Joy Overbeck
Journalist and Author

Words wove an intoxicating enchantment for me very early in life. My writing career was launched with the parental Christmas gift of a hand-cranked, rotary toy printing press when I was seven years old. Ink stained fingers! Movable type! Soon, I was writing and publishing a newspaper covering the riveting goings-on in my Park Ridge, Illinois, neighborhood. From time to time, yellowed copies of that legendary publication surface on Antiques Road Show where they command awed appraisals in the seven figures.

For me, writing is endlessly fascinating as it allows me to search the lives and psyches of a far-flung variety of carbon-based life forms, both human and animal. I have probed and revealed in print the feelings and motivations of artists, architects, interior designers, politicians, restaurateurs, captains of industry, longhorn cattle ranchers, straying wives and husbands, a killer buyer who purchases horses to send to slaughter, an altruistic dentist, a legendary extreme skiing film star, a university president, an internationally-famous cancer expert, a bunch of irrepressible types who are actively flunking retirement, the owners of multi-million dollar homes, and so many more.

And the challenges keep coming. Every time I talk to someone new, I learn more about the workings of our intriguing world and the wonderful unpredictability of people. In this, I delight -- so if you have a challenge for me, I'd love to hear about it!

My feature and essay work has been published in many national and regional magazines, including Redbook, Woman's Day, Health, Readers Digest, Newsweek, Family Fun, Cosmopolitan, High Country News, LUXE, 5280 Denver Magazine, Vail-Beaver Creek Magazine, and Rocky Mountain Golf. (No, I don't play golf.) You will find a few samples on this site; please contact me to see more of my work.

I am also the author of three published books; you can read more about them below.

Thank you for visiting!

AND EVEN MORE ABOUT ME...

After graduating with honors and a B. A. in English Literature from the University of Illinois at Champaign, (I also attended DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana) my advertising career began with a position as fashion copywriter at Carson Pirie Scott and Co. department stores in Chicago. I was responsible for writing ads, catalogues, and direct mail for a dozen women's and junior fashion departments for this large, state-wide store chain.

Before long, I moved to Denver, Colorado, and worked for Campbell Mithun and other ad agencies as a copywriter on client accounts including banks, home builders, ski areas, developers, cable companies, medical devices, and food products before becoming a freelance writer.

My first book, Ranchos de Taos San Francisco de Asis Church (Lowell Press 1981), describes the history and renovation of the famous, Spanish 16th Century adobe landmark near Taos, one of the grandest and most-photographed historic churches in the nation.

Next came a satire inspired by my advertising career, The Whole Birth Catalogue (Pocket Books 1986), a spoof of yuppie high-performance baby-having in a mock catalogue that contains over 100 whimsical, outrageous, not-available-anywhere products for pregnancy and childbirth. Nevertheless, readers persistently attempted to order these fantasy items. People Magazine called the book, “utterly enjoyable... hilariously cynical,” and featured the book, my daughter and myself in a 5-page spread. Publisher’s Weekly said it was “well-conceived and wonderfully delivered” and named the book one of the “Ten Best Nonfiction Paperbacks of 1986.”

Then I wrote Love Stinks: The Romantic’s Guide to Breaking Up Without Breaking Down (Pocket Books 1990). Pocket calls the book “a wise and witty look at the agonies of parting and the ecstasies of moving on.” Publisher’s Weekly’s review had high praise: “This urbane guide to the fine art of ending relationships packs a laugh a minute into its perceptive pointers. Her light style is sure to bolster the heartbroken.” In 1991,the British and Australian editions were published by HarperCollins; in 1992 Love Stinks was translated into Italian (Sperling & Kupfer.) From the book I created an amusing play that enjoyed a successful run in Denver. Love Stinks also led to my hosting a talk show called “The Joy of Parenting” on top-rated Colorado radio stations KOA and KTLK.

I have also written articles and essays on a variety of topics for national publications including Newsweek, Redbook, Readers Digest, TV Guide, Family Fun, New Woman, Parents, Cosmopolitan, Woman’s Day, and Health Magazine. Also the Chicago Tribune, Denver Post, Houston Post, Washington Times, and Tampa Tribune, among others, as well as a number of essays as a syndicated columnist for Writers on the Range, a service of High Country News with scores of subscribing newspapers across the West.

My work has appeared in many local and regional magazines such as 5280 Denver Magazine, LUXE, Vail/Beaver Creek Magazine, Colorado Expression, Architecture and Design of the West, and others.

My feature subjects cover a wide range, from personal profiles, relationship and lifestyle topics to the West, political issues, interior design, art and architecture, travel, and restaurants. My advertising career taught me how to quickly master subjects I know nothing about, enabling me to accept virtually any writing assignment. I particularly enjoy interviewing interesting people with intriguing stories; my editors have sometimes expressed amazement over my ability to draw my subjects out and obtain great quotes.

My husband and I have three grown children between us. Living in the wide open Colorado ranchlands, we love to spur our horses out to explore the sweeping freedom of the mountains and plains.