Episode 7: Joni Rodgers

Joni Rodgers is known to readers and publishers as a novelist, ghostwriter and essayist with an eye for detail, an ear for language and a heart to match her subjects. She's collaborated on best-selling books with Don Lemon (This is the Fire), Kristin Chenoweth (A Little Bit Wicked), Swoosie Kurtz (Part Swan, Part Goose), Elizabeth Smart (Where There's Hope), Justin Bieber (First Step 2 Forever), Rue McClanahan (My First Five Husbands…and the Ones Who Got Away), and Ndaba Mandela, the grandson of Nelson Mandela (Going to the Mountain), among others.  In January, 2022, she plans to reissue six books of her own, including the critically-acclaimed novels Crazy for Trying and Sugarland and the deeply personal (and, deeply funny) memoir about surviving cancer as a young mom, following a diagnosis of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma at the age of 32—the best-selling Bald in the Land of Big Hair. Joni's always known how to hold an audience: she grew up on stage, performing in a family bluegrass band called The Dakota Ramblers, and after studying theater in college she thought she'd make her way in the world as a performer—acting, playing music, and doing voice-over work. The cancer changed that—and so, she started writing.  "Ghostwriting combines the craft skills I've gained as a writer with the collaborative spirit of my theater roots," she writes on her website. "I use my Stanislavski training to capture the unique voice of my clients, structure compelling stories, and focus powerful messaging."  Together with her husband, the multi-media artist Gary Rodgers, she runs the Westport Lighthouse Writers Retreat, on the Pacific Coast, adjacent to Washington's Westport Light State Park.  Connect with Joni Rodgers: Official website Westport Lighthouse Writers Retreat Facebook Instagram