Floriana Hall attended Akron University, has been married to Robert Hall 56 years. She has five children and nine grandchildren. She is the author/editor of six nonfiction/ inspirational books, SMALL CHANGE, THE SANDS OF RHYME, DADDY WAS A BAD BOY, OUT OF THE ORDINARY SHORT STORIES. Founder/coordinator of the Poet's Nook at Cuyahoga Falls Library, Editor of The Poet's Nook's two books, THROUGH OUR EYES, POEMS OF BEAUTIFUL NORTHEAST OHIO, AND POET'S NOOK POTPOURRI. Floriana has always loved rhyme, even as a child, for it was 'fun for the tongue.' Excellent Literature and English teachers enhanced her love for poetry in high school. Inspired in church at sixty eight years of age, she started writing rhyme and some free verse again. She has won many poetry contests and has been published in U.S. England, and India. Her works were compared to the styles of Poe and Hawthorne by Taj Mahal Review.
Recognition and awards:
WHO'S WHO IN US WRITERS, EDITORS AND POETS, WHO'S WHO IN INTERNATIONAL POETRY, MARQUIS WHO'S WHO IN AMERICA. Check Google and website: www.expage.com/flossiesbooknook
Violinist turned author Erica Miner has had a multi-faceted career as an award-winning screenwriter, author and poet. A native of Detroit, she studied music at Boston University and the New England Conservatory of Music. After experiencing a variety of highs and lows in her quest to forge a career in New York City, Erica won the coveted position of violinist with the Metropolitan Opera Company. Performing in this high-pressured milieu while raising her two children on her own, Erica felt gratified, confident that she had reached the pinnacle of her field.
But one day her life became even more challenging, when as a result of a car accident she was no longer able to perform on the violin. Searching for a new creative outlet, she drew upon her lifelong love of writing for inspiration. She studied poetry writing and screenwriting, winning a number of awards in both categories. Her six screenplays have won awards and/or placed in such competitions as American Accolades, WinFemme, Santa Fe and the Writer’s Digest. Now a Southern California resident, Erica honed her screenwriting skills with author and script guru Linda Seger of "Making a Good Script Great" fame and with Ken Rotcop, the author of “Perfect Pitch.”
Eventually Erica set out to write about her life as a musician and single mother and published her first novel, Travels with My Lovers, winner of the Fiction Prize in the Direct from the Author Book Awards. Inspired by her journals written during her travel adventures in Europe with and without her children, Erica penned her novel with a dual goal: first, to entertain; and second, to speak to all generations of women and encourage them to express their emotional freedom. Erica has recently completed screenplay adaptations for this novel and for her suspense thriller, Murder In The Pit, which takes place at the Met. She is currently at work on a novel series with ‘baby boomers’ in mind, chronicling a young girl’s coming of age in the volatile 60s and 70s.
In addition, Erica has developed a number of writing lectures and seminars related to Travels With My Lovers, which she has presented at various venues across the West Coast and abroad. She has recently been proclaimed a ‘Top-rated Speaker’ by Celebrity Cruise Lines, and her writings have appeared in San Diego Vision Magazine, WORD San Diego and numerous E-zines. Details about Erica’s novels, screenplays, seminars and interviews can be found on her website, http://www.ericaminer.com
Lea Schizas is Founder and co-Founder of 2 Writer's Digest 101 Best Writing Sites of 2005 and recipients of the Preditors and Editors Most Useful Writing Sites: Apollo's Lyre and The MuseItUp Club. She is an award-winning writer with several honorable mentions in both screenwriting and fiction contests. Her Young Adult Fantasy Novel, The Rock of Realm, was released April 2005, the first in a series of adventures and quests of Alexandra Stone and her friends. For more information on Lea Schizas, link here: http://leaschizasauthor.tripod.com.Contact Lea.
ROSEANNE DOWELL: As the second youngest of six children, Roseanne always had a vivid imagination and loved to make up stories. She often sat and daydreamed about imaginary characters and lost herself in books and make-believe worlds.
Roseanne especially loves reading and writing mystery and romance – mysteries combined with romance are her all time favorites. Her favorite authors are Mary Higgins Clark and Nora Roberts.
Her love of writing began as a teenager, but it wasn’t until recent years that she pursued it seriously, when she admitted in a discussion at her book club that she always regretted not writing. With encouragement from fellow book-club members, NEORWA and her husband, Roseanne began writing and submitting her work.
Although Satin Sheets is her first published novel, she has over forty articles and stories published in magazines such as Good Old Days, Nostalgia, and Ohio Writer along with several online publications. Satin Sheets was nominated for the IPPY Award and was a finalist in the Reader’s Choice Award from Author Island.
