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Writing is all about creating, communicating, and sharing. As a paid EPIC member, we invite you to share your website and writing credits with the writing community.
EPIC members below have given permission to be listed, along with some of their credits. We will be updating frequently. If you are an EPIC member and would like your name, website, and writing credits added to this list, please contact us.
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2021-2022 EPIC BOARD OF DIRECTORS
(Members are listed below the Board of Directors, in alphabetical order)
Laura Moe, Board President
Biography: Author, radio host, and writing teacher Laura Moe spent most of her working life as a librarian and English teacher in central and Southeastern Ohio, but moved to Seattle where she writes full-time and is an active member of SCBWI.
Published work: Parallel Lines (Fat Cats, 2015); Breakfast with Neruda (Simon & Schuster/Merit Press, 2016) - named by the New York Public Library as one of the Best Books for Teens in 2016. She is owned by a spoiled white cat and is working on a sequel to Breakfast With Neruda.
Social Media: https://bookclubbabble.com/interviews/interview-with-ya-author-laura-moe-on-breakfast-with-neruda/;
http://laura-moe.blogspot.com/; http://www.blogtalkradio.com/authorsontheair/2016/08/03/jacquelyn-mitchards-summer-scribes-presents-author-laura-moe
Alison (Ali) Eden Ersfeld, VP Development
Biography: Ali is obsessed with Meade notebooks; they are her dearest friends. She has been traveling with them, filling them, and excavating her wounds in them since the 80's. When she's not writing, she's teaching creative writing, mythology, and English at Meadowdale High school, or she's instructing a yoga class at Bindi Yoga in Lynnwood. Ali also facilitates yoga and writing workshops, combining these two deeply reflective practices.
Published work: Unmasked Magazine; EPIC Group Writers 2018 Contest Winner - 2nd Place Poetry.
Susan Frederick, VP Membership
Biography: Susan Frederick is an award winning writer who has published poems, short stories and essays, and is currently working on a memoir about the Vietnam war. She is a native of Washington state and grew up in small logging towns in the foothills of Mt. Rainier. She lives in Kirkland, Washington and is on the Board of EPIC Group Writers and is a member of Hugo House.
Awards: First Place Poetry at Write on the Sound Writers Conference 2019; Honorable Mention Short Story at Write on the Sound Writers Conference 2019; First Place Poetry, EPIC Writing Contest 2018;
Published work: Rise & Shine, (publisher: Gather Here, an imprint of Homeostasis Press); Timber Town (publisher: Gather Here); Ghosted, published in Northwest Prime Time magazine. Several of Susan's poems have appeared in My Edmonds News.
Diane Naab, EPIC Board Secretary & Monday Morning Pages leader
Biography: Diane Naab is an artist, former art gallery owner, world traveler, and published author, now living in the Seattle area.
Published work: Poetry and short stories published in four consecutive issues of the annual literary review, Inside Passages, in southeast Alaska.
Elizabeth Peck, EPIC Board Treasurer
Biography: Although Elizabeth Peck is an avid reader and supports writing, she is not a writer. However she is office manager and assistant to the president at Henry H. Ketcham Lumber in Seattle, Washington. Her skill set includes QuickBooks, Microsoft Office Suite, and digital data management. She has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Sociology from Western Washington University and a Master of Arts Degree in Teaching Elementary Education from Western Governors University.
Gerald Bigelow, EPIC Board Member at Large & Poetry Group leader
Published work: Poetry, poems published in Arizona 100 Years, Between the Lines, Memories Looking Through a Screen Door, Soundings from the Salish Sea: A Pacific Northwest Poetry Anthology.
Sarah Cannon, EPIC Board Member at Large and EPIC Newsletter Editor
Biography: Sarah earned her MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College, where she helped launch the inaugural Lighthouse Writers’ Conference and Retreat for MFA alumni in Port Townsend, WA. She lives in Edmonds, WA. She teaches at Hugo House in Seattle, and lives in Edmonds, WA. She is the author of The Shame of Losing (Red Hen Press), which was a Finalist for the Washington State Book Awards in 2019. Published work: Her essays have been featured in The New York Times (Modern Love column), Salon, Bitch magazine, Chicken Soup for the Soul, and elsewhere.
Christine Dubois, EPIC Board Member at Large
Biography: Christine Dubois is a widely published writer and editor who has successfully tackled articles, newsletters, resumes, advertising copy, book editing, and more for a variety of grateful clients. She teaches writing workshops at North Seattle College, as well as for local businesses and writer's conferences. Her warmth, knowledge, and enthusiasm make her a popular instructor.
Published work: "Waiting In Hope: Meditations for Expectant Parents" with my husband Steven E. Bourne; More than 500 articles in 45 publications, including Chicken Soup for the Soul, Birdwatching, Byline, Mothering, The Seattle Times, and more.
Website: www.christinedubois.com.
Tom Fortin, EPIC Board Member at Large
Biography: With the help of EPIC Poets, I’m working toward becoming a better writer of poetry as well as a more appreciative and perceptive reader of others’ work. Thanks for offering a variety of activities to make that happen.
Mindy Halleck, EPIC Board Member at Large & The Writer's Craft leader
Biography: Mindy Halleck is a writer, an award-winning author, and writing instructor. Her debut novel Return To Sender was voted in the top twenty Indie books of the year by Kirkus Review, it also received the ‘Readers’ Choice’ award - she has won writing contests including a Writer’s Digest fiction contest. Halleck is an active member of the Pacific Northwest writing community, and in addition to being a writer, she is a happily married, globe-trotting beachcomber, gardener, proud grandma, and three-time cancer survivor.
Published work: Return To Sender. Publisher, Better Life Press, available on Amazon
Social Media: www.MindyHalleck.com; Twitter: @MindyHalleck
Laura Kemp, EPIC Board Member at Large
Biography: EPIC board member at large Laura Kemp was a professional firefighter for almost twenty-two years, and at one point got her writing fix crafting fire department training manuals—not exactly a springboard for producing page-turners. Eventually, the terrors and triumphs of the job inspired her to attempt something that makes running into burning buildings look easy – creating decent fiction. Laura’s first screenplay, “Burn Pattern,” has placed in national competitions, including a Top 100 placing in the 2021 Austin Film Festival Table Read My Screenplay Genre Competition and winning Best Script at the Depth of Field International Film festival.
Social media: https://www.nwsg.org/membership/compendium-members-projects-credits/. https://www.facebook.com/LauraMKempWriter https://gamblecreekstudio.com.
Joe Rice, EPIC Board Member at Large and Tuesday Evening Writing Group leader
Biography: I am a retired educator now working to complete a memoir and another nonfiction book on Multiage Education. I also write poetry, short stories and educational articles. I'm also an avid of many genre and love to participate in writing groups. Never too old to learn.
Published work: Nongraded Multiage Education - A Resource Book, Edmonds School District Press 1990, 1992; Short stories published in others' collections:- Joseph Rice: Generations, edited by Darryl Teruya 2003; "One Way Out," The Greater Good,: Life Lessons from Hawai'i's Leaders, by Evan and Kari Leong 2008; "Untitled," Do It Anyway by Kent M. Keith 2003; "A survey and Analysis of Oral Reading Miscues Made By Mexican and Mexican American Migrants 1979; "Kupu Hou: To Sprout and Grow Anew," A white paper on the future of education presented to the Directors of Mid-Pacific Institute, Honolulu, Hawaii 2012.
Judith Works, EPIC Board Member at Large
Biography: Judith, a founding member of EPIC Group Writers, is the author of a memoir about living in Rome and working for the United Nations titled Coins in the Fountain. She enjoys writing travel stories, and is working on a novel set in Rome and Vashon Island, and another set in the Cascade Mountain foothills.
Published work: Coins in the Fountain as well as articles in My Edmonds News, Wanted in Rome, Alaska Airlines inflight magazine and several pieces of flash fiction in literary journals.
Social Media: FB Author's page: judithworks author; Instagram: worksjudith; website: judithworks.net.
# # #
2021-22 EPIC MEMBERS (in alphabetical order)
(EPIC Membership Year is September 1 through August 31)
Catherine Alexander
Biography: Catherine Alexander, Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee, has published stories in 42 literary journals, including North Atlantic Review, Rosebud (two successive issues), Bryant Literary Review, Rockhurst Review and won "Jurors' Choice" in Spindrift. Paul Auster read her story, “Dancing on 74th Street,” on NPR. Jorja Fox from television’s CSI performed “Backyards” in a WordTheatre production. For fifteen years, she has taught fiction and memoir at the University of Washington, Edmonds College, and many others.
