dan titled The Copyright Detective. We like to help other writers like us to make sure that they have official permission to use content like pictures, music, or even quotes in their writing projects.
I have always LOVED animals! My pets growing up included a pony named Pretty Boy. Sounds more like a parrot’s name, doesn’t it? I didn’t have a parrot, but I did have two parakeets and several very special dogs, a cocker spaniel named Pete being a favorite.
I also LOVE to travel—to meet people from other parts of the world and learn about their history and culture. My three children are grown now, and I have a grandson. We have great adventures visiting new places together. I have walked the streets of Pompeii, watched kangaroos playing on Australian lawns, spotted whales breaching the water along the California coast, and ridden on the back of a tiny scooter in busy Thai city traffic while holding on to a large potted tropical tree. You can check my Instagram for travel pictures here as well as updates on my author activities.
Two of my main interests are animal rights and environmental activism. As I said, I love animals and I love my planet! Because we often travel, the only pets we have now at home are our goldfish. We have installed two fishponds for our goldfish below our deck. I do get to visit with our “family cats” Vlad, Eli and Mama when we are in Thailand.