Besides teaching three writing courses for Long Story School of Writing, Roseanne teaches a writing course at Cuyahoga Community College. She was the Senior Editor of an online magazine wrote two columns. Her first novel, Satin Sheets, is now available.
In her spare time, Roseanne enjoys spending time with her six children and thirteen grandchildren. Her hobbies include ceramics, knitting, quilting, and jewelry making. But her first love is writing. Roseanne resides with her husband of forty-five years in Northeast Ohio. You can visit Roseanne’s website at: http://www.roseannedowell.com
Jane Bernard has had the pleasure of being a professional writer and educator for the past 25 years. Starting as a technical writer working for educational thinktanks, then educational television, ghost writing speeches, re-writing books, screenplays, proposals, etc, Jane continues to write and re-write for the fields of entertainment, medicine and art. At the same time Jane has been a writing professor at several colleges in NY and conducted creative writing workshops. She has been published on and off line, had work optioned and readings of her theatrical scripts. Recently she has written "Fine Tuning" which teaches people how to use their 5 senses to recognize and tune in to their intuition. Jane loves writing and believes that the great things we accomplish in life pale next to the great effort that went into them. Through writing there is no greater opportunity in any of our lives than daring to be as great as we might yet become. Her book, Fine Tuning the Senses is available.
Francine Silverman is a lifelong New Yorker who honed her writing skills as a newspaper reporter and freelance writer. She is author of two 600-page travel guidebooks, Catskills Alive (2000 and 2003) and Long Island Alive (2003), both published by Hunter Publishing. In March 2003, Fran started an ezine called Book Promotion Newsletter with 10 subscribers, and currently has nearly 1500. http://www.bookpromotionnewsletter.com. A compendium of her subscribers' best marketing strategies was turned into a book two years later. Book Marketing from A-Z, featuring 325 authors of all genres, was published March 2005 by Infinity Publishing. The 400-page paperback is in alphabetical order for ease of use, and, like the ezine, is geared to authors, publicists, publishers, book coaches, editors and ghostwriters. In 2005, Fran collaborated with author Maureen McMahon in setting up a page of author experts, where nearly 150 of her subscribers are now answering book marketing questions for free. http://maureenmcmahon.com/bookmarketing.html
T.C. McMullen began her first novel shortly after finishing the Breaking Into Print course from Long Ridge Writers Group in 1995. She continued to study the writing craft, found an agent, worked with an editor, then chose a new way of publishing. In 2001, she published her first novel, Whispers of Insanity, followed by her second, Gone Before Dawn in 2003. She worked as senior editor and head artistic development editor of Global Authors Publications before going freelance with both her editing and designing services. She has since written The Manipulated Evil Trilogy with The Unseen: Book One and Scattered Souls: Book Two in print and Scorching Eden: Book Three to be released autumn 2005. She also heads Silver Moon Magazine, a magazine geared toward the darker genres.
Jean Lauzier has had a love of reading as long as she can remember. She is a graduate of Long Ridge Writer's Group and publishes her own romance ezine called Romance Rendezvous. Jean wrote monthly columns on writing craft for LeditSlip and Crimson Dagger. She now writes columns for Destiny 3 Fiction and Silver Moon Magazine. Jean encourages everyone to stop by her website at www.jeanlauzier.com and check out her latest sales. And for the latest in romance reading and writing, be sure to click on over to www.theromanceplace.com
A retired college dean, Betty Jo Tucker serves as Lead Film Critic for ReelTalkReviews.com and is the author of two movie-related books: CONFESSIONS OF A MOVIE ADDICT and SUSAN SARANDON: A TRUE MAVERICK. She writes monthly film commentary for The Colorado Senior Beacon, and her movie reviews also appear on Z Review and as well as on The Romance Club Website and on News First Online, an NBC-affiliate television Website. She discusses movies every Monday afternoon with host Don Grady on his popular Louisiana Live radio show and is the resident movie reviewer for “Laura’s Much Ado About Books,” a new radio talk show on Voice America. Her latest adventures involve hosting two radio shows, Movie Addict Headquarters for BlogTalkRadio and the ReelTalk Radio Show for the iTRC network, plus teaching an online course titled "The Reel Deal: Writing about Movies" for the LSS School of Writing. While serving as Dean of Humanities at San Diego Mesa College, Betty Jo supervised expansion of the film studies curriculum, designed an “Exploring Human Values through Film” course and coordinated the “Reel to Real Film Forum” program. She belongs to the Online Film Critics Society and is a founding member of the San Diego Film Critics Society.
Francis X. Curry has written three books. All of them published by Infinity Publishing of West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. Learned his basic writing skills at Gonzaga University, Spokane Washington. Author of several books, Sohne lives in Florida with his wife, enjoying retirement and his grandchildren.
