To find characters to illustrate my first family saga, I cut out models from the Sears catalogue. I was in fourth grade, but it was a start. In seventh grade I wrote a melodrama about two orphan sisters, one of whom was pregnant. There was also a story about a runaway girl with the unlikely name of Strawberry and one about mistaken identities and an evil blind date. My supportive, but vaguely concerned parents, sighed with relief when I announced I was going to write children's books. They bought me an electric typewriter and crossed their fingers, but somehow PASSION'S BRIDE came out. No one was really surprised.I graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a major in biology and a minor in chemistry and some notion that I would do marine research. Years of competitive swimming didn't help me anticipate seasickness. A career change seemed in order. I began working with adolescents and families, first as a childcare worker and later, after graduating from West Virginia University with a master's degree in counseling, as a therapist. I am currently the executive director of a child caring/mental health agency and find my work and my writing often compliment each other. One grounds me in reality and the other offers a break from it.
I chose my pen name because none of my college friends ever called me Joanne and Goodman is simply a loose translation of Dobrzanski. Two careers. Two names. One makes the other possible. When both sides of my brain are talking, it's a party!
Jo has written 18 historical romances, 3 short stories, and 1 novella. Her first book, PASSION'S BRIDE (reprinted in 1998 as THE CAPTAIN'S LADY), won best pirate romance from Romantic Times. FOREVER IN MY HEART won a Reader's Choice Award for best historical romance in 1994 and ONLY IN MY ARMS was a finalist the following year.
