Frequently asked questions of Joni Akins

(Ok, Stop Laughing, ha ha, people really do ask me these same things over and over.)

Personal stuff (put on your humor hat!)

Is it Johnny or Joanie? It IS in fact pronounced as if I were a guy, Johnny.

Just for fun, some of my comebacks to this question:

•  I was supposed to be a boy, but I like to surprise people.
•  I am named after Jon Christian Kreutz, an Oregon trail ancestor.
•  I was supposed to be a boy, but when I came out a girl, they just stuck an "i" on the end.
•  "What can I say? My parents did a lot of drugs in the 60's" This is only funny if you know my parents, well, and if you are in my head trying to imagine my mother stoned. THAT'S FUNNY!
•  "Why would I call it "Joanie"? There is no "e" on the end to make the "o" say "o", were you sick that day? (I only use that if I have had to tell someone more than once. Like a Doctor's Office or something. I have little patience for those who PRETEND to care what they are asking.)

How old ARE you? Why do people need to know this? I am younger than my parents, and older than my kids. That's all anyone really needs to know.

Are you married? I am married. My husband is currently a Chief in the US Navy. His next time home is as yet, undetermined. This choice is ours. So, I am pretty much married to the Navy, and they take pretty good care of me! :o)

 How Many Kids do you have? bah! I have a LOT! I am a Step mom to two wonderful adults, I am a natural mom of two wonderful adults (Also in the Navy), and I don't know what you call the other one. She was my step daughter in my second marriage, but we have remained as tight as if she were my own. I raised her since she was 5, That makes her mine by osmosis, (her maternal mother and I are good friends also.)

Author stuff

What prompted you to start writing Children's Books? My kid & my dad. Let me rephrase that, it was a culmination of several things. I was looking for a way to bring in some money while I was laid up from a car accident. I was homeschooling my step daughter, and part of a writing assignment I gave to her was to write a story and draw some illustrations. We were introducing the idea of different perspectives of different people. We had recently gone on a camping trip, I asked her to draw pictures of certain events during the trip. I then drew my side of what I saw on the same event. Then a story was created around those drawings of what she saw, vs. what I saw. Some of the people we showed it too at the time thought it would be a great children's book. I contacted Dorrance Publishing and they thought it sounded great, they asked me to send it in, and while that was in getting reviewed, I wrote three other stories. I had just completed Dean the Bean, the original (NOT the published version), when we received our first rejection letter. How ever, it made a great addition to our home class time, as we both learned how to send something to a publisher and how to eat a BUNCH of ice-cream when we got rejected. It was great fun. I went to work at a retailer shortly after that. And the whole thing went to the shelf so to speak.

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Copyright © 2007 Joni Akins
Last modified: 09/04/08