Jamieson Wolf has often viewed the world with a different eye than most people. Anything can be a story; a conversation, a flight of birds, a song. Words come from inspiration. Jamieson often feels he has too many words. "I guess I have a lot of Muses." He says, "If I don't write, I go crazy."
Writing from an early age, Jamieson was not really aware that he wanted to become a writer. Starting with poetry, he slowly began to fill journals with words. They words didn't really have meaning to him at the time; they were scratches on paper. Turning away from his words for a time, trying to find his way in the big world of the corporate drones, he enjoyed a great many different hats.
One night, after a particularly bad day at his zillionth office job, Jamieson came upon his old journals and started reading. When he was done, night had come, but instead of sleeping he got up and found a blank journal. And started writing.
"The words just kept coming." he says. "It was like they were there, underneath my skin all the time. I just didn't know it. I wanted to be an actor you know." Here he bends forward and sits in a more comfortable position. "I went to school for it and everything. I loved the acting." He makes a face. "I just didn't like the people."
Reading those words was like an epiphany. Jamieson knew what he wanted to do at that point; but it would take time. Approaching the art of writing like a Bard in training (Seven Years Learning, Seven Years Practicing, Seven Years Teaching) Jamieson has branched outward to give his voice it's hold.
Currently his work is available in: Susan Sarandon: A True Maverick and Fantasies: The World's Greatest Short Stories. He has also had his fiction published in: The Dark Krypt, Clean Sheet's Erotica, Mytholog, The House of Pain, The Twilight Times and others. He is currently a Senior Reviewer at Linear Reflections and is currently working on his fourth serial novel and a dark children's tale. He has written several e-novels, Electric Blue, Electric Pink and Garden City.
"I just love what I do." He says. "I'm going to be telling stories for a long time to come. It's like I can tap into the world around me and hear the tattoo under the ground. It's quite the feeling."
Jamieson currently resides with his cat Mave in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. More information on my writing is available at my web site: Jamieson Wolf.
Chandra Ghosh Jain was born in Calcutta and spent her formative years in Delhi. She graduated in Economics (Honours) from Miranda House, Delhi University. and received my her graduation in Economics from Jawahar Lal University New Delhi. For a brief while she taught Economics in Delhi University as a lecturer. She did her research on the 'Changing Agrarian relations and its socio-economic impact on development' from Rajasthan University. Marriage brought her to Rajasthan a desert state, where time appeared to stand still. The veil separating the past from the present was thin. One could sense the fact that the history, which shaped the destiny of the place, hadn't been lost. The violent and blinding sandstorms which blows through the hot summer months, revealed new shapes and contours, telling a different tale each time. Her husband's postings offered her an opportunity to travel in the state, which boasts of palaces and forts of a bygone era; which forms a backdrop to many of her tales. She is presently working on an anthology of short stories, Quixotic Quest and Other Tales.
Patrika Vaughn is President of A Cappela Publishing, Inc. and CEO of eLit Agent. She is a widely published author of articles, books, audiobooks and online classes for writers.
She has been awarded the Order of Excellence by Who's Who in the 21st Century and is listed in Outstanding People of the 21st Century and The International Authors and Writers Who's
Who.
A widely published author herself, Patrika is known as the world's foremost Author's Advocate. She guides authors through the processes of writing, marketing and publishing (see www.acappela.com) and is the pioneer of electronic literary agenting (www.eLitAgent.com).
Patrika's mission is to help new authors get published. To accomplish this, she has created a ‘"one-stop shop." Through A Cappela Publishing, Advocate House and eLitAgent, Patrika works with authors from concept through publication, offering both consulting and editing until a marketable work has been achieved. She also helps authors pinpoint their markets and can either produce books for self-publishers or represent them to publishing houses through her innovative electronic agenting service.
She holds a B.A. in Literature and Anthropology from New College (the honors program for the State of Florida) and did her postgraduate work in World Literature at the University of Arkansas.
As a Wayne State University merit scholar in the early '80s, DM Kraft studied under Detroit poet ML Liebler, who inspired her creative ambitions in a variety of literary endeavors. In addition to poetry, DM Kraft has been writing fantasy fiction and building the worlds necessary to accommodate that genre for nearly three decades. This experience, together with a background in teaching at the secondary school level as well as in a corporate environment, has led her to develop the "World Building for Writers" workshop, through which she hopes to share what she has learned with other writers.