Roma Anjoy
[awaiting biography)
Vanessa Arpin
Biography: Vanessa Arpin has won several awards for her writing. In 2017, she won a scholarship to the Mendocino Writer’s Conference for her Young Adult submission, and her book was a top finalist in the Young Adult genre. In 2014, she was recognized by the Seattle Public Library for her poetry.
Social Media: Vanessaarpin.com
Matthew Austin
[awaiing biography]
Caryn Schutzler
[awaiting biography]
Jeffrey Briggs
Biography: Jeffrey D. Briggs, a writer and journalist, has been writing about the Seattle waterfront since he moved onto his sailboat over thirty years ago. He now lives on land with his wife and dog and can often be found on the shores of Puget Sound, wondering what secrets lie hidden beneath those cold waters. He is the author of two novels in the Waterfront Mystery series: Out of the Cold Dark Sea and Within A Shadowed Forest.
Donald Brown
[awaiting biography]
Debra Carnegie
[awaiting Biography)
Nicole 'Nicki' Chen
Biography: I'm a writer and blogger living in Edmonds. My first novel, Tiger Tail Soup, a Novel of China at War, was published in 2013. I'm working on a second novel. It's the story of an expat who lives in the Philippines and then in Vanuatu, a woman who has her heart set on having a baby. I'm a graduate of Seattle University, and I have an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts.
Published work: Tiger Tail Soup, a novel of China at war.
Social Media: Website/Blog: www.nickichenwrites.com; Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NickiChenAuthor/; Twitter: @NickiChenAuthor; Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8261760.
Anna Dahland Kim
Biography: Anna Dahland writes about immigration, parenting, and identity. She teaches English to immigrants and is a former professor of English Education at Chonnam National University in South Korea. She lives in Shoreline with her family and a very cute dog.
Published work: Swedish Again: a memoir of motherhood and identity; "Things We Thought We Knew," "Silence," and other poems in Licton Springs Review 2015 & 2021; English Conversation/ Advanced English Conversation, Chunjae Education, South Korea.
Website: https://annadahland.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/annakim19
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AnnaDahland
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22007553.Anna_Dahland
Jodi Dills
Biography: With a Certificate in Writing from University of Washington, I am an active active member of Hugo House and Epic Write in Seattle. My friends call me Jodi. I manage an 80-unit apartment building in my spare time and write to fill the extra hours. Like many, I write because I must. I do not write in one genre and am kind of all over the place, but I'm learning so much about so many things in the process.
Roxanne Dunn
Biography: I am a retired physical therapist, a foodie, a fanatic about good chocolate, and a private pilot. I lived aboard an old wood motor yacht for seventeen years, and in my dreams, I’m a pianist of renown, an acceptable water color artist, and a globe-trotting yogini.
Published work: I write the galley column for Pacific Yachting magazine. Murder Unrehearsed is my debut novel.
Paddy Eger
Biography: Paddy is the published author of both non fiction and fiction books and materials, a presenter, a speaker, a blogger and a traveler. Currently her interests include writing YA, early chapter books and memoir.
Published work: Award-winning books including a YA trilogy: 84 Ribbons, When the Music Stops-Dance On, Letters to Follow-A Dancer's Adventure; and Tasman-An Innocent Convict's Struggle for Freedom
Social Media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paddyegerfictionauthor; Twitter: @paddyegerwriter; Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/paddyeger; Website: www.paddyeger.com; Blogs: www.paddyeger.com/blog/author
Suzanne Elshult
Biography: As an executive coach by profession and twenty years as a professional volunteer immersed in K9 search and rescue and deployment on hundreds of missions with her three Labrador Retrievers Suzanne is recognized both regionally in the Pacific Northwest and beyond as a seasoned K9 handler committed to finding the lost and the missing. She has co-authored a book with Guy Mansfield to be published in 2022: Search for the Dead which provides an inside view of K9 search and rescue.
Published work: Search for the Dead (adventure memoir to be published in 2022); K9 Lessons Learnt from the OSO Landslide, Cop Magazine 2015; K9 Teams on Mountain Rescue Mission, MRA Meridian 2011
Ann Erickson
[awaiting biography]
Maggie Fimia
Biography: Queens Girl, Registered Nurse, Community Organizer after a year in VISTA, elected official after completing my Masters in Public Policy. Wife for 43 years, Mother for over 35 years and now grandmother. Passionate about empowering people and leaders to do their homework, get involved, respect people and the process.
Thomas Frank
[awaiting biography]
Ramona Gault
[awaiting biography]
Dan Gilchrist
Biography: Professionally, I am primarily a graphic designer, trained and licensed as a landscape architect. My day job also entails copywriting and answering/advising gardening customers online. Intermittent blogger, working toward my first book (non-fiction). Maybe my Instagram profile more accurately typifies my work: “Spaces, places, rhythms, layers, patterns, textures, perspectives, opinions, abject silliness and occasional Truth.”
Publications: Rhythm & Space (my too-infrequent personal blog); “Let’s Treat People Like Animals”; “The Rhythm & Space of Running”; “The Waves.” Digging Deeper (Swansons Nursery's gardening blog)… “50 Shades of, Well, Shade”; “The Wabi Sabi Garden”; “Framed for Murder: Not the Pests You Might Suspect.”
Website: https://rhythmandspace.wordpress.com/
Twitter: @dangseawa
Kathleen Glassburn
Biography: Kathleen Glassburn is primarily a fiction writer. She is also managing editor of The Writer's Workshop Review www.thewritersworkshopreview.net.
Published work: Short Story Collection - Where Do Stories Come From? For samples of her published work please see her website: www.kathleenglassburn.com.
Lisa Greene
Biography: I am a published author of 3 books about parenting and one children’s book. They are of a more non-fiction genre. I’d like to start writing again in other genres and would like ideas and support as well as to share what I already know about book writing. I am also a public speaker, college professor and mom. I live in downtown Edmonds.
Publications: Parenting Children with Health Issues: Tools, Tips and Tactics for Raising Children with Special Medical Needs; Parenting Children with Health Issues condensed version booklet; No Mo No; Healthy Choices, Happy Kids
Lilach Grimminger
[awaiting biography]
Linda Hebert
Pen name: Linda Summersea
Biography: I’ve always loved wild places. I attribute this to growing up feral on our three-generation family farm in Massachusetts, yet little did I know that it would lead to a lifetime of following my desire to see what’s over the hill. THE GIRL WITH THE BLACK AND BLUE DOLL is my 96,000-word coming-of-age memoir. Its opening scene reveals three-year-old me as I’m fleeing my mother’s wrath and her swinging army belt. The rest is the story of my survival to become a thriving adult.
Published work: The Manifest-Station, The Colombian; also, quite a few travel articles in magazines back in the day.
Cynthia Heckman
[awaiting biography]
Lora Hein
Biography: Lora is returning to writing in retirement. Her first focus is a memoir based on her two month journey to the Galápagos Islands in 1973 and the life lessons she learned there. Lora lives in Edmonds where she enjoys gardening and creative cooking as well as dancing and reading. She makes every effort to retain her connection to nature.
Amber Vitti Hill
Biography: Amber received her B.A. in English from the University of Michigan and an M.A. in English Education from the Teacher’s College of Columbia University. After teaching for over fifteen years in a variety of schools, she currently resides in Woodinville, Washington with her husband and two sons. She serves on the board of the EPIC Group Writers.
Published work: Her short story “Wolves” appeared in 34th Parallel literary magazine.
Phil Howe
[awaiting biography]
Lis Johnson
Biography: Former print journalist covering everything from cops to courts, politics to business and the occasional county fair.
Published work: The Lebanon Democrat; The Gallatin News-Examiner; The Kingsport Times News; The Johnson City Press.
Falaah Jones
Biography: Falaah Jones has written numerous tales. One novel plops us in a mental hospital, one in a boarding school, and another in dystopian USA. She is a two-time contest winner, and her short essays will be included in the 2022 Two Sisters Writing anthology and the 2022 Whatcom Writes anthology. She lives in Seattle with her husband and chickens and talks to almost everyone she passes on the street.
