Image by mackintoshphotography.com.au
A brief biography:
Jo-Anne grew up in Brisbane Australia, and pursued her love of music throughout her school years, learning piano and singing in choirs. She holds an Arts degree with majors in modern languages from the University of Queensland, where she met her future husband, Lionel, then training for ministry. Four years later, the family moved to Sydney and then South Australia, eventually returning to Sydney with their three children, Jane, Andrew and Tina.
Jo-Anne worked as a high school teacher, fulltime mum, assistant editor, and office secretary, before undertaking further study. After obtaining a theology degree, she worked as part of a local church ministry team, before leaving to pursue her love of writing. Jo-Anne is also very interested in the people of Turkey and has visited there a number of times in recent years.
Jo-Anne enjoys writing both fiction and non-fiction. In 2007, her debut novel Heléna was released by Ark House Press, followed by its sequel All The Days of My Life in 2008. Then in 2009, her third novel Laura, inspired by the life of a friend who is blind, was released, followed in 2010 by her fourth, Jenna. This was then followed in 2011 by a fifth, Heléna 's Legacy, which picks up the story of one of the characters in Jo-Anne’s second novel, Dr Susan Curtis, and then tells a little more of what happens to Heléna.
In 2012, Jo-Anne's first non-fiction work, Soul Friend: The story of a shared spiritual journey, was released in October by Even Before Publishing. For more information about this book and related topics, please visit the Soul Friend website.
Jo-Anne has also completed a sixth novel, The Inheritance, due for release with Even Before Publishing in 2013.
Why I write:
A few years ago, I was travelling with a friend in Turkey. I was at a turning point in my life, and was sitting reading my bible and praying one day, asking God to show me the way ahead. Here is what I recorded in my journal on that occasion:
Isaiah 42:9 - ‘See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you.' Lord, I know the former things are gone, but please open my ears to hear you announce the ‘new things'!
I then turned to my bible again, and the very next words I read were some from that same chapter (vs 18-20): "Hear, you deaf: look, you blind, and see! Who is blind but my servant, and deaf like the messenger I send? Who is blind like the one committed to me, blind like the servant of the Lord? You have seen many things, but have paid no attention, your ears are open, but you hear nothing."
I immediately felt this was a gentle rebuke from God - a kind of ‘wake-up call', if you like. It was as if God were saying, almost with a slight sigh: Jo-Anne, you know I've already shown you what to do next! Go home and write a book, and learn some Turkish!' After I returned to Australia, I began to do both.
It had long been a dream of mine to write novels, but I had always felt there were more important things to do, that it somehow was not quite a ‘legitimate' way to spend my time and energies. Now I think otherwise. Now I am convinced it is what God wants and has gifted me to do at this stage in my life. More than that, I sense God is delighted to see me fulfilling more of the purpose for which I was created.
I love sitting by myself quietly writing, aware of God's presence around me and in me, and at the same time endeavouring to listen to where the story wants to go and what the people in my book need to say and do. I agree totally with the American writer Madeleine L'Engle, who said: Ultimately, when you are writing, you stop thinking and write what you hear. To work on a book is for me very much the same things as to pray (‘Walking on Water' p 149).
I hope and pray that my novels will make a difference in the lives of my readers - they are ‘books with purpose', as my publisher, Ark House Press, puts it. I hope and pray that many will hear the heartbeat of God in the words, and allow their own hearts to be touched in the process.
Jo-Anne grew up in Brisbane Australia, and pursued her love of music throughout her school years, learning piano and singing in choirs. She holds an Arts degree with majors in modern languages from the University of Queensland, where she met her future husband, Lionel, then training for ministry. Four years later, the family moved to Sydney and then South Australia, eventually returning to Sydney with their three children, Jane, Andrew and Tina.
Jo-Anne worked as a high school teacher, fulltime mum, assistant editor, and office secretary, before undertaking further study. After obtaining a theology degree, she worked as part of a local church ministry team, before leaving to pursue her love of writing. Jo-Anne is also very interested in the people of Turkey and has visited there a number of times in recent years.
Jo-Anne enjoys writing both fiction and non-fiction. In 2007, her debut novel Heléna was released by Ark House Press, followed by its sequel All The Days of My Life in 2008. Then in 2009, her third novel Laura, inspired by the life of a friend who is blind, was released, followed in 2010 by her fourth, Jenna. This was then followed in 2011 by a fifth, Heléna 's Legacy, which picks up the story of one of the characters in Jo-Anne’s second novel, Dr Susan Curtis, and then tells a little more of what happens to Heléna.
In 2012, Jo-Anne's first non-fiction work, Soul Friend: The story of a shared spiritual journey, was released in October by Even Before Publishing. For more information about this book and related topics, please visit the Soul Friend website.
Jo-Anne has also completed a sixth novel, The Inheritance, due for release with Even Before Publishing in 2013.
Why I write:
A few years ago, I was travelling with a friend in Turkey. I was at a turning point in my life, and was sitting reading my bible and praying one day, asking God to show me the way ahead. Here is what I recorded in my journal on that occasion:
Isaiah 42:9 - ‘See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you.' Lord, I know the former things are gone, but please open my ears to hear you announce the ‘new things'!
I then turned to my bible again, and the very next words I read were some from that same chapter (vs 18-20): "Hear, you deaf: look, you blind, and see! Who is blind but my servant, and deaf like the messenger I send? Who is blind like the one committed to me, blind like the servant of the Lord? You have seen many things, but have paid no attention, your ears are open, but you hear nothing."
I immediately felt this was a gentle rebuke from God - a kind of ‘wake-up call', if you like. It was as if God were saying, almost with a slight sigh: Jo-Anne, you know I've already shown you what to do next! Go home and write a book, and learn some Turkish!' After I returned to Australia, I began to do both.
It had long been a dream of mine to write novels, but I had always felt there were more important things to do, that it somehow was not quite a ‘legitimate' way to spend my time and energies. Now I think otherwise. Now I am convinced it is what God wants and has gifted me to do at this stage in my life. More than that, I sense God is delighted to see me fulfilling more of the purpose for which I was created.
I love sitting by myself quietly writing, aware of God's presence around me and in me, and at the same time endeavouring to listen to where the story wants to go and what the people in my book need to say and do. I agree totally with the American writer Madeleine L'Engle, who said: Ultimately, when you are writing, you stop thinking and write what you hear. To work on a book is for me very much the same things as to pray (‘Walking on Water' p 149).
I hope and pray that my novels will make a difference in the lives of my readers - they are ‘books with purpose', as my publisher, Ark House Press, puts it. I hope and pray that many will hear the heartbeat of God in the words, and allow their own hearts to be touched in the process.
