CarolM Mottershead

I am a private person most of the time, but I love talking about my work life, which has been varied to say the least! I've brought much of my life experience to bear in my writing these days. It's been quite a cathartic experience as you can appreciate. I never imagined at any point in my life, that I would become and author, but a published author is where I now find myself... isn't it amazing how our lives change? Ha! My writing started after seeing one of my artists on Good Morning Britain in July 2018. I was and still am, an entertainment agent as I write this bio. He was challenged by the presenters and made so frustrated by their questioning that he said simply 'I don't know what all the fuss is about... they're only blocks of wood!' He was referring of course, to his puppets. He was a Punch & Judy Professor, a performer of the iconic puppet show, a seaside favourite, adored by children of all ages, in the north east of England. Well that phrase resonated in my brain for days. My first reaction to the way the press handled the interview was to get annoyed that people were trying to change a show that was over 400 years in the performing! People were trying to suppress the story of Punch and Judy, saying it was promulgating domestic violence and racism - rubbish! My journey into authorship began with me writing a 3-page rant to the press declaring the unfairness of what they were doing... stopping a person from earning a living - wasn't that against the law? I realised after a while, that a letter wouldn't get anyone's attention, I'd create a video, but I needed the voice of Judy, wife of Mr Punch. The puppeteer I approached said that my video could open up a can of worms and asked if I had all the answers, if I was to be challenged on the subject? I hadn't! That set me off researching the history and characters of Punch and Judy. I hadn't realised how much the shows varied. There is never any two shows alike as nothing is historically scripted, until more recent times, but most of the time they consist of the basic stock characters Mr Punch of course, his wife Judy, Baby, the Clown and his dog Toby and a Crocodile with a policeman, sometimes a doctor and a ghost, but anything else tended to be a political add on chosen by the individual puppeteers. It was like Commedia del arte in that respect with a touch of pantomime to get the audience going. Ha! That was the beginning of my journey into authorship. I hope you enjoy the produce of my efforts. In my imaginings, Judy or should I call her by her original name, Joan or Dame Joan to be more precise, began her life as a young child born into a house of nobility, an only child, with only the children of servants or her dolls for company. My story follows her throughout her life. She finds love, marries, has a child and they live happily ever after until the day they are given an elixir. An elixir meant only to heal them from their injuries, but something goes wrong -they become immortal!