Published work: 2022 Two Sisters Writing anthology; 2022 Whatcom Writes anthology
Kizzie Jones
Biography: Children’s author Kizzie Jones blends her love of dachshunds and her love of the ocean to create whimsical tall tales to delight readers of all ages. Kizzie makes her home in Edmonds with her beloved Thom and three dachshunds!
Published work: "How Dachshunds Came to Be" (2012); "A Tall Tale About a Dachshund & a Pelican" (2016); "A Tall Tale About Dachshunds in Costumes"(2019); "Writing in Place: Prose & Poetry from the Pacific Northwest" Anthology (2019); Northwest Prime Time, Chaplaincy Today, Military.com, and CHSSM Diakonie, and has been a first-place non-fiction winner for Write on the Sound with her piece titled, "The Waters of Compassion."
Social media: Website: https://www.kizziejones.com/; Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kizziejonesauthor; Twitter:
https://twitter.com/kizeliz; Goodreads: https://www.go:odreads.com/author/show/6615823.Kizzie_Jones
Lesly Kaplan
[awaiting biography]
Andrea Karin
Biography: At Allegory Editing, our experienced team of editors, educators, and publishing industry experts is here to guide you along every step of your writing journey. From workshops designed to help you hone your craft, to individualized coaching sessions, to personally-tailored developmental editing services, to skilled copy editing & proofreading, our goal is to support you as you write the best manuscript possible.
Website: allegoryediting.com
Elizabeth Keating
[awaiting biography]
Wendy Kendall
Biography: Wendy Kendall has a passion for purses and stories of women through history who carried them. Author of the In Purse-Suit Cozy Mystery Series. My YouTube podcasts feature author interviews on A Novel Talk as well as Kendall and Cooper Talk Mysteries. Website is wendywrites.org
Published work: Kat Out of the Bag; Purse-Stachio Makes A Splash; A Taste of Danger Anthology; Column -- Recommended Reads;
Column - Kids Are Bookin' It.
Henry Landau
Biography: Hank and his family have lived in Woodway, WA since 1973. He is the founder of Landau Associates, a regional engineering firm. Since his retirement he has been active in human rights, environmental organizations and bicycling and kayaking adventures.
Published work: The Misadventures of a Cross-Country Kayaker, a true story describing the authors Quixotic voyage from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean.
Kitti Lile
[awaiting biography]
Carol Lindlow
Biography: I am a mental health therapist. I write letters to my ministry group, journal continually and lead therapy groups. I’d like more practice and possible blog in the works. I love great mystery writing and character building. The perfect word (le bon mot) is often my goal.
Catherine Linka
Biography: Catherine Linka is the author of the award-winning dystopian novel, A Girl Called Fearless. Kirkus called her most recent novel, What I Want You to See, “an engrossing novel about art, self-expression, and making amends.” Catherine received her MFA in writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts.
Published work: What I Want You to See (Hachette, 2020); A Girl Called Fearless (St. Martin's Press, 2014); A Girl Undone (St. Martin's Press, 2015)
Website: catherinelinka.com
Tyler Marcil
[awaiting biography]
Janet Margot
Biography: I teach new and experienced authors looking to build an ads strategy, avoid costly mistakes and scale their visibility on Amazon.
Published work: Author, Amazon Ads for Indie Authors: A How-to Guide from an Industry Expert
Bill Mayer
[awaiting biography]
Brian McAuley
[awaiting biography]
Michael McKown
Biography: I’m Michael McKown and I’ve been a writer and editor ever since high school, ages ago. Ghostwriters Central, Inc., has been my business since 2002. We write book manuscripts, screenplays, speeches (including wedding speeches and vows), theatrical play scripts, advertising copy, press releases, user manuals, song lyrics and more. Click here to visit my website: https://www.ghostwords.com/
Art Mickel
[awaiting biography]
Marcia McLaughlin
Biography: Marcia has lived in the Seattle area since she was in her twenties. Presently she lives in Lake Forest Park with her partner, Beth. She has written both prose and poetry for many years now. At first, it was part of her healing and now is something that can be more public. She is retiring this summer from being a spiritual director and look forward to having more time to write. She has a a blog – and has good intentions of actually putting more on it! https://marciamclaughlin.blogspot.com/ She is a photographer and enjoys writing poems to go with the photographs – ekphrastic poetry.
Publications: I have had a couple of poems published in the online Shoreline Area News.
Rebecca Meredith
Biography: I’m both a prose writer and a poet. My poetry has appeared in a number of journals and anthologies, and from 2011-2013 I was Redmond’s first poet laureate. My novel, The Last of the Pascagoula, was published in 2011 and its sequel, Look Up From the Water is upcoming. I was a founder of RASP, Redmond Association of Spokenword.
Publications: Novels: The Last of the Pascagoula; Look Up From the Water; Chapbook: Intergenerational Delta Blues. Poetry Publications: Calyx; Pontoon; Between Hours; Here, There and Everywhere; Limbs of the Pine, Peaks of the Range; Chrysanthemum
Erica Miner
Biography: Former Metropolitan Opera violinist ERICA MINER is now an award-winning author, screenwriter, arts writer and lecturer. Erica won the Fiction Prize in the Direct from the Author Book Awards for her debut novel, Travels With My Lovers. She recently released Death by Opera, the second in her “Operatic Mystery” series.
Published work: Travels With My Lovers; FourEver Friends; Murder in the Pit; Death by Opera; Staged for Murder.
Liz Morris
[awaiting biography]
Gretchen Murphy
Biography: Gretchen is a native of Seattle and has lived with her family in Bothell since 1976. She worked in healthcare and education. She retired in 2017 as Director of the Master’s program in Health Informatics and Health Information Management at the University of Washington. Gretchen has enjoyed writing and contributing to textbooks over many years and is now interested in exploring new writing experiences.
Published work: Poetry: In the Blink of an Eye, Northwest Prime Time, April 2019. Textbooks: Electronic Health Records - Changing the Vision, 1999; Systems Analysis and Computer Applications in Health Information Management, 1983; Medical Records in Health.
Information, 1979.
Vivian Murray
[awaiting biography]
Candy Nelson
[awaiting biography]
Diane Olberg
Biography: Writer, reader, cook, Unitarian. Born in Minnesota, now living in Edmonds. Writing a memoir about faith, addiction, and mental illness. Housemate of feline Mack the Rascal.
Website: www.dianeolberg.com
Wendy Ogden
[awaiting biography]
Victoria (Tori) Peters
[awaiting biography]
Joanne Peterson
Biography: Joanne (Bradbury) Peterson, ongoing member of longtime Edmonds Writing Sisters, former columnist for Edmonds Beacon. Now residing a few miles from her beloved hometown, Joanne writes poetry and prose, as the fancy strikes. "A word after a word after a word is power." Margaret Atwood
Published work: Writing in Place: Prose and Poetry from the Pacific Northwest, an anthology, The Edmonds Writing Sisters.
Christine Pinto
Biography: I am a freelance editor, writing and history educator, writing coach, and writer. I have a Certificate in Writing for Children and a Certificate in Editing from the University of Washington. I currently enjoy teaching Oregon Trail history to fourth graders in the Shoreline School District, and volunteering at historic Fort Nisqually in Tacoma.Published work: My short story, “Del”, was a 2021 EPIC Writing Contest winner.
Contact info: https://www.christinepintowrites.com/; https://allegoryediting.com/; https://www.linkedin.com/in/christine-pinto-writes/
Amanda Poteete
[awaiting biography]
Patricia Power
Biography: I am a semi-retired adjunct professor of religious studies for Arizona State University and the Maricopa Community College District. This means I teach online courses for these institutions from the comfort of my home, or better yet, the open patio in front of Starbucks in Mill Creek Town Center! I’ve been writing one thing or another for as long as I can remember. A few pieces have even been published. While I enjoy writing non-fiction, I am trying my hand at fiction these days. On the agenda: a murder mystery set in the fictitious community of Cedar Creek.
Published work: A first-person feature article on working with the homeless in Charisma magazine; “Seppuku,” in Religion and Violence: An Encyclopedia of Faith and Conflict from Antiquity to the Present; “Dar al-Islam community (New Mexico) in Encyclopedia of Muslim-American History; “Blurring the Boundaries: American Messianic Jews and Gentiles,” in Nova Religio.
