Joan's Biography
 
Joan Leslie Woodruff was born on a USAF base in New Mexico during the mid 1950's. She has lived in New Mexico, Mississippi, Newfoundland, Arizona, California, and Tennessee. She has traveled all over the world several times, and is partial to Scotland and Turkey. She currently lives on a ranch amongst the Anasazi ruins of Abo, New Mexico. Joan attended Corrales Elementary and Taylor Junior High in New Mexico. She attended Central High in Bolivar, Tennessee, and Alhambra High in Phoenix, Arizona. She received a Bachelor of Science Degree from Loma Linda University of Medicine and Allied Health Professions, Loma Linda, California. She received her Master's Degree, with a double major in Education and Counseling, from California State University. She later obtained her certification in psychometrics/evaluations from California State University. She is a board certified and registered Occupational Therapist.

Joan worked in the field of Occupational Therapy between 1975 and 1991. She has worked as an evaluator, as a forensic counselor with courts, and as a writer, since 1983.

Joan's nonfiction has been published around the country and in Canada, and has appeared in dozens of newspapers, commercial magazines and professional journals. Her fiction first appeared in the University of California's anthology. Her fiction has appeared in both literary and commercial magazines and anthologies. Her first book was published in 1990. She has recently completed POLAR BEARS in the KITCHEN, a suspense mystery. .

Joan has maintained certification with the American Occupational Therapy Association since 1975. She has been a member of numerous organizations. She had the privilege and honor of being the first elected president of the Inland Counties Occupational Therapy Association of Southern California. She was a member of the Board of Directors of the Riverside American Indian Center in Riverside, California. She currently is a member of the Mountainair Chamber of Commerce, and she is actively involved in multiple animal rescue groups. She personally takes care of approximately twenty homeless cats in Mountainair.

She is proud of ancestry which includes Shawnee, Eastern Cherokee, German, and Russian descent.

Joan's brother died in 1975. Her father lost his battle with cancer in 2007. Her mother's heart failed in 2008. She has many good friends, which have become like family.
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