No, not in the beginning of the world or the universe or the Great Beyond...in the beginning of ME.

Joan Merriam.

Joan Merriam the author, the teacher, the Golden Retriever-lover, the gardener, the forest-dweller, the builder, the former business owner and nonprofit director and saleswoman and real estate appraiser...oh, yeah, I could go on and on.

In my lifetime, I think I've been just about everything except the bearded lady at the circus.

Guess I never quite figured out what I wanted to be when I grew up.

So here I am, all grown up...and I'm still searching. Learning. Changing and growing. And making plenty of mistakes along the way.

Guess that makes me human.

I started out my writing career with the nonfiction book, Little Girl Lost: A True Story of Shattered Innocence and Murder. Although it's out of print, I'm exploring ways to make it available again...so stay tuned!

Then came a column about life with dogs, which is now syndicated in four newspapers in California and Colorado.

My most recent adventure is as a fiction writer with my novel, A Just Reckoning, the first book in the Tess Alexander mystery series. The second book, A Cruel Oblivion, will be out before the end of 2021.

I also teach communication studies--public speaking, mostly--at a Northern California community college. Think about it: teaching public speaking during a pandemic when everything and everyone is online. Talk about an adventure.

You can learn a little more about me on my website. And if you're so inclined, I'd love to have you subscribe to my monthly newsletter.

This blog seemed a natural offshoot of my love of communicating with people: listening to you, interacting with you, and learning from you. In the coming weeks and months I'll be chatting about writing and reading, lessons learned and not learned, personal experiences, dogs (of course!), and life in general. I hope you'll join me!