Valerie Ramer
Biography: Valerie Ramer is the author of Alastair McAllister Goes to School, a children's book purrfect for ages 3-8. Valerie has raised 2 amazing children and lots of kittens. She has a background in theater. She has written and directed children's theater and did ghostwriting for numerous TV and film screenplays.
Published work: Alastair McAllister Goes to School, a children's book for ages 3-8.
Website: www.Redwritingbooks.com
Lisa Reddick
Biography: Lisa M. Reddick has lived in, loved and been writing about the Pacific Northwest for most of her life. Her personal essay. She is currently working on the sequel to The Same River which focuses on issues in the future having to do with climate change.
Published work: The Same River, published in Landscapes of the Heart; Narratives of Nature and Self.
Kristi Lyn Reddy
Biography: Kristi Lyn Reddy, author and blogger, is a childhood abuse and domestic violence survivor. Kristi Lyn is currently working on her memoir, That’s NOT Okay!
Published work: True Stories Vol 1; True Stories Vol 4
Brenda Reiss
Biography: Call me a slow starter. I was here on the planet before anyone had even heard of the Beatles... but the possibility of writing never occurred to me until almost too late. Now, (thank you lockdown) I'm deep into a memoir. It's my maiden voyage in the thrashing seas of not-quite-literary reminiscence... salted with a generous dollop of bull. Expat memoirs of colonized countries are a whole genre and since I grew up as an American in South Africa, that's what mine is about. More or less.
Donna Rudiger
Biography: Donna M. Rudiger began writing as an adolescent and has lived in the PNW since 1974. She is an award-winning essayist and poet and an active member of several writing groups in the Seattle area. She is a retired technical writer and lives in Arlington.
Published work: Contributing Poet to "Soundings of the Salish Sea", a poetry anthology, published by EPIC Writers Poetry Group, 2018.
Carol Sanford
Published work: Three award-winning non-fiction. The Responsible Business, The Responsible Entrepreneur with Wiley; The Regenerative Business, with Nicholas Brealey and soon to be released No More Feedback self-published. 3 Podcasts and Blogs. The Regenerative Business, The Responsible Capitalist, Business Second Opinion. Producer The Regenerative Summit. Faculty @ Universities in Europe and UW. Senior Fellow of Social Innovation at Babson College.
Social Media: Website: www.carolsanford.com; Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/carolsanford2; Twitter: carolsanford
Mary Ann Schradi
Biography: MaryAnn Schradi AKA Mimzi Schradi has written two books in a Romantic Thriller series and is finishing the third—Poisoned in Paris. She is one of the prime five authors of Detective Ink, for which she contributed a novella, The IT Girl. She loves to write poetry and music and sings in multiple choirs.
She has three poems in publication.
Publications: PsyChic in Seattle; Frantic In Fiji...and other ports of call, written under pen name, Mimzi Schradi; The IT Girl in the collection, Detective Ink; Three Poems I n the Anthology, Tales for a Lazy Afternoon.
Courtenay Schurman
Biography: Traditionally published in adult non-fiction, I'm currently working on MG novels featuring active girls who love the outdoors. I was chosen through SCBWI to participate in their 6-month Mentorship Program. When I'm not writing or training clients for their outdoor adventures, I serve on the WOTS Steering Committee, volunteer with the giraffes at Woodland Park Zoo, shelve books at the Olympic Hills Elementary School, and prepare for upcoming overseas adventures including trips to Ireland as a chaperone for my daughter's high school marching band, and New Zealand.
Published works: Train to Climb Mt. Rainier or Any High Peak DVD (Body Results 2002); Chapter 4 (Conditioning) Freedom of the Hills (Mountaineers books) editions 7, 8, 9; The Outdoor Athlete (2009; Human Kinetics); Quarterly columnist Mountaineers Magazine (Seattle Mountaineers) 2014-current.
Neal Silberberg
Biography: While I was fortunate to get a college degree, at 80 years old my real education came from many life experiences.
Cindy Speer
Biography: Cindy Lynn Speer has loved telling stories her whole life — stories make the world make sense. Some of her favorite authors are Neil Gaiman, Barbara Hambly, Terry Pritchett, Lee Child, Craig Johnson, Patricia Briggs. When she’s not writing or reading, she can be found practicing historical fencing (decently), sewing (impatiently), and gardening (horribly.). She also loves tea. Tea is a good bribe.
Published works: Blue Moon; Unbalanced; The Chocolatier’s Wife; The Chocolatier’s Ghost; Wishes and Sorrows.
Kristina Stapleton
[awaiting biography]
Elizabeth Stewart
Biography: I am a genetics/genomics scientist who loves sci-fi and fantasy. I left the lab quite a while ago and have been science writing since that, and am now writing a book about two women, a dog, and the Holocaust experiences as Deaf Jews that the family of one of the women went through.
Neely Stratton
[awaiting biography]
Inez Taylor
[awaiting biography]
Nelson Taylor
Biography: I write because I like to create characters and make up stories. I like people with keen imagination and intellect, crazy ones who frighten and inspire us, gentle souls who want to save everything from peril, those who are called to write and have run out of excuses not to.
Published work: Hoosier Challenger, spring 1970; H.C. poetry award for submission of "The Quest"
Carol B Tiebout
[awaiting biography]
Diane Tinsley
[awaiting biography]
Howard Tinsley
Biography: I am a retired university professor with extensive experience editing and publishing in psychological journals and books. I began to study creative writing in the early 1990 but until now have written only for personal pleasure. I am currently working on two fiction novels I hope to publish when completed.
Published work: Tinsley, H. E. A., Lease, S. H., & Wiersma, N. S. G. (Eds.). (2016). Contemporary theory and practice in counseling and psychotherapy. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage; Tinsley, H. E. A., & Lease, S. H. (Eds.). (2008). Encyclopedia of counseling, Volume 2: Personal counseling and mental health problems. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage; Tinsley, H. E. A., & Brown, S.D. (Eds.). (2000). Handbook of applied multivariate statistics and mathematical modeling. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Dorothy Van Soest
Biography: Novelist Dorothy Van Soest, professor emerita and retired dean at the University of Washington, holds a B.A. in English Literature and a Masters and Ph.D. in Social Work. Van Soest has been a professional writer for over thirty years with eleven books published and over fifty journal articles, essays and book chapters.
Published work: Just Mercy (2014), At the Center (2015), and Death, Unchartered (2018) were published by Apprentice House, Baltimore, MD. Her most recent novel, Nuclear Option, will be released in 2020.
Carol Viens
[awaiting biography]
Sandra Walker
[awaiting biography]
Kathryn Walsh-Clark (pen name Lylium Walsh)
Biography: Lylium Walsh is a queer, pagan writer based in Edmonds, WA. She currently leads Writing Rainbow, a twice monthly meet up for LGBTQIA+ writers. More about her can be found at lyliumwalsh.com
Published work: She has been published in My Edmonds News repeatedly, and placed second in poetry for EPIC Group Writers’ 2021 writing contest.
Naomi Wark
Biography: Besides being an active member with EPIC Group Writers, Naomi Wark is on the board of Skagit Valley Writers’ League, and a member of Pacific Northwest Writers. She holds a Certificate in Commercial Fiction from the University of Washington. When she is not writing, Naomi enjoys gardening and swimming. She is a volunteer and on the Board of Stanwood Camano Food Bank.
Published Work: Naomi’s debut novel, Wildflowers in Winter is recognized by AlzAuthors for its accurate portrayal of a woman dealing with dementia. Both Wildflowers in Winter, and the prequel novel, Songs of Spring, draw inspiration from diaries left behind by a grandmother and discovered upon her death. An excerpt from Songs of Spring is included in Skagit River Anthology.
Awards: An excerpt from Songs of Spring won 2nd place in adult prose in the EPIC writer’s contest in 2020, and a short story, The Hunt, won 2nd placed in prose in 2021. A separate excerpt from Songs of Spring won 3rd place in a contest sponsored by Skagit Valley Writer’s League.
Ingrid Wolsk
Biography: I was born in New York City and from childhood on I wrote poems and illustrated them, along with writing very short stories. As an adult I lived abroad for ten years working both in and out of the arts and theater world. I feel so privileged now to have the time to write, which is my true passion, and now finally am published.
