Joni Keim

Joni Keim worked in the alternative health field for over 45 years as an author, practitioner, educator, and consultant. She has certificates in holistic health sciences, nutrition, and aromatherapy. She is also a licensed aesthetician with advanced training in an esteemed method of European skin care. She had a private practice in Sonoma County, California for several years and specialized in technical direction, proprietary formulas, and integrating alternative modalities into lifestyle and wellness programs.

Joni grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and is a fifth-generation Californian. She was the youngest and only introvert in a gregarious family. Her mother used to explain that sending Joni to her room was an ineffective punishment, and when she resorted to it, she eventually had to go get Joni to rejoin the family. This is mentioned here because these dynamics—being the youngest and being mostly introverted—set the stage for Joni’s writing.

Writing became a contemplative and personal time for Joni. It allowed her to be able to freely and safely express herself when doing so otherwise might have been uncomfortable, unavailable, or both. Though there were writing assignments in school, thank-you notes after birthdays, and occasional pen-pals, she did not do much writing in her youth. She began writing in earnest when her children were young. She got up at 4:30 in the morning and wrote until the family got up. It was her best time for writing, and it still is.

In the early days, Joni wrote for a variety of magazines in the health and wellness field. She was on the advisory board for one of them. Then, by happenstance, while in the waiting room of a doctor’s office, she met a man who owned a publishing company. She said she wrote for magazines. He said, “Why don’t you write a book?” And so, she did, and he published it in 1996.

Joni’s writing styles range from technical (health and wellness) to spiritual (her father’s influence), to memoirs (her love of matters of the heart). Writing is not a career for her, but it is a lifestyle. She always has a writing project in the works. All of her books are non-fiction. Even her children’s books are true stories.

She has written 13 books (some second editions) and 9 are currently on Amazon. Foreign rights were purchased by Brazil for 3 of them. Her books in-progress are 1) The Checklist for Naturally Beautiful Skin (technical), 2) Sisters (memoir), and 3) Angles for My Children (spiritual)—to follow her angel book for adults, Angels & Aromas).

About the writing process, Joni offers: Write about what you know, write about what captivates you, find your zone, and for non-fiction writing, include facts, quotes, and anecdotes.