About me and my blog

I’m a 58-year-old former newspaper and BBC journalist (during my career I worked under my maiden name of Jo Bishop). I live in Devon – my home county. I’m a children’s author, a runner and a fundraiser. I’ve been a carer for my husband John since 2013 when he had a stroke and in 2017 was diagnosed with dementia. 

I’ve raised money for a variety of causes over the years by doing many different challenges. One of these was to run 50 marathons for the dementia research charity BRACE, after my dad Bernard was diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2011.

I started this blog partway through the marathon challenge and shortly after being diagnosed with OCD, hence the name of the blog. I find running helps me deal with some of the strange ways my mind works, or at least gives me a sense of relief through the freedom of the open road or pathway.

Aside from this blog, I’ve written a children’s story about marine plastic pollution called Tuamor the Turtle, a story about my dog going to moon Archie, Space Dog!, and about a pre-dinosaur reptile footprint, left 240-million-years-ago, and found on the beach at Sidmouth in 2013, the story is called Rosa’s Footprint and is part of a wider community project Think Footprint encouraging people to think about the footprint we all leave.

As a member of the board of Exeter Dementia Action Alliance I created the Exeter Cosy Routes project, which combines my passion for outdoors, fresh air and exercise with raising awareness and improving quality of life for people with dementia, and promoting wellbeing for the wider community.

My blog is one of my writing outlets, it’s my voice telling my story and my view of how I see the world. It’s not connected to any larger organisations, campaign groups, it has no particular purpose, it’s just my random thoughts over the years, on a variety of things that have direct meaning for me, out there in the ether.

Thank you for your interest.

Jo