Joyce Hart Biography (1954-)

Joyce Hart told SATA: "My family traveled a lot while I was growing up, so I started writing at an early age in order to stay in touch with my friends, whom I always seemed to be leaving behind. At least once a week, I wrote long letters to them, hoping they would do the same. Letter writing developed into diary and journal writing, which I continue to this day. Because of these practices, putting my thoughts into words comes easily to me, even easier than actually speaking. (I have always been rather shy.)

"My college education was interrupted when I decided to get married, so I ended up graduating at the same time as one of my sons. However, I knew exactly what I wanted to study, because I had been thinking about it for a long time. I love language and wanted to know as much as I could about it. I majored in literature, but what I most wanted to learn was how languages were formed and used, so I also studied linguistics, foreign languages, and creative writing.

"After a long career in a variety of jobs, from working in a school library to managing a fashion design studio and editing a literary magazine, I decided to start my own business as a freelance writer and copy editor. I wanted to devote all my time to writing. It was a major decision for me, but it has proved to be my most satisfying job, and I wish I had been confident enough to have made this change a long time ago.

"Now I work for several different publishing companies. Sometimes I write books for them. Other times, I write material for Web sites and databases. Other writers often ask me to help them with their writing, and that is when my copy editing skills come in handy. My study of languages has made me very good at editing.

"Everything that I have published so far has been written for students, from elementary school through college. All of my books have been nonfiction and include a biography, a couple of textbooks for teaching English as a second language, and several with social studies topics. I enjoy writing nonfiction, but one day I also want to write fiction. My favorite form of fiction is the short story. And my favorite setting for these stories is Hawaii."