Interview with Bindi | Interview with Joni

Creator Joni B. Cole was having a bad day when she conceived the idea for the This Day book series. Trying to deal with a serious illness in her family, job woes, and a child who refused to wear socks in the winter, she wondered if any one else was feeling so low. Surely not. But what were other women doing and feeling and thinking on this very same day? And so This Day was born out of self pity, curiosity, and a need to connect. Joni is also the author of the book Toxic Feedback: Helping Writers Survive and Thrive. The Erma Bombeck Writers Workshop declared Toxic Feedback, "required reading for all writers." Library Journal "strongly recommended" the book to writers, teachers, and workshops. (For more info, visit www.toxicfeedback.com.) Joni received a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies degree from Dartmouth College, and has taught writing workshops for about fifteen years. She is a frequent speaker at MFA programs and writing conferences around the country, and is currently working on a collection of personal essays. Joni lives in Vermont with her husband and two daughters.

Co-Creator B.K. Rakhra  is a writer and part-time professional movie watcher (coding movies for a university-based risk behaviors study). She left the nine-to-five world of steady  paychecks and affordable insurance when she segued from fundraising to fiction writing (short stories, screenplays, her memoirs). As a writer, an observer, and an insatiably curious woman, she couldn’t say no to This Day, a book series that would let her ask anyone—anyone!—what her day is like. She continues to test her theory that  no kids + no husband = eternal youth.

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Webmistress and Technologist Nancy Fontaine. This Day is as much a project as a book, which means someone has to have expertise in databases, websites, and how to communicate efficiently with hundreds of project participants and supporters. That someone is Nancy. In her day job, Nancy works in fund raising at Dartmouth College. She is also a book reviewer for Blogcritics.org and other websites, and a blogger herself (http://nanfont.googlepages.com/). Nancy earned a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies degree from Dartmouth College, and a Master of Library Science degree from Syracuse University. She sings, quilts, plays softball, and once attended a Star Trek convention, but we don’t hold that against her. Nancy is married and has two cats, who enjoy watching House almost as much as she does.

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Former Co-Creator Rebecca Joffrey developed an online mentoring business designed to help women college graduates understand the diversity of paths they can take in life. This project ultimately led to her involvement in the first two This Day books. During the first book (2002), Becky and her husband, Alan, had a daughter, Elizabeth. In the spirit of sequels, Becky had a son, Dexter, in 2004, in the middle of producing the second book (double diaper duty!). Becky now works as a career development officer at The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, where she also received her MBA. Thanks Becky for everything!