Meet Joi Miner | Author-Preneur (Author, Editor, Publisher, Performance Poet, Storyteller, Motivational Speaker)

We had the good fortune of connecting with Joi Miner and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Joi, do you have a favorite quote or affirmation?

While sitting at a lake, watching the ebb and flow of the water, a dear friend of mine, Yogi Dada, said to me, “Be obedient like the water.” This quote has stayed with me from that moment. I love water. It’s where I go when I need to clear my head and re-center. I take what we call in my house “Hollywood showers” where you stay in the water until it turns cold. Some say that this is because I’m a water sign, Scorpio (don’t judge a girl by her zodiac lol). For me, water has always been a place of peace. However, I wasn’t able to put words to the logic of my love for water until that moment… that conversation. This quote means so much to me because, water is obedient but it’s also consistently itself. If you add heat, the molecules speed up and it becomes steam, but it’s still water. If you freeze it, the molecules slow down and it becomes ice, but it’s still water. If you put it into a container, it takes on the shape of that container, but it’s still water. Water can bring life, sustain life, or take life. It’s powerful enough to create paths where there were none. It’s patient enough to erode stone over time. If the wind blows, it flows in the direction that it’s being taken, without opposition, and on the same token, if there’s no wind, it sits still. My favorite about water, though, is that in all these things, it never loses its molecular makeup. Water is always water. No matter what shape it’s in or what direction it’s headed. No matter what it’s chosen task. It remains itself… always.

In a world where everyone is trying to make you fit into a box, trying to challenge who you are for their own personal reasons, trying to censor you for their own comfort, it’s difficult to remain true to yourself. As an author, an artist, a lesbian who is also a mother, and a human being, sometimes I find myself questioning whether I’m okay as is. I don’t fit in anywhere. But, because I remain obedient and true to myself, like the water, I’ve found that in my not fitting in anywhere, I’m able to find my space everywhere. And when I can’t find a space, I create one.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.

I’ve been writing since I was 5. I started out with roses are red, violets are blue poems at the end of letters to my favorite aunt. I wrote all the way through my childhood, but didn’t do anything seriously with it until college. I started performing at open mics, won a few slams, and when I got pregnant with my oldest daughter, Qadira, in 2001, and ended up on bedrest, my brother told me that if I compiled a collection of poems he would help me publish them. They became my first book, Graffitied Gypsy. That was 20 years ago. The rest is history.

I branched into novels when a friend of mine, Shani Greene-Dowdell, who’s a publisher, asked me what I’d done with the chapters of a book that I’d been sending to her over the eight years that we’d been friends. I told her I’d never finished it, and she said if I could finish it in a month, she would publish it for me. That was in 2014. I have since released 49 books and counting, 5 poetry collections and 44 novels (in varying genres, including urban fiction, lesbian fiction, urban paranormal, and lesbian fiction paranormal).

If I had to attribute anything to where I am in my career today, I would have to say it would be my children, first and foremost. When I had them, I chose to create a life that would make me available to them at all times. I didn’t want to miss a single school event, doctor’s visit, or birthday.

The second thing that I would have to give credit to would be my tribe, because you’re only as capable as those around you, and my tribe is pretty friggin’ dope. We encourage and motivate each other. There’s no envy or jealousy amongst us. And we respect the grind, and know that we won’t always see or talk to one another, but we’re always there.

Lastly, I would have to say that my tenacity played a huge part in my success thus far. I’m not a quitter, and I believe that there’s more than one way to skin a cat. So, if the first way doesn’t work for me, then I keep looking until I find that opening and flow right on in there. And, if there’s no opening to be found, then I kick the door down. Lol.

This path, just like any other creative path, is not an easy one. I’ve had publishers that have tried to hold the rights to my work even after they’d broken their end of the contract. I’ve had partners that haven’t been supportive. I’ve lost friends and family. I battle depression daily. Artists are our own toughest critics, so we don’t think that anything we create is good enough, or always believe that it could be better. But I am always pushing myself, challenging myself, learning more about my craft, and growing. I always remain humble and know that there’s forever room for improvement. I believe that you can learn anything from anyone of any age and from any walk of life, and I embrace every opportunity to do so. I also know that my talent is a gift and it can be taken from me at any moment. So I make sure that I use it fully, and appreciate that I was given this gift.

