Joyce was born in Dallas, Texas and grew up with her grandparents in Sweetwater, Texas. Always interested in entertaining, Joyce sang and acted, staging plays for the neighborhood. At Beaumont High, she continued to pursue drama as well as academics, graduating with honors. She also did a lot of community theatre, including national touring road shows of such stand-bys as “Carousel,” “Oklahoma!” and “Pajama Game” and even spent one summer touring with the Guy Lombardo Orchestra.

Joyce’s early dramatic interests came to an end when, shortly after graduation, she

married and had a baby. The relationship failed and Joyce was left a single mother. Undeterred, she took classes at the University of Houston and law classes at night. It was there that she met a pair of lawyers who offered her a much needed job. To her surprise, however, it was not to work in their office as a secretary, but to assist their private investigator.

For the next 37 years, Joyce would work as an investigator. She remarried and handled writing and filing reports with the district attorneys, honing her skills as a writer. She would work in 11 states during her career, ultimately retiring to the Palm Springs area of southern California.

Once she decided to become an author, Joyce attended many writers’ conferences, being mentored by such notables as Ray Bradbury, Rod Thorp, James Frey, and Charles Schultz. She wrote the Harbor Pointe Mystery Series, a trilogy fictionalizing several of her own real-life cases. Success was not easy, however. It would take 72 rejections before finding a publisher who then gave her a three book deal. So far, she has written 10 books, with 8 of them in print. Most of her works are non-fiction, including the IRWIN 2000 award winner “Power Marketing Your Novel.” During this time, she decided to return to school, eventually getting her PhD in Marketing. She has also taught creative writing.

Joyce never forgot her dramatic roots. She formed Hollywood East Productions with her screenwriting partner David Holman. They have written two screenplays which are both in production at Hollywood East. Joyce has also written plays. Her first, “Valley Confidential,” has been nominated in 12 categories for the 2005 Desert Stars awards. She has also written a play entitled “Lunch With a Stranger and Other Booty Calls,” a look at her failed attempts at Internet dating.

While living in the Palm Springs area, Joyce met her childhood idol, Howard Keel. The two became friends and Joyce was hired to assist Howard with his autobiography. The success of that venture however, was clouded with personal strife. In 2004, her marriage ended. She left California, returning to her native Texas. Health issues plagued the summer. In November, Howard Keel passed away, bringing an unhappy chapter in her life to a close.

She belongs to Women in Film and the Dallas Screenwriters. In 2000, Congresswoman Mary Bono gave her a Woman of Distinction award. In 2003, the Desert Post Weekly named her one of the Top 25 Women in the Coachella Valley to Watch. Today, Joyce is very busy. A life-long Dallas Cowboys fan, she helped get former Cowboy Rayfield Wright’s authorized biography in print. She tours the country promoting the Howard Keel book and gives lectures and seminars as well as serving as President of Hollywood East Productions. She has been asked to write a script for a television show in production and has a science fiction script being considered by a major Hollywood director through Mark McDermitt at Echo Entertainment.