Jan Verhoeff - The Writer's Biography

I was born in Lamar, Colorado a small community of about eight thousand people just west of the Great Plains and just east of the Rocky Mountains, located on the south banks of the Arkansas River. When I was about six months old, my parents moved into the house across the street from my grandparents. The impact they had on my life as a youngster, and even as a young adult was tremendous. Both of them were incredible storytellers.
My grandparents, along with their parents had homesteaded in eastern Colorado in the early 1900’s. Their stories and the pioneers who homesteaded here became my definition for life.

I was a normal child. At about three I led my Shetland pony into the living room of our very small home, where my little sister was playing. When I was six, I brought my whole class home for a birthday party my mother didn’t know I was having. When I was about eight, I was swinging on the swing set in our front yard and my skirt caught on the front fence and literally came off of me - in front of all the neighborhood boys. (Yes, I was wearing clean underwear.)

My younger years were sprinkled with Amway Meetings, since my parents were Distributors of the miracle product. I was quite privileged to meet both Jay Van Andel and Rich De Voss, as well as Dusty Owens, Zig Ziglar, Ben Johnson, and Skip Ross, along with many other famous folks who also sold soap. Their impact on my life was highly significant.

In April before my high school graduation I rushed out of a local store and got into my car, parked in my usual parking space (hey, I told you it’s a small town!) and drove off. I was about two miles away when I realized I was driving the wrong car. By the time I got back to the store, there were three police officers and the owner of the car standing in front of the store, in my parking space. My car was sitting about three spaces to the north, and they still hadn’t noticed it. Same color, same model, same make, and my key fit the door of both.

I somehow survived college. By then I had learned to be shy and bashful - though I’m not sure why. I certainly didn’t stay that way. But, those shy years defined my writing skills. I spent a lot of time writing down my feelings and thoughts, rereading them and writing them again.

My writing career started about the time I could pick up a pencil. Other children drew pictures (and I did too) but I wrote stories. I wrote journals, diaries, stories I imagined, stories I was told, poetry, interviews, and anything else I could think of to write. When I was 11 I met my first real pen pal and we started writing letters. One of those first letters included an essay about the notorious squirrels that danced and played about my parent’s fireplace, and had since they added it to their home in 1970… it was near the end of a several page letter that I finally admitted to Kitty that the squirrels were actually plastic and only hung on the sides of the fireplace mantle. Kitty’s mother informed me in another letter that I should become a writer - because I had such a vivid imagination and such an expressive manner of writing.

A few years later, I wrote a heart-rending essay following an interview with Waylon Jennings. It was published in a paper called the “Music City News” and I received my first shiny new press card, identifying me to all the world as a writer. My parents were avid Country Music Fans and we spent summer vacations in Nashville, Tennessee. I met and interviewed Johnny Cash, Tanya Tucker, Hank Jr., Connie Smith, Loretta Lynn, Marty Robbins, Buck Owens, and many others.

College and a few years that followed were a real trial for me. I dealt with some severe depression, the death of my grandmother, and the death of a boyfriend the night after he’d proposed. I recoiled, spending every spare moment writing in my journals. Shortly after I came out of my self-imposed cave, I married and had my oldest daughter. '

My fairytale wedding ended less than seven weeks after it began, but I had the “happy ever after”. My daughter was a miracle child. Brenna and I thrived on sunshine, stories, and laughter. Four years later I married my second husband, and I wrote my first book.

In 1992 I published a booklet telling entrepreneurs how to start a home-based business. It was a hit; I’d sold every copy and reprinted it less than six months later, publishing 1000 copies at a time, through a local printer. I began selling articles to magazines and business publications and in 1994 I received my first ‘writing contract’ to co-author a Text Book. That first textbook was a flop, but it gave me confidence to pursue a career in writing.
I had three more children. My second husband left during the summer after our eleventh anniversary. Probably the most effective comment I can make about that is, for many years, he carried around a photo of “his family” that included the kids and I. He wasn’t in the picture, because he was spending the afternoon with friends and forgot to show up for the photo-session.
Writing evolved. In 2002 I published a book of poetry called “The Prickly Points of Life”, and another “How To Book” about home schooling called “Thinking Outside the Box”. During the following summer I published a booklet telling others how to self-publish their work titled “Put Your Thoughts In Print”.

During all this time, I was publishing “White Paper Reports”, managing an online newsletter, writing weblogs, and creating websites. I also managed to operate a tax consulting business from my home and a few other businesses that I still have a hand in. I’m frequently published in business magazines and trade journals, with more than 300 publications to my credit.

My writing has expanded to include sharing tales of family life, children, and the romance of sunlight. I currently have an online bookstore at <http://lulu.com/janverhoeff> with 8 titles available. One of them belongs to my 11-year-old son. He wrote Corky the Happy Lizard when he was 9 years old. One is a book titled “ Real Auto Maintenance for Real People” with my Auto Mechanic, Mike Machen. He had actually written the ‘data’ over several years, but didn’t have a book. He wanted to publish it as a book, so I helped to write it in a more readable fashion and sorted through the technical jargon until we came up with a very readable book that helps non-mechanically-inclined folks like me maintain their vehicles. Other titles; “Christmas Angels”, “Make Money Online”, “Savor the Moment”, “7 Strategic Secret Steps to Success”, and “Easter Menu & Recipe Book” are mine. Two of these are business strategy books , and the others are my writings and ideas including short stories, essays, and poetry.

The last title available at that site is a Tax Planner and Preparation Guide that I put together for my own Tax Clients, and decided to offer for FREE to any who wanted to use it online. It has to be rewritten every year, because the tax law changes. It’s by no means complete, but it has the basics for someone planning their own tax strategies.

My website at <http://janverhoeff.com> is a slowly evolving process. I haven’t settled on a style or dedicated focus yet. It seems to have a life of it’s own. I can’t quite get organized enough to focus on one thing, and yet it does very aptly point to my business as what I do.
Every Bio should conclude with where the author is going from here… I’m not sure I can get there, from here… But, here goes…

Due to release in the immediate future: I have a series of six Adventure books well on their way to completion, about the Adventures of four extremely energetic and courageous children and their single Mom who live in a small town on the banks of a river and manage somehow to find all sorts of mysteries. While the mysteries found in the books are not necessarily true to life experiences, many of the ‘inspiring details’ are real.
A test of true grit, these kids are inspired to explore their community for clues that randomly appear in their lives, such as: a black athletic shoe found in the driveway, a dead leg in their pond, an abandoned vehicle parked at the curb outside their home, a reappearing $20.00 bill marked with a Red *R*, and mystery #6 an inexplicable brown bag.

I’m currently working on the release of a book and possible movie that is extremely exciting to me. I won’t share a lot of details, but if (and when) it is released, it will rock foundations. It’s a page-turner.

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