Get to Know Joann Howeth

It all started in grade school – Joann recalls getting herself into tight corners with complete fabrications at show-and-tell; conspicuous whoppers that no one believed. This storytelling behavior became the soundtrack of her life, prompting her to attempt writing her first novel at age 12.

Teachers must have recognized a minutia of talent beneath her proclivity for whopper-telling, because she received lots of praise for her writing along the path to college. Yet she didn’t take the encouragement seriously and instead of majoring in creative writing or journalism, earned her degree in English Literature, thinking she was going to teach high school. When that idea flopped, she changed course and found employment in the jewelry industry where she spent many happy years as a gemologist, designer, and goldsmith.

And what happened to that prevaricator, you ask? She’s alive and well.

Having revisited her dream of becoming a published author every decade of her life, shaping it to fit around jobs, and family, and errant mishaps, Joann’s dream has finally come true. A long-term member of the SCBWI and the winner of a handful of awards, she makes her home in Montana, colloquially known as “Big Sky Country,” where she and her husband raised their daughters and have been life-long domestics for a handful of cats. Currently, a black cat named Ghost haunts their home.