Publications: 'A Screech of Warning' a flash fiction piece on Amazon Kindle. 'The Secret of Anja' a novel, on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. For the moment it appears only as an eBook since it takes 2-3 weeks to get it to appear as a print version.
(Members are listed below the Board of Directors, in alphabetical order)
Laura Moe, Board President
Biography: Author, radio host, and writing teacher Laura Moe spent most of her working life as a librarian and English teacher in central and Southeastern Ohio, but moved to Seattle where she writes full-time and is an active member of SCBWI.
Published work: Parallel Lines (Fat Cats, 2015); Breakfast with Neruda (Simon & Schuster/Merit Press, 2016) - named by the New York Public Library as one of the Best Books for Teens in 2016. She is owned by a spoiled white cat and is working on a sequel to Breakfast With Neruda.
Social Media: https://bookclubbabble.com/interviews/interview-with-ya-author-laura-moe-on-breakfast-with-neruda/;
http://laura-moe.blogspot.com/; http://www.blogtalkradio.com/authorsontheair/2016/08/03/jacquelyn-mitchards-summer-scribes-presents-author-laura-moe
Alison (Ali) Eden Ersfeld, VP Development
Biography: Ali is obsessed with Meade notebooks; they are her dearest friends. She has been traveling with them, filling them, and excavating her wounds in them since the 80's. When she's not writing, she's teaching creative writing, mythology, and English at Meadowdale High school, or she's instructing a yoga class at Bindi Yoga in Lynnwood. Ali also facilitates yoga and writing workshops, combining these two deeply reflective practices.
Published work: Unmasked Magazine; EPIC Group Writers 2018 Contest Winner - 2nd Place Poetry.
Susan Frederick, VP Membership
Biography: Susan Frederick is an award winning writer who has published poems, short stories and essays, and is currently working on a memoir about the Vietnam war. She is a native of Washington state and grew up in small logging towns in the foothills of Mt. Rainier. She lives in Kirkland, Washington and is on the Board of EPIC Group Writers and is a member of Hugo House.
Awards: First Place Poetry at Write on the Sound Writers Conference 2019; Honorable Mention Short Story at Write on the Sound Writers Conference 2019; First Place Poetry, EPIC Writing Contest 2018;
Published work: Rise & Shine, (publisher: Gather Here, an imprint of Homeostasis Press); Timber Town (publisher: Gather Here); Ghosted, published in Northwest Prime Time magazine. Several of Susan's poems have appeared in My Edmonds News.
Diane Naab, EPIC Board Secretary & Monday Morning Pages leader
Biography: Diane Naab is an artist, former art gallery owner, world traveler, and published author, now living in the Seattle area.
Published work: Poetry and short stories published in four consecutive issues of the annual literary review, Inside Passages, in southeast Alaska.
Elizabeth Peck, EPIC Board Treasurer
Biography: Although Elizabeth Peck is an avid reader and supports writing, she is not a writer. However she is office manager and assistant to the president at Henry H. Ketcham Lumber in Seattle, Washington. Her skill set includes QuickBooks, Microsoft Office Suite, and digital data management. She has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Sociology from Western Washington University and a Master of Arts Degree in Teaching Elementary Education from Western Governors University.
Gerald Bigelow, EPIC Board Member at Large & Poetry Group leader
Published work: Poetry, poems published in Arizona 100 Years, Between the Lines, Memories Looking Through a Screen Door, Soundings from the Salish Sea: A Pacific Northwest Poetry Anthology.
Sarah Cannon, EPIC Board Member at Large and EPIC Newsletter Editor
Biography: Sarah earned her MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College, where she helped launch the inaugural Lighthouse Writers’ Conference and Retreat for MFA alumni in Port Townsend, WA. She lives in Edmonds, WA. She teaches at Hugo House in Seattle, and lives in Edmonds, WA. She is the author of The Shame of Losing (Red Hen Press), which was a Finalist for the Washington State Book Awards in 2019. Published work: Her essays have been featured in The New York Times (Modern Love column), Salon, Bitch magazine, Chicken Soup for the Soul, and elsewhere.
Christine Dubois, EPIC Board Member at Large
Biography: Christine Dubois is a widely published writer and editor who has successfully tackled articles, newsletters, resumes, advertising copy, book editing, and more for a variety of grateful clients. She teaches writing workshops at North Seattle College, as well as for local businesses and writer's conferences. Her warmth, knowledge, and enthusiasm make her a popular instructor.
Published work: "Waiting In Hope: Meditations for Expectant Parents" with my husband Steven E. Bourne; More than 500 articles in 45 publications, including Chicken Soup for the Soul, Birdwatching, Byline, Mothering, The Seattle Times, and more.
Website: www.christinedubois.com.
Tom Fortin, EPIC Board Member at Large
Biography: With the help of EPIC Poets, I’m working toward becoming a better writer of poetry as well as a more appreciative and perceptive reader of others’ work. Thanks for offering a variety of activities to make that happen.
Mindy Halleck, EPIC Board Member at Large & The Writer's Craft leader
Biography: Mindy Halleck is a writer, an award-winning author, and writing instructor. Her debut novel Return To Sender was voted in the top twenty Indie books of the year by Kirkus Review, it also received the ‘Readers’ Choice’ award - she has won writing contests including a Writer’s Digest fiction contest. Halleck is an active member of the Pacific Northwest writing community, and in addition to being a writer, she is a happily married, globe-trotting beachcomber, gardener, proud grandma, and three-time cancer survivor.
Published work: Return To Sender. Publisher, Better Life Press, available on Amazon
Social Media: www.MindyHalleck.com; Twitter: @MindyHalleck
Laura Kemp, EPIC Board Member at Large
Biography: EPIC board member at large Laura Kemp was a professional firefighter for almost twenty-two years, and at one point got her writing fix crafting fire department training manuals—not exactly a springboard for producing page-turners. Eventually, the terrors and triumphs of the job inspired her to attempt something that makes running into burning buildings look easy – creating decent fiction. Laura’s first screenplay, “Burn Pattern,” has placed in national competitions, including a Top 100 placing in the 2021 Austin Film Festival Table Read My Screenplay Genre Competition and winning Best Script at the Depth of Field International Film festival.
Social media: https://www.nwsg.org/membership/compendium-members-projects-credits/. https://www.facebook.com/LauraMKempWriter https://gamblecreekstudio.com.
Joe Rice, EPIC Board Member at Large and Tuesday Evening Writing Group leader
Biography: I am a retired educator now working to complete a memoir and another nonfiction book on Multiage Education. I also write poetry, short stories and educational articles. I'm also an avid of many genre and love to participate in writing groups. Never too old to learn.
Published work: Nongraded Multiage Education - A Resource Book, Edmonds School District Press 1990, 1992; Short stories published in others' collections:- Joseph Rice: Generations, edited by Darryl Teruya 2003; "One Way Out," The Greater Good,: Life Lessons from Hawai'i's Leaders, by Evan and Kari Leong 2008; "Untitled," Do It Anyway by Kent M. Keith 2003; "A survey and Analysis of Oral Reading Miscues Made By Mexican and Mexican American Migrants 1979; "Kupu Hou: To Sprout and Grow Anew," A white paper on the future of education presented to the Directors of Mid-Pacific Institute, Honolulu, Hawaii 2012.
Judith Works, EPIC Board Member at Large
Biography: Judith, a founding member of EPIC Group Writers, is the author of a memoir about living in Rome and working for the United Nations titled Coins in the Fountain. She enjoys writing travel stories, and is working on a novel set in Rome and Vashon Island, and another set in the Cascade Mountain foothills.
Published work: Coins in the Fountain as well as articles in My Edmonds News, Wanted in Rome, Alaska Airlines inflight magazine and several pieces of flash fiction in literary journals.
Social Media: FB Author's page: judithworks author; Instagram: worksjudith; website: judithworks.net.
# # #
2021-22 EPIC MEMBERS (in alphabetical order)
(EPIC Membership Year is September 1 through August 31)
Catherine Alexander
Biography: Catherine Alexander, Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee, has published stories in 42 literary journals, including North Atlantic Review, Rosebud (two successive issues), Bryant Literary Review, Rockhurst Review and won "Jurors' Choice" in Spindrift. Paul Auster read her story, “Dancing on 74th Street,” on NPR. Jorja Fox from television’s CSI performed “Backyards” in a WordTheatre production. For fifteen years, she has taught fiction and memoir at the University of Washington, Edmonds College, and many others.
