I’m Joy. I write because it’s the only way to capture all the wild and wonderful adventures happening inside my mind. My work tends to circle around people and the unique experience of being. That connects to all the concepts which fascinate me in fiction, apocalypse survival, vampires and the wider supernatural, time travel and the mysteries of science fiction creativity.
One of my roles has been as a psychotherapist and clinical supervisor. I’ve spent many years listening closely to how people tell their stories, understanding how things came to be in people’s lives and the way it’s affected them. Then finding ways to recovery and resilience. Much like the way we think about characters and what shapes them and what will resolve their storyline. That way of listening has shaped my writing far more than any formal literary education ever could.
I have my own taste in books but I don’t have a way of describing it, it’s too broad. I appreciate wild fantasy and serious horror, some lighter SF, a little romance, a good dose of speculative fiction and some classics. On any given day you could find me reading Stephen King, Lee Child, Tanith Lee, Diana Gabaldon, Sarah J Maas, Caroline Kepnes or Jodi Taylor.
Speaking of Jodi Taylor, she’s been the reason for recent change. She proposed a writing competition, "The Sands of Time Writing Competition" inviting anyone to write a science fiction story inspired by her character for a chance to be published in a special collection supporting Scope, a UK disability charity, honouring the character who is a wheelchair user with a bionic foot. This was a great temptation and now the book is published and available; The Sands Of Time and my story, Proxi and Error is part of the compilation of winners.
Tea With Joy is a place for thinking out loud and a slice of who I am and what contributes to this creativity. For fragments, early drafts, reflections on creativity and the moments where ideas start to gather heat. I write theatre reviews and book reviews too so I might add those here. Theatre has been a grand passion for many years and I love to see shows and I’ve participated in many, and produced and toured shows.
I live in Yorkshire, drink more tea than might be deemed normal. I have three children and would have cheerfully taken the title Mother Of Dragons but someone beat me to it. They’re not feral really.
I also foster and keep cats, fully adjust to the everyday normality of modern human slavery in a cat household.
