Do You Know Joan Gage?

Getting to Know Each Other in NCWN-West

Joan Ellen Gage

Some of our members have not yet met Joan Ellen Gage in person. She is an author of humor and inspiration written from her own unique perspective. Her recipe for her writing focuses on staying upbeat and laughing at her own foibles. Joan’s photos are the spice in the mix that serves to punctuate the writing and add that special garnish to her creations. Photography is one of her hobbies.

Joan lives in Clay County, North Carolina, with her husband and her beautiful Belgian Tervuren Dog, Magnolia. If you know Joan, you know Maggie. Since I am a dog lover, Joan and I have had that in common since we first met even before she moved here.

Visit Joan’s blogs, Traveling at the Speed of Now, www.joanellengage.com, and A Redhead Blogs at 60!,  https://joanszoneblogalicious@wordpress.com. See her Facebook page where you hear her read her poems. There you can get better acquainted with Joan.

We are fortunate to have Joan Gage as a member of NCWN-West and as our Tech Administrator. She maintains our blog and website. She keeps our membership page updated with your pictures and bios. We have a Facebook page that she also manages. Joan has a quiet personality, but she is a busy and active member of NCWN-West. She holds a writing contest in Hayesville schools each year. She visits businesses and obtains prizes for the winners. An Awards Night is held in the spring, and the winning students read their work.

Joan volunteered with NCWN-West events including the Festival on the Square, A Day for Writers, our conference last year and the tribute to Kathryn Stripling Byer. She has coordinated the Celebration of Life of Nancy Simpson on May 5 at the John C. Campbell Folk School. She has been most helpful to this writer in many ways including facilitating Coffee with the Poets and Writers the latter part of 2017.

Joan wrote and published five books, Water Running Downhill, Embracing Your Inner Cheerleader!, A Redhead Looks at 60, Trinity’s Adventures in Imagination and a special edition of Water Running Downhill! The Rose Edition as a tribute to her friend Rose Helena Macedo Kull. All of the books are available as eBooks. Joan has given author talks, and had several radio interviews. We have enjoyed her readings at the John C. Campbell Folk School and Coffee with the Poets and Writers.

She may work quietly, but she leaves a large footprint wherever she chooses to be involved.

If you receive this post in your Inbox, please go to www.netwestwriters.blogspot.com and leave your comments for Joan in the comment section below. I hope you will thank her for all she does for us. 

Water Running Downhill, Words of Empowerment Rose Edition, by Joan Ellen Gage, dedicated to Rose Helena Macedo Kull

Rose

Joan Ellen Gage has published an edition of Water Running Downhill!, the Rose Edition,  which is dedicated to her friend Rose. She had wanted to feature her as one of her photo creations, but never got to do that. So, the next best thing was for her to honor Rose in this book.

Rose was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer on her 60^th birthday. She was a fighter, and eventually was on a monthly chemo regimen. Rose was determined to be there for her family. They lost her much too early.

So here’s to Rose, one of Joan's heroes! Here is a poem from Water Running Downhill!, the Rose Edition:

ONE TRIBE

 Have you felt

With passing years

A more pressing

Need to connect

With other women

To share observations

And laughter

To offer advice

Or garner wisdom?

Do you feel drawn

As if by a magnetic force

To be with your own kind?

For these women

Are a tribe, your tribe.

No one else will ever

Understand your struggle

As they will.

Women are our people.

When we come together

We feel a oneness

A sisterhood united.

When we come together

We are at home.

Joan Ellen Gage is an author of humor and inspiration written from her own unique perspective. Her recipe for her writing focuses on staying upbeat and laughing at her own foibles. Joan’s photos are the spice in the mix that serve to punctuate the writing and add that special garnish to her creations. 

Bio:  

Joan has written and published five books, Water Running Downhill!, Embracing Your Inner Cheerleader!, A Redhead Looks At 60, Trinity's Adventures in Imagination, and a special edition of Water Running Downhill! the Rose Edition as a tribute to her friend Rose Helena Macedo Kull. All available as eBooks.

Joan has given several author talks, and had several radio interviews. She is a member of her area’s writing group, NC Writers’ Network-West, serving as an administrator for their blog. Additionally, Ms. Gage has two blogs, Traveling at the Speed of Now, www.joanellengage.com,and A Redhead Blogs at 60!, https://joanszoneblogalicious @wordpress.com.

Joan lives in Western North Carolina with her husband and their Belgian Tervuren dog, Magnolia.