Roma Anjoy
[awaiting biography)
Vanessa Arpin
Biography: Vanessa Arpin has won several awards for her writing. In 2017, she won a scholarship to the Mendocino Writer’s Conference for her Young Adult submission, and her book was a top finalist in the Young Adult genre. In 2014, she was recognized by the Seattle Public Library for her poetry.
Social Media: Vanessaarpin.com
Matthew Austin
[awaiing biography]
Caryn Schutzler
[awaiting biography]
Jeffrey Briggs
Biography: Jeffrey D. Briggs, a writer and journalist, has been writing about the Seattle waterfront since he moved onto his sailboat over thirty years ago. He now lives on land with his wife and dog and can often be found on the shores of Puget Sound, wondering what secrets lie hidden beneath those cold waters. He is the author of two novels in the Waterfront Mystery series: Out of the Cold Dark Sea and Within A Shadowed Forest.
Donald Brown
[awaiting biography]
Debra Carnegie
[awaiting Biography)
Nicole 'Nicki' Chen
Biography: I'm a writer and blogger living in Edmonds. My first novel, Tiger Tail Soup, a Novel of China at War, was published in 2013. I'm working on a second novel. It's the story of an expat who lives in the Philippines and then in Vanuatu, a woman who has her heart set on having a baby. I'm a graduate of Seattle University, and I have an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts.
Published work: Tiger Tail Soup, a novel of China at war.
Social Media: Website/Blog: www.nickichenwrites.com; Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NickiChenAuthor/; Twitter: @NickiChenAuthor; Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8261760.
Anna Dahland Kim
Biography: Anna Dahland writes about immigration, parenting, and identity. She teaches English to immigrants and is a former professor of English Education at Chonnam National University in South Korea. She lives in Shoreline with her family and a very cute dog.
Published work: Swedish Again: a memoir of motherhood and identity; "Things We Thought We Knew," "Silence," and other poems in Licton Springs Review 2015 & 2021; English Conversation/ Advanced English Conversation, Chunjae Education, South Korea.
Website: https://annadahland.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/annakim19
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AnnaDahland
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22007553.Anna_Dahland
Jodi Dills
Biography: With a Certificate in Writing from University of Washington, I am an active active member of Hugo House and Epic Write in Seattle. My friends call me Jodi. I manage an 80-unit apartment building in my spare time and write to fill the extra hours. Like many, I write because I must. I do not write in one genre and am kind of all over the place, but I'm learning so much about so many things in the process.
Roxanne Dunn
Biography: I am a retired physical therapist, a foodie, a fanatic about good chocolate, and a private pilot. I lived aboard an old wood motor yacht for seventeen years, and in my dreams, I’m a pianist of renown, an acceptable water color artist, and a globe-trotting yogini.
Published work: I write the galley column for Pacific Yachting magazine. Murder Unrehearsed is my debut novel.
Paddy Eger
Biography: Paddy is the published author of both non fiction and fiction books and materials, a presenter, a speaker, a blogger and a traveler. Currently her interests include writing YA, early chapter books and memoir.
Published work: Award-winning books including a YA trilogy: 84 Ribbons, When the Music Stops-Dance On, Letters to Follow-A Dancer's Adventure; and Tasman-An Innocent Convict's Struggle for Freedom
Social Media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paddyegerfictionauthor; Twitter: @paddyegerwriter; Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/paddyeger; Website: www.paddyeger.com; Blogs: www.paddyeger.com/blog/author
Suzanne Elshult
Biography: As an executive coach by profession and twenty years as a professional volunteer immersed in K9 search and rescue and deployment on hundreds of missions with her three Labrador Retrievers Suzanne is recognized both regionally in the Pacific Northwest and beyond as a seasoned K9 handler committed to finding the lost and the missing. She has co-authored a book with Guy Mansfield to be published in 2022: Search for the Dead which provides an inside view of K9 search and rescue.
Published work: Search for the Dead (adventure memoir to be published in 2022); K9 Lessons Learnt from the OSO Landslide, Cop Magazine 2015; K9 Teams on Mountain Rescue Mission, MRA Meridian 2011
Ann Erickson
[awaiting biography]
Maggie Fimia
Biography: Queens Girl, Registered Nurse, Community Organizer after a year in VISTA, elected official after completing my Masters in Public Policy. Wife for 43 years, Mother for over 35 years and now grandmother. Passionate about empowering people and leaders to do their homework, get involved, respect people and the process.
Thomas Frank
[awaiting biography]
Ramona Gault
[awaiting biography]
Dan Gilchrist
Biography: Professionally, I am primarily a graphic designer, trained and licensed as a landscape architect. My day job also entails copywriting and answering/advising gardening customers online. Intermittent blogger, working toward my first book (non-fiction). Maybe my Instagram profile more accurately typifies my work: “Spaces, places, rhythms, layers, patterns, textures, perspectives, opinions, abject silliness and occasional Truth.”
Publications: Rhythm & Space (my too-infrequent personal blog); “Let’s Treat People Like Animals”; “The Rhythm & Space of Running”; “The Waves.” Digging Deeper (Swansons Nursery's gardening blog)… “50 Shades of, Well, Shade”; “The Wabi Sabi Garden”; “Framed for Murder: Not the Pests You Might Suspect.”
Website: https://rhythmandspace.wordpress.com/
Twitter: @dangseawa
Kathleen Glassburn
Biography: Kathleen Glassburn is primarily a fiction writer. She is also managing editor of The Writer's Workshop Review www.thewritersworkshopreview.net.
Published work: Short Story Collection - Where Do Stories Come From? For samples of her published work please see her website: www.kathleenglassburn.com.
Lisa Greene
Biography: I am a published author of 3 books about parenting and one children’s book. They are of a more non-fiction genre. I’d like to start writing again in other genres and would like ideas and support as well as to share what I already know about book writing. I am also a public speaker, college professor and mom. I live in downtown Edmonds.
Publications: Parenting Children with Health Issues: Tools, Tips and Tactics for Raising Children with Special Medical Needs; Parenting Children with Health Issues condensed version booklet; No Mo No; Healthy Choices, Happy Kids
Lilach Grimminger
[awaiting biography]
Linda Hebert
Pen name: Linda Summersea
Biography: I’ve always loved wild places. I attribute this to growing up feral on our three-generation family farm in Massachusetts, yet little did I know that it would lead to a lifetime of following my desire to see what’s over the hill. THE GIRL WITH THE BLACK AND BLUE DOLL is my 96,000-word coming-of-age memoir. Its opening scene reveals three-year-old me as I’m fleeing my mother’s wrath and her swinging army belt. The rest is the story of my survival to become a thriving adult.
Published work: The Manifest-Station, The Colombian; also, quite a few travel articles in magazines back in the day.
Cynthia Heckman
[awaiting biography]
Lora Hein
Biography: Lora is returning to writing in retirement. Her first focus is a memoir based on her two month journey to the Galápagos Islands in 1973 and the life lessons she learned there. Lora lives in Edmonds where she enjoys gardening and creative cooking as well as dancing and reading. She makes every effort to retain her connection to nature.
Amber Vitti Hill
Biography: Amber received her B.A. in English from the University of Michigan and an M.A. in English Education from the Teacher’s College of Columbia University. After teaching for over fifteen years in a variety of schools, she currently resides in Woodinville, Washington with her husband and two sons. She serves on the board of the EPIC Group Writers.
Published work: Her short story “Wolves” appeared in 34th Parallel literary magazine.
Phil Howe
[awaiting biography]
Lis Johnson
Biography: Former print journalist covering everything from cops to courts, politics to business and the occasional county fair.
Published work: The Lebanon Democrat; The Gallatin News-Examiner; The Kingsport Times News; The Johnson City Press.
Falaah Jones
Biography: Falaah Jones has written numerous tales. One novel plops us in a mental hospital, one in a boarding school, and another in dystopian USA. She is a two-time contest winner, and her short essays will be included in the 2022 Two Sisters Writing anthology and the 2022 Whatcom Writes anthology. She lives in Seattle with her husband and chickens and talks to almost everyone she passes on the street.
