In Joe's words:

I grew up in Boston. I moved to California and then Chicago where I married and had children. I spent the next thirty years working as a construction painter. I'd go to wherever the work was and have worked in many states.

I retired and moved to Prescott, Arizona. Upon arrival I partook of the mountains, hiking trails, and rock climbing. These activities satisfied me until one day I decided to write a story for my daughter Eva. She had recently gone to work for a mortgage company where many of the men were homosexuals. She always talked and joked about them, so I figured I'd write a story for her about homosexuals.

Once I started writing I discovered the power of the internet to do research. I learned so much about homosexuality that it changed my entire outlook on the subject. Having grown up thinking people of that persuasion were somehow less than human, I discovered male and female aren't so easily defined and many men are actually women in a man's body and visa versa for women.

I thoroughly enjoyed writing and it became an obsession of mine. No more hikes or rock climbing. I didn't have time. I have been writing for a little under three years and have at least sixty short stories on my computer, (two published) a completed novel, memoir, and my nonfiction, A Penis Manologue. I have two other first drafts of novels finished, but as I continuously improve my writing skills, I may leave them as first drafts and move on to other subjects.

I have been taking writing classes at Yavapai College for the three years I've lived in Prescott, and I will be a certified writer in 2010—an accomplishment for an eighth grade dropout.