Amy Cooper

I am a 40-something, married, full-time working mother with a passion for writing. My day job is in brand communication and design; my evening job is being housewife and mother to two teenage children; inbetween times, I write, wherever and whenever I can. I dream up stories on the train to and from Waterloo station each day. I find myself drifting off on a thought sparked by something that I have seen or overheard, and I have 15 unfinished books on my laptop.

My very first book was a sequel to Enid Blyton's "The folk of the Faraway Tree", written when I was 7 years old. I'm sad to say it was lost when we moved from Australia, my childhood home, to England when I was 12 years old.

I have written many ad hoc stories over the years, but my first published book was the result of a diagnosis of breast cancer when I was 35 years old. I was inspired to write my experience because, even as recently as 2000 there was very little information to be found other than some pre-printed leaflets from cancer centres or scary medical files found online. So I decided to diarise the experience and self-publish it under my real name, Joanna Anthony. It is called "Breast Cancer and me" and has sold well over the years giving help and hope to many people.

I wrote two further titles under my real name, both of which have sold in the thousands: "What do I have to do to get a book published!" and "What do I have to do to market a book!" I spent some 3 years running monthly seminars on publishing and marketing, helping some 500 writers over the years. I have watched with interest how the industry has changed with the rise of social media and virtual communication, and plan to update these 2 books at some point.

But first, I plan to write more fiction... watch this space!