Mo Foster
@loudwomenhttp://www.mo-foster.co.uk
The beginning of my writing career was when I joined a local second chance course and realised that I could make people laugh with my writing. The first commercial piece I wrote was sold to the guardian and I decided, with an insane optimism that I should write for a living. At last I had found something I enjoyed that was at least potentially profitable.
Once I began to write it became an obsession and I couldn’t and haven’t stopped. Writing makes me very happy and I chortle as I commune with my laptop (this can’t be normal but what is?) I spent time around writers in my youth – William Burroughs and Alexander Trocchi were good mates but it never occurred to me to write, nobody expected me to so I didn’t. Which sounds extremely limp now.
I began writing short stories about incidents in the 50s which were eventually to be incorporated into my first novel: A Blues for Shindig. I also got involved in poetry in Southampton and wrote some menopausal punk poetry which I performed with punk bands locally. I went on a comedy workshop at channel 4 , sent one of my sketches to the Solent Peoples Theatre company and got some work writing sketches for them. I began to teach for the WEA at about this time although I saw myself as a facilitator.I organised a cabaret group with other women & we performed locally.
Meanwhile the novel grew and grew and after its first rejection I decided to write plays, joined a playwriting group at the Nuffield theatre. This was very productive and I had three plays and a monologue produced professionally.
Still the novel was on my mind and I footled and fiddled with it and sent it off from time to time and it thudded back regularly. I wrote radio plays one of which won second prize at Talk Radio. I always had these encouraging noises and I did believe that my novel would be published one day. I sent it to TLC for analysis and it was shredded, productively. I shortened it, inserted a new plot and finally it was published. I always felt that my voice was a unique one from the fifties era.
I have a second novel with my publisher and two more in process. I now write a blog regularly. This can be viewed on my website or on my publisher Legend’s blog with the addition of pictures courtesy of Lucy. I also twitter.
I sometimes read my poetry in public.