Fun facts about me:

I hear voices. I’m sure you looked just like my therapist did when you read this. Swear, she was ready to have me fitted for a straitjacket. Lol. But I do. I don’t have to come up with stories like some authors. My characters actually speak to me. I just transcribe their stories for them, obediently. If I don’t, then they stop talking to me, which is what writer’s block is for me.

I can write/edit a book in a day minimum, and a week, max. I’m a nerd so I figured out a formula that would allow me to write and/or edit a book in a normal person’s work shift every day. (Of course, my writing 80 words per minute gives me a bit of an advantage, but that came with practice, practice, practice, and years in customer service call centers.)

My favorite genres to write are urban lesbian fiction and lesbian fiction paranormal, because there is just not enough representation of us out there.

My tagline is, “My Life Is A Joi Miner Novel” and most of my books have characters based on people I know or encounter in real life.

I’ve almost died 5 times: having both of my daughters (2002 and 2011), e.coli in my left kidney (2016), a fiancée that tried to strangle me to death (2018), and an aneurysm rupture that resulted in emergency brain surgery (2020).

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?

In a COVID-free Birmingham, we’d start the vacay with a trip to Red Mountain Park for ziplining and a nature hike to the waterfall. Then we’d take a raft and just float and relax and enjoy the sounds and smells of nature. We would definitely hit up Red Mountain Theater for our theatrical fix, and go to the Birmingham Museum of Art to make up stories behind each of the pieces being exhibited. We’d take scooters through downtown to Bizarre The Coffee Bar for an open mic and spiked cappuccino, then head home to Netflix and Chill.

I’d take her to Jim Reed Books/The Museum of Fond Memories and peruse the shelves, picking out a few books that interest us, then to Seasick Records to grab some vinyl. We’d have to go to Sushi Village for my sushi fix, and then head on to Phase II for some LGBTQ fun, and hopefully catch a drag show while we’re there. I’d check the calendar for Meow Mixxx and see if they had any LGBTQ+ events coming that week, and we’d get a double dose of gay dopeness.

As touristy as it sounds, we’d definitely eat at The Cheesecake Factory, because any friend of mine loves cheesecake, or the friendship would be cancelled. Then find a spot that’s having a reggae night so we could dutty wind some of those calories away.

Next, we’d check out the Civil Rights Museum, and take a walk down memory lane, and then go across the street to the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. After all that heaviness, I would take her to Railroad Park to watch the koi in the ponds, and write about what we’d just seen and experienced about our past as Blacks in the South. Then, we’d head to FOP Range in Pleasant Grove, AL, to get some of the residual aggression off our chests.

We’d have to eat at Saw’s Soul Kitchen, because Soul Food and bread pudding are life. On the last night, we’d grab some The Tuxedo Junction Wine Ice Cream from Corbin Farms Winery and Burnette Farms Market, vibe to some of the vinyl we just bought, maybe pop a couple of moonshine cherries, and laugh and enjoy each other’s company.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?

My daughters, Qadira and Phoenix, my readers, pen sisters, supporters, and friends.

Specifically, all the entrepreneurs, artists, and other dope individuals that I’ve been privileged to encounter and call my tribe: Yogi Dada, Catina Passmore, C Devann McCummings, Germaul Barnes, Matthew Kemp, John Paul Taylor, Ebony Bowser, Mawu Young, Marxavian Deville, Janelle “Poetic Puff” Graham, Tony Christon-Walker, Brinston Story, Josh Williams, Zenobia Ranger, Marcy Swanson, Javacia Harris Bowser, Courtney Tabor, LeeSha McCoy, Tima Shrout, Claire and Evan Milligan… I could be here all day. But these people are my TRIBE. They’re my motivators, the ones who ‘get’ the struggles of being an artist and entrepreneur, and how bad it can suck sometimes, remind me of my purpose, rejuvenate my passion, and tell me to keep pushing through.

Website: www.joiminer.com

Instagram: @joiminer

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joi-miner

Facebook: facebook.com/joiminer, facebook.com/joiminer2, facebook.com/authorjoiminer

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/JameshaHendersonisJoiMiner/

Other: Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Joi-Miner/e/B00IJQ3DTW/ Blog: https://joiminer.wordpress.com/author/joiminer/

Image Credits
Poetic Images Photography Latrisha Redmon Photography CiCi Jones Photography Victoria Lens Photography