Hi there!

I have been writing seriously since the early 1990s. Prior to that I had written one or two things and won a poetry competition when I was about nine years old!

My first novel A Circle of Eight – a series of eight thematically related romantic stories – gained me an agent, Millstone Lit, who tried to find a publisher but unfortunately without success. I then wrote The Summer Acorn, another romantic but slightly darker novel, which was put into book form by Citron Press. My third novel Cytherea’s Island followed. It is a tale of fantasy and romance, and it’s very good!

I have also written many short stories on such subjects as crime, science fiction, romance.  I was delighted to win two awards from, and get published in, the UK’s prestigious Writing Magazine – first prize in the annual Science Fiction Short Story competition, and first prize in the annual Crime Short Story competition. Little Green Men was published in September 2003, and A Smile From Mr Penrose was published in the November 2004 issue.

I was also very pleased to have success in the American market via Atriad Press, who published Rose in “Haunted Encounters: Ghost Stories from Around the World”, and The Phantom Swimmer in “Haunted Encounters: Departed Family and Friends”.

Back to the UK again, and there has been good news from Yours magazine who in 2005 published Lavender Bees.  They then published Thursday Afternoons in their 2006 Spring Special magazine.  And in May 2007 they published Brenda’s Goal (under the title ‘Brenda’s Going Football-crazy!’).

I was very pleased to be interviewed by well-known UK publisher David St John Thomas.  As a result, Lavender Bees appeared in his Aspire magazine in Spring 2006.

Some time ago I was privileged to be invited to a Garden Party at Buckingham Palace; an article about this, A Party At The Palace, has been published in Evergreen, Spring 2006.

In November 2007, Woman’s Weekly accepted Tea with Tania (published 1 April 2008).

I was successful in having a short story published by The People’s Friend. This was Fairies, Eggshells and Crystals, published as Magic Moments, in February 2008.

I was delighted to be accepted as a Member of The Society of Authors, in 2008.

I was pleased to hear, in September 2008, that My Weekly has accepted the short story “Circle of Love”.

An exciting event took place in November 2008. After lots of hard work, a self-publish project has come to fruition. I have a book of short stories, Jo’s Tales, available at on-line suppliers like Amazon.

Like other writers, I cannot stop writing, whether or not I achieve success with a particular story. It’s something I have to do.  Roger, my husband, understands all this, is very supportive and helps me enormously with commas, marketing, IT, and things.

If you would like to contact me about any of my work please email me and I will get back to you.

I’ve included some links below.

All the best

Jo

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Links:

Yours Magazine: Yours Magazine

Writing Magazine: Writing Magazine

Atriad Press:  Atriad Press

Jo’s Tales (Amazon): Amazon

Jo’s Tales (Lulu): Lulu