Published work: 2022 Two Sisters Writing anthology; 2022 Whatcom Writes anthology
Kizzie Jones
Biography: Children’s author Kizzie Jones blends her love of dachshunds and her love of the ocean to create whimsical tall tales to delight readers of all ages. Kizzie makes her home in Edmonds with her beloved Thom and three dachshunds!
Published work: "How Dachshunds Came to Be" (2012); "A Tall Tale About a Dachshund & a Pelican" (2016); "A Tall Tale About Dachshunds in Costumes"(2019); "Writing in Place: Prose & Poetry from the Pacific Northwest" Anthology (2019); Northwest Prime Time, Chaplaincy Today, Military.com, and CHSSM Diakonie, and has been a first-place non-fiction winner for Write on the Sound with her piece titled, "The Waters of Compassion."
Social media: Website: https://www.kizziejones.com/; Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kizziejonesauthor; Twitter:
https://twitter.com/kizeliz; Goodreads: https://www.go:odreads.com/author/show/6615823.Kizzie_Jones
Lesly Kaplan
[awaiting biography]
Andrea Karin
Biography: At Allegory Editing, our experienced team of editors, educators, and publishing industry experts is here to guide you along every step of your writing journey. From workshops designed to help you hone your craft, to individualized coaching sessions, to personally-tailored developmental editing services, to skilled copy editing & proofreading, our goal is to support you as you write the best manuscript possible.
Website: allegoryediting.com
Elizabeth Keating
[awaiting biography]
Wendy Kendall
Biography: Wendy Kendall has a passion for purses and stories of women through history who carried them. Author of the In Purse-Suit Cozy Mystery Series. My YouTube podcasts feature author interviews on A Novel Talk as well as Kendall and Cooper Talk Mysteries. Website is wendywrites.org
Published work: Kat Out of the Bag; Purse-Stachio Makes A Splash; A Taste of Danger Anthology; Column -- Recommended Reads;
Column - Kids Are Bookin' It.
Henry Landau
Biography: Hank and his family have lived in Woodway, WA since 1973. He is the founder of Landau Associates, a regional engineering firm. Since his retirement he has been active in human rights, environmental organizations and bicycling and kayaking adventures.
Published work: The Misadventures of a Cross-Country Kayaker, a true story describing the authors Quixotic voyage from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean.
Kitti Lile
[awaiting biography]
Carol Lindlow
Biography: I am a mental health therapist. I write letters to my ministry group, journal continually and lead therapy groups. I’d like more practice and possible blog in the works. I love great mystery writing and character building. The perfect word (le bon mot) is often my goal.
Catherine Linka
Biography: Catherine Linka is the author of the award-winning dystopian novel, A Girl Called Fearless. Kirkus called her most recent novel, What I Want You to See, “an engrossing novel about art, self-expression, and making amends.” Catherine received her MFA in writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts.
Published work: What I Want You to See (Hachette, 2020); A Girl Called Fearless (St. Martin's Press, 2014); A Girl Undone (St. Martin's Press, 2015)
Website: catherinelinka.com
Tyler Marcil
[awaiting biography]
Janet Margot
Biography: I teach new and experienced authors looking to build an ads strategy, avoid costly mistakes and scale their visibility on Amazon.
Published work: Author, Amazon Ads for Indie Authors: A How-to Guide from an Industry Expert
Bill Mayer
[awaiting biography]
Brian McAuley
[awaiting biography]
Michael McKown
Biography: I’m Michael McKown and I’ve been a writer and editor ever since high school, ages ago. Ghostwriters Central, Inc., has been my business since 2002. We write book manuscripts, screenplays, speeches (including wedding speeches and vows), theatrical play scripts, advertising copy, press releases, user manuals, song lyrics and more. Click here to visit my website: https://www.ghostwords.com/
Art Mickel
[awaiting biography]
Marcia McLaughlin
Biography: Marcia has lived in the Seattle area since she was in her twenties. Presently she lives in Lake Forest Park with her partner, Beth. She has written both prose and poetry for many years now. At first, it was part of her healing and now is something that can be more public. She is retiring this summer from being a spiritual director and look forward to having more time to write. She has a a blog – and has good intentions of actually putting more on it! https://marciamclaughlin.blogspot.com/ She is a photographer and enjoys writing poems to go with the photographs – ekphrastic poetry.
Publications: I have had a couple of poems published in the online Shoreline Area News.
Rebecca Meredith
Biography: I’m both a prose writer and a poet. My poetry has appeared in a number of journals and anthologies, and from 2011-2013 I was Redmond’s first poet laureate. My novel, The Last of the Pascagoula, was published in 2011 and its sequel, Look Up From the Water is upcoming. I was a founder of RASP, Redmond Association of Spokenword.
Publications: Novels: The Last of the Pascagoula; Look Up From the Water; Chapbook: Intergenerational Delta Blues. Poetry Publications: Calyx; Pontoon; Between Hours; Here, There and Everywhere; Limbs of the Pine, Peaks of the Range; Chrysanthemum
Erica Miner
Biography: Former Metropolitan Opera violinist ERICA MINER is now an award-winning author, screenwriter, arts writer and lecturer. Erica won the Fiction Prize in the Direct from the Author Book Awards for her debut novel, Travels With My Lovers. She recently released Death by Opera, the second in her “Operatic Mystery” series.
Published work: Travels With My Lovers; FourEver Friends; Murder in the Pit; Death by Opera; Staged for Murder.
Liz Morris
[awaiting biography]
Gretchen Murphy
Biography: Gretchen is a native of Seattle and has lived with her family in Bothell since 1976. She worked in healthcare and education. She retired in 2017 as Director of the Master’s program in Health Informatics and Health Information Management at the University of Washington. Gretchen has enjoyed writing and contributing to textbooks over many years and is now interested in exploring new writing experiences.
Published work: Poetry: In the Blink of an Eye, Northwest Prime Time, April 2019. Textbooks: Electronic Health Records - Changing the Vision, 1999; Systems Analysis and Computer Applications in Health Information Management, 1983; Medical Records in Health.
Information, 1979.
Vivian Murray
[awaiting biography]
Candy Nelson
[awaiting biography]
Diane Olberg
Biography: Writer, reader, cook, Unitarian. Born in Minnesota, now living in Edmonds. Writing a memoir about faith, addiction, and mental illness. Housemate of feline Mack the Rascal.
Website: www.dianeolberg.com
Wendy Ogden
[awaiting biography]
Victoria (Tori) Peters
[awaiting biography]
Joanne Peterson
Biography: Joanne (Bradbury) Peterson, ongoing member of longtime Edmonds Writing Sisters, former columnist for Edmonds Beacon. Now residing a few miles from her beloved hometown, Joanne writes poetry and prose, as the fancy strikes. "A word after a word after a word is power." Margaret Atwood
Published work: Writing in Place: Prose and Poetry from the Pacific Northwest, an anthology, The Edmonds Writing Sisters.
Christine Pinto
Biography: I am a freelance editor, writing and history educator, writing coach, and writer. I have a Certificate in Writing for Children and a Certificate in Editing from the University of Washington. I currently enjoy teaching Oregon Trail history to fourth graders in the Shoreline School District, and volunteering at historic Fort Nisqually in Tacoma.Published work: My short story, “Del”, was a 2021 EPIC Writing Contest winner.
Contact info: https://www.christinepintowrites.com/; https://allegoryediting.com/; https://www.linkedin.com/in/christine-pinto-writes/
Amanda Poteete
[awaiting biography]
Patricia Power
Biography: I am a semi-retired adjunct professor of religious studies for Arizona State University and the Maricopa Community College District. This means I teach online courses for these institutions from the comfort of my home, or better yet, the open patio in front of Starbucks in Mill Creek Town Center! I’ve been writing one thing or another for as long as I can remember. A few pieces have even been published. While I enjoy writing non-fiction, I am trying my hand at fiction these days. On the agenda: a murder mystery set in the fictitious community of Cedar Creek.
Published work: A first-person feature article on working with the homeless in Charisma magazine; “Seppuku,” in Religion and Violence: An Encyclopedia of Faith and Conflict from Antiquity to the Present; “Dar al-Islam community (New Mexico) in Encyclopedia of Muslim-American History; “Blurring the Boundaries: American Messianic Jews and Gentiles,” in Nova Religio.
Valerie Ramer
Biography: Valerie Ramer is the author of Alastair McAllister Goes to School, a children's book purrfect for ages 3-8. Valerie has raised 2 amazing children and lots of kittens. She has a background in theater. She has written and directed children's theater and did ghostwriting for numerous TV and film screenplays.
