Jo's Upcoming Appearances

After the Miami Book Fair in November and a presentation before a writers' group in Naples, Florida, in January (thanks to writing colleague Lynne Halberg for setting up that event!), Jo gave a talk at 1500 Ocean Drive, a nearby condominium complex, where she had the assistance of a New Orleans actress, Francine Segal, who gave a monologue based on the musings of a courtesan from My Lady Scandalous. A consummate actress, Francine wowed the capacity crowd in the building's Ocean Room and many good questions ensued. The event was covered in the Louisiana Gannett newspapers in a feature by Cheré Coen (a writer who uses the pseudonym Cherie Claire for her novels).

This Saturday, May 6th,, Jo will speak on the business of courtesanship in 18th century England at the Miami Unitarian Universalist Women's Alliance's Spring Luncheon. These fascinating ladies continue to fascinate modern-day audiences. The talk at the Miami Beach condominium drew a fair number of men, too, as did last year's Miami Intelligence lecture.

The May 2006 issue of Vogue magazine had a one-page mention of Grace Elliott in conjunction with the major new exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute's AngloMania exhibit which opens this week (5/4). The gala prior to this event was held on Monday, May 1st, and all the A-List celebrities were there, at $5,000 a pop for tickets. Grace would have loved it!She was the premiere A-List celebrity of her time. The article in Vogue, by Sally Singer, managed to get most of the facts about Grace wrong. A letter was sent to Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue (see the new movie, The Devil Wears Prada, for a fictional fashion editor said to be based on Ms. Wintour) asking that corrections be made in the next issue. It took so long to get the facts right about Grace Elliott (and even now much remains obscure about this remarkable woman), it is dismaying to see the old stories repeated.

On May 25th, Jo will participate in a teleconference, Beyond Tradition: Hot New Publishing Options in Today's Market, organized by Marcia King-Gamble for American Writers & Artists, Inc.

In June, Jo will speak at the Miami Beach Library (part of the Miami-Dade Public Library system) on how to get published. AS IF there is a magic word! It will be interesting to see who shows up and what they want to know. Everyone's publishing experience is a little different, but there are some basics that writer-wannabes have to know. A Q & A session, of course, will follow the brief presentation.

The end of July brings the national Romance Writers of America conference, in Atlanta, Georgia. Jo will give a PowerPoint presentation on—what else!—Courtesans.

Jo has begun a new Regency novel, Courting Chloe Brown, the sequel to Seducing Mr. Heywood, and continues to work on her next non-fiction book proposal.