As the eldest child of avid readers it was inevitable something of the love of books and stories would rub off on Jodi.

In the first decade of her life she discovered writing, spent the second lost in writing—dreaming of publishing success—and the third just plain lost. In the fourth decade, Jodi finds herself back at the page, this time balancing the demands of writing, editing and publishing. Jodi credits the 1984 Australian Olympic Mascot ‘Willy’, motherhood, Danae Sinclair and a 60-author strong stable of writers for the success she enjoys today.

Jodi is the 2010 recipient of the Kris Hembury Encouragement Award for Emerging Artist.

Mercurial - The Red Book, 2010

Prologue - The Yin and Yang Books, 2010

Bondi The 12 Days Anthology, (ed) Jim Wisneski (2009)

Taping Lydia Best of #FridayFlash 2009 Anthology, (ed) Jon Strother & Co (2010)

The Chameleon Thieves and Scoundrels: Flash Challenge #3, Absolute Xpress (2010)

The Man Who Would 50 Stories for Pakistan, Big Bad Media (2010)

Scarecrow Man Nothing But Flowers, Literary Mix Tapes (2011)

Kissed by The Sun Dead Red Heart, Ticonderoga Publications  (2011)

Blinded Hope: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction, Kayelle Press (coming October 2011)

Saw Him Standing There Sunday Shots: The Shorts ed. Susan May James (coming Spring 2011)

Cocaine,  My Sweetheart EIGHTY NINE, Literary Mix Tapes (coming Spring 2011)

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Write Anything – Deputy Editor
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Functioning in the role as a contributing editor has been nothing short of a challenging experience for me.  Having my short stories Mercurial and Prologue as the spring boards for the both projects has created an interesting dilemma for me.  I have a huge emotional and creative investment as a contributing writer but I also need to have the detachment and objectivity of an editor.

As time has passed I’m better able to step back and function as an editor. Winding the stories together has become an intricate and subtle art form for both the writers, and for Paul and I as editors. Knowing the ins and outs of each story has become an essential skill to ensure consistency and originality between stories.  While at times it has felt a little like the blind leading the blind because each Chinese Whisperings anthology has been  a great untried literary experiment, the darkness is giving away to the brilliant dazzle of unpredictable twists and turns from paragraph to paragraph, story to story, writer to writer. It really has taken on the dimensions of the Choose Your Own Adventure concept which was one of the original inspirations for this anthology. I am particularly enamoured with the level of complexity in the Yin and Yang Book, which came as close as possible to my idea of a literary mash up of Run, Lola Run and Sliding Doors.

In 2009 Paul promised me the view from the summit would be amazing. He wasn’t wrong.

Mercurial came to me originally in two tiny parts.

The first part which floated into my consciousness one morning early last year was two words: Nux Vomica. I knew it to be a homeopathic remedy, but I’ve since found out treats over indulgence and is commonly known as ‘the hang over cure.’ It is often recommended for Type A personalities who are known for their competitiveness, compulsiveness and short tempers.

The second part came in the emergence of a female character—a young woman who was getting the short end of the stick from the medical profession. Her predicament was born from my utter disillusionment with the medical professional, especially its treatment of women. She was originally named Maia, after the Mayan Goddess of illusions, as the story was written as a series of delusions and false impressions intended to leave the reader uncertain of the true nature of Maia’s situation.

The story crystallised not long after Paul told me the then un-named [Chinese Whisperings] concept would be just crazy enough to work. It was another two months before anything was written down. The first draft appeared on my blog on the 6th June in response to the [Fiction] Friday challenge: Your character becomes obsessed with someone. Who? And Why? And there it languished there for seven months even though I knew it would always be the flag ship for Chinese Whisperings.

I swore off going to my writers circle with Mercurial in March this year—swamped by doubt and indecision about the merits of the story, despite the fact Paul and I had already moved to assemble our cast of writers. When I did finally take Mercurial to my writing group, the feed back was wonderful and I felt guilty for having so little faith in my abilities, in my main character and her story.

Based on the general response to Maia’s character, she was re-christened Miranda. I felt she needed a name which reflected the intense emotions she evoked in readers and drew a much maligned name from my past. An additional 1400 words were added to the story in a flurry of rewriting in late March and I Mercurial was ready for a final critique. We also finally had a template length of 3,500 words for the project.

I have always had a definite ending for Mercurial but given the vision we had for Chinese Whisperings I left it open for the next writer to fill in. I really like Jason’s treatment of Miranda in his story and the juxtaposition he very cleverly creates with my main character and his. Depending on how the anthology pans out, I may at a later stage release the link for those interested in knowing what happened to Miranda. As I write this her fate still hangs whisperings in the aether.