Published work: Alastair McAllister Goes to School, a children's book for ages 3-8.
Website: www.Redwritingbooks.com
Lisa Reddick
Biography: Lisa M. Reddick has lived in, loved and been writing about the Pacific Northwest for most of her life. Her personal essay. She is currently working on the sequel to The Same River which focuses on issues in the future having to do with climate change.
Published work: The Same River, published in Landscapes of the Heart; Narratives of Nature and Self.
Kristi Lyn Reddy
Biography: Kristi Lyn Reddy, author and blogger, is a childhood abuse and domestic violence survivor. Kristi Lyn is currently working on her memoir, That’s NOT Okay!
Published work: True Stories Vol 1; True Stories Vol 4
Brenda Reiss
Biography: Call me a slow starter. I was here on the planet before anyone had even heard of the Beatles... but the possibility of writing never occurred to me until almost too late. Now, (thank you lockdown) I'm deep into a memoir. It's my maiden voyage in the thrashing seas of not-quite-literary reminiscence... salted with a generous dollop of bull. Expat memoirs of colonized countries are a whole genre and since I grew up as an American in South Africa, that's what mine is about. More or less.
Donna Rudiger
Biography: Donna M. Rudiger began writing as an adolescent and has lived in the PNW since 1974. She is an award-winning essayist and poet and an active member of several writing groups in the Seattle area. She is a retired technical writer and lives in Arlington.
Published work: Contributing Poet to "Soundings of the Salish Sea", a poetry anthology, published by EPIC Writers Poetry Group, 2018.
Carol Sanford
Published work: Three award-winning non-fiction. The Responsible Business, The Responsible Entrepreneur with Wiley; The Regenerative Business, with Nicholas Brealey and soon to be released No More Feedback self-published. 3 Podcasts and Blogs. The Regenerative Business, The Responsible Capitalist, Business Second Opinion. Producer The Regenerative Summit. Faculty @ Universities in Europe and UW. Senior Fellow of Social Innovation at Babson College.
Social Media: Website: www.carolsanford.com; Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/carolsanford2; Twitter: carolsanford
Mary Ann Schradi
Biography: MaryAnn Schradi AKA Mimzi Schradi has written two books in a Romantic Thriller series and is finishing the third—Poisoned in Paris. She is one of the prime five authors of Detective Ink, for which she contributed a novella, The IT Girl. She loves to write poetry and music and sings in multiple choirs.
She has three poems in publication.
Publications: PsyChic in Seattle; Frantic In Fiji...and other ports of call, written under pen name, Mimzi Schradi; The IT Girl in the collection, Detective Ink; Three Poems I n the Anthology, Tales for a Lazy Afternoon.
Courtenay Schurman
Biography: Traditionally published in adult non-fiction, I'm currently working on MG novels featuring active girls who love the outdoors. I was chosen through SCBWI to participate in their 6-month Mentorship Program. When I'm not writing or training clients for their outdoor adventures, I serve on the WOTS Steering Committee, volunteer with the giraffes at Woodland Park Zoo, shelve books at the Olympic Hills Elementary School, and prepare for upcoming overseas adventures including trips to Ireland as a chaperone for my daughter's high school marching band, and New Zealand.
Published works: Train to Climb Mt. Rainier or Any High Peak DVD (Body Results 2002); Chapter 4 (Conditioning) Freedom of the Hills (Mountaineers books) editions 7, 8, 9; The Outdoor Athlete (2009; Human Kinetics); Quarterly columnist Mountaineers Magazine (Seattle Mountaineers) 2014-current.
Neal Silberberg
Biography: While I was fortunate to get a college degree, at 80 years old my real education came from many life experiences.
Cindy Speer
Biography: Cindy Lynn Speer has loved telling stories her whole life — stories make the world make sense. Some of her favorite authors are Neil Gaiman, Barbara Hambly, Terry Pritchett, Lee Child, Craig Johnson, Patricia Briggs. When she’s not writing or reading, she can be found practicing historical fencing (decently), sewing (impatiently), and gardening (horribly.). She also loves tea. Tea is a good bribe.
Published works: Blue Moon; Unbalanced; The Chocolatier’s Wife; The Chocolatier’s Ghost; Wishes and Sorrows.
Kristina Stapleton
[awaiting biography]
Elizabeth Stewart
Biography: I am a genetics/genomics scientist who loves sci-fi and fantasy. I left the lab quite a while ago and have been science writing since that, and am now writing a book about two women, a dog, and the Holocaust experiences as Deaf Jews that the family of one of the women went through.
Neely Stratton
[awaiting biography]
Inez Taylor
[awaiting biography]
Nelson Taylor
Biography: I write because I like to create characters and make up stories. I like people with keen imagination and intellect, crazy ones who frighten and inspire us, gentle souls who want to save everything from peril, those who are called to write and have run out of excuses not to.
Published work: Hoosier Challenger, spring 1970; H.C. poetry award for submission of "The Quest"
Carol B Tiebout
[awaiting biography]
Diane Tinsley
[awaiting biography]
Howard Tinsley
Biography: I am a retired university professor with extensive experience editing and publishing in psychological journals and books. I began to study creative writing in the early 1990 but until now have written only for personal pleasure. I am currently working on two fiction novels I hope to publish when completed.
Published work: Tinsley, H. E. A., Lease, S. H., & Wiersma, N. S. G. (Eds.). (2016). Contemporary theory and practice in counseling and psychotherapy. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage; Tinsley, H. E. A., & Lease, S. H. (Eds.). (2008). Encyclopedia of counseling, Volume 2: Personal counseling and mental health problems. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage; Tinsley, H. E. A., & Brown, S.D. (Eds.). (2000). Handbook of applied multivariate statistics and mathematical modeling. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Dorothy Van Soest
Biography: Novelist Dorothy Van Soest, professor emerita and retired dean at the University of Washington, holds a B.A. in English Literature and a Masters and Ph.D. in Social Work. Van Soest has been a professional writer for over thirty years with eleven books published and over fifty journal articles, essays and book chapters.
Published work: Just Mercy (2014), At the Center (2015), and Death, Unchartered (2018) were published by Apprentice House, Baltimore, MD. Her most recent novel, Nuclear Option, will be released in 2020.
Carol Viens
[awaiting biography]
Sandra Walker
[awaiting biography]
Kathryn Walsh-Clark (pen name Lylium Walsh)
Biography: Lylium Walsh is a queer, pagan writer based in Edmonds, WA. She currently leads Writing Rainbow, a twice monthly meet up for LGBTQIA+ writers. More about her can be found at lyliumwalsh.com
Published work: She has been published in My Edmonds News repeatedly, and placed second in poetry for EPIC Group Writers’ 2021 writing contest.
Naomi Wark
Biography: Besides being an active member with EPIC Group Writers, Naomi Wark is on the board of Skagit Valley Writers’ League, and a member of Pacific Northwest Writers. She holds a Certificate in Commercial Fiction from the University of Washington. When she is not writing, Naomi enjoys gardening and swimming. She is a volunteer and on the Board of Stanwood Camano Food Bank.
Published Work: Naomi’s debut novel, Wildflowers in Winter is recognized by AlzAuthors for its accurate portrayal of a woman dealing with dementia. Both Wildflowers in Winter, and the prequel novel, Songs of Spring, draw inspiration from diaries left behind by a grandmother and discovered upon her death. An excerpt from Songs of Spring is included in Skagit River Anthology.
Awards: An excerpt from Songs of Spring won 2nd place in adult prose in the EPIC writer’s contest in 2020, and a short story, The Hunt, won 2nd placed in prose in 2021. A separate excerpt from Songs of Spring won 3rd place in a contest sponsored by Skagit Valley Writer’s League.
Ingrid Wolsk
Biography: I was born in New York City and from childhood on I wrote poems and illustrated them, along with writing very short stories. As an adult I lived abroad for ten years working both in and out of the arts and theater world. I feel so privileged now to have the time to write, which is my true passion, and now finally am published.
Publications: 'A Screech of Warning' a flash fiction piece on Amazon Kindle. 'The Secret of Anja' a novel, on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. For the moment it appears only as an eBook since it takes 2-3 weeks to get it to appear as a print version.