I'm a novelist, nonfiction author, short story writer, and essayist. I write what I'm passionate about. I love words and the creative process, and hope I live to be 110 to get everything down.

My first novel, The Way Home, (Five Star), set in Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley, is about a woman forced to confront her broken relationship with her aging father.

I co-authored Your Self-Confident Baby (John Wiley & Sons) with Magda Gerber, founder of Resources for Infant Educarers. Your Self-Confident Baby has been translated into German, Spanish, and Czech, and was featured in O: The Oprah Magazine.

My essays have appeared in The Los Angeles Times and Orange Coast magazine. "Beauty and My Beast," an essay about my struggle with self-image, appeared in the Los Angeles Times Magazine. I'm a contributor to Orange Coast magazine and desertusa.com. My essay, "Taming Miss Jazzy," appears in Cup of Comfort for Cat Lovers: Stories that Celebrate our Feline Friends.

My short stories were performed at the New Short Fiction Series in Los Angeles and at the Annenberg Community Beach House in Santa Monica, California. My short story, "The Winter Season," placed me as a finalist for the Glimmer Train Very Short Fiction Award. My poetry has appeared in the literary journal ONTHEBUS and the literary journal of the desert, Phantom Seed.

Check out my blog, a place to share the sights, history, events, and people of the desert--families, tourists, artists, and wanderers: http://edgeofthemirage.blogspot.com/

Reviews and comments, The Way Home:

"What makes The Way Home worth reading, more than anything else, it's the quirky but still believable characters. Johnson's portrayal of the often awkward issue of how to deal with a failing, and in this case, cantankerous parent, is deft and sensitive--graced with more than a garnish of humor."
--Tim Wilcox, Coast Magazine

For anyone who has ever driven the desert and been captivated by the sight of wind farms, the miles of perfectly spaced white mills, turning in what we can only perceive as harmony, this novel is a must-read. The landscape seems to make all kinds of love and healing possible.
--Stacy Bierlein, Other Voices

Allison Johnson writes about people on the edge. In particular, people in Southern California who are living on the fringe, physically, emotionally, and mentally. In The Way Home she writes about real people who make human mistakes that are not healed overnight.
--Jamie Lee Pricer, The Desert Sun

Allison Johnson's The Way Home is a beguiling blend of family politics, Western landscape, and the complications of the human heart. Readers will love Carolyn and Rexs rocky paths to happiness and be in their corner as they find each other along that trail.
--Jo-Ann Mapson, author of Finding Casey

Reviews, Your Self-Confident Baby

"I had great trepidation about motherhood, and so I've read a lot of child-rearing guides. This one was recommended to me by our friends Gary Ross (director of Seabiscuit) and Allison Thomas (coproducer of Pleasantville). It presents the Resouces for Infant Educarers approach to baby care. This book gave me a practical guide to giving my children enough room, getting out of the way of their development, and not imposing my own agenda on them. I really want to stress that motherhood is phenomenally difficult, and while this book has been an amazing resource for me, I don't believe there is only one way to parent a child."
--Felicity Huffman, O: The Oprah Magazine, "Five Books that Made a Difference"

"A child therapist, great-grandmother and founder of a method of child rearing called Resources for Infant Educarers, or RIE (pronounced "wry"), Gerber runs a parenting center based on her approach in Los Angeles. First developed while she was working with orphans in her native Hungary at the end of WWII and refined through her work with children here, RIE focuses on helping parents and "carers" to treat babies with respect, an approach that lays a strong foundation for their development as self-respecting individuals. Specifically, respect means trying to understand what they want, and telling them what we are going to do before we do it. Aided by freelancer Johnson, Gerber presents suggested RIE-based responses to children through stages of infancy and into toddlerhood. Such issues as feeding, sleeping, child care, sibling rivalry and responses to crying are considered in sample dialogues...readers will find plenty of wisdom and common sense on these pages. It's hard to turn away from a book that invites you to relax and enjoy your baby."
--Publishers Weekly

"Designed to assist new parents and caregivers of infants in developing capable and confident children, this book was written by a great grandmother and founder of Resources for Infant Educarers (RIE). Its philosophy is a developmental approach to child-rearing based on the principles of trusting your child (or charge) as a self learner, providing a safe and challenging environment, allowing uninterrupted play time, involving the child in care giving activities, providing time to explore with other children, and consistent limits and expectations. She implores parents to be keen observers of their infants to determine their needs rather than constantly interfering or guiding their learning. Basic trust in the infant, and vice versa, is the key to her philosophy. The book is divided into three sections: How RIE Can Benefit your baby, Your Baby at the Beginning of Life, and As Your Child Grows: Toddlerhood and its Challenges. It includes discussions on everything from the qualities of a good parent, selecting childcare, to headbanging, rocking and repetitive behaviors. It is a thorough examination of many of the challenges new parents will encounter, and its use of parents' actual experiences adds authenticity."
--Meredith Kriger, Childrens Literature

"Taming Miss Jazzy", an essay, A Cup of of Comfort for Cat Lovers (Adams Media)

Your Self-Confident Baby
The Way Home

"The Dandelion Picker": winner, Round Table West essay contest
"The Winter Season": finalist, Glimmer Train, Very Short Fiction Award
scholarship winner, Backspace Writers Conference 2007