DM Kraft’s key influences in the field include Terry Brooks and Stephen R. Donaldson. On the subject of World Building, she credits Lee Carroll, a long-time role-play gamer with degrees from Harvard, Cambridge and Tufts, as a mentor
Bestselling Poet/novelist, Perry Brasshas published 13 books and been a finalist six times in three different categories for national Lambda Literary Awards. His work is included in over 25 anthologies including The Columbia Book of Gay Literature from Columbia University Press, and Death Comes Easy, Bend Sinister, and Serendipity from London’s Millivres-Prowler Press. His groundbreaking play “Night Chills,” about the early AIDS crisis, won a New Orleans Contemporary Arts Center Playwriting Award and a Jane Chambers International Gay Playwriting Award, His novel Warlock: A Novel of Possession, won an "Ippy" Award from Independent Publisher Magazine. His latest novel, The Substance of God: A Spiritual Thriller, Lambda Literary finalist in Science Fiction/Fantasy, asked the intriguing question: is our often censored urge towards sex the same urge as our urge toward a higher presence, known as God. His next novel is Carnal Sacraments, An Historical Novel of the Future, an explosive story set in 2075, when your lifespan will be determined by your job, privacy will be antiquated, and most sexuality will be permitted, but only in a very controlled and corporatized form. He can be reached through his website www.perrybrass.com.
Dorry Pease: Dorry Catherine Pease is a native of upstate New York. After graduating from New York State University at Brockport with a degree in Elementary Education and a second in Secondary Education in Social Sciences, she continued her educational ventures with graduate work in Creative Journalistic Writing and Adolescent Psychology with completion courses at St. Louis University in 1989. Via San Diego, CA., she and her husband, Robert, moved to the St. Louis, Missouri area in the spring of 1982 where she now lives on a mini farm complete with dogs, chickens, rabbits, a goose named Lucky and several goslings.
Dorry retired from the Educational field in 2001 after thirty-eight plus years working with young people as a teacher, counselor and administrator. With time to focus on her own goals, Dorry has devoted herself to her love of writing and to the education of others in the writing field and has become a moving force in the writing groups of Jefferson County and Metro St. Louis. Visit her website: www.dcatherinewritersweb.org
Michael Loyd Gray I was born in Arkansas just a two-RC-Colas-and-a-moonpie-drive from Graceland, the center of the Known Elvis Presley Universe, but I grew up in the liberal shadow of a major university near Chicago. Two very different worlds. The Confederate battle flag was proudly displayed in one and regarded with suspicion, dread, and anger in the other. Elvis was The King in both. I remember Saturday afternoon Elvis double-features at a downtown Jonesboro theater surrounded by a gaggle of my Arkansas cousins. More RC Colas. More moonpies. In those days, you scratched off the cork under the RC Cola bottle cap to see if there was a star. If there was, you won something. More RC Cola, I suspect. Dr. Pepper and RC Cola were the gin and vodka of delta kids in those days. Family lore has it that my mother's best friend lived next to Graceland and sometimes put her dog over the fence so it could run on the Graceland grounds. The claim is that one day Elvis brought the dog back personally and flashed that devastating smile, leaving her speechless and nearly paralyzed. More family lore says my mother's friend was hovering at a Memphis stoplight when Elvis pulled alongside in a jeep, again flashing the smile before zooming off and leaving her to sit through another light. Again speechless and nearly paralyzed.I never met Elvis, but I did visit Graceland when he was still alive. Albert Goldman was right that Elvis seemed to have furnished it from roadside stands. But that didn't matter. It was the home of The King and it hushed and awed people the way I imagine the Taj Mahal can. Elvis was unique. There will never again be someone quite like him. Others have been as famous – Muhammad Ali, John Lennon -- but Elvis remains unique for reasons I can't easily articulate through words on a page, though the reasons drench me as obvious whenever I hear his voice or see him in a movie with that devastating grin."Elvis was religion to me," Lennon once said. Why did I decide to resurrect The King in my novel (Confederate Nation: Special Appearance by Elvis Presley)? Why did I breathe life back into him and allow him to be 64, free of drugs, and happy? Because he should have been. See Michael's Website.
Born in Scotland and raised in South Africa, Erin McKnight now lives in Virginia. She holds a B.A. in English from the University of Maryland with a minor in journalism, and an A.A. in liberal arts from the University of Hawaii. Erin will receive her M.F.A. in creative writing, with a specialization in fiction, next year. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications, including Long Story Short, The Rose & Thorn Literary E-Zine, Double Dare Press, Siren: A Literary & Art Journal, Diddledog, The Flask Review, Six Sentences, The Bergen Street Review, 971 MENU, and Ginosko Literary Journal. Her short story, “Generals,” was recently selected for inclusion in an anthology of writing published in issues of Ginosko. Erin has attended several workshops and a studio for professional writers of fiction. She currently serves as an assistant editor of fiction and nonfiction for The Rose & Thorn Literary E-Zine.
ED GREEN is one of the industry's leading voice-over talents. For many years, he has been the voice of major sporting event projects, motion picture trailers, and television narrations, as well as the voice for the most familiar commercial and product advertisers in America. His commercials have currently passed the 30,000 mark, and are still climbing. This includes his well-known work as an audio personality for Fortune 500 Corporations - working on their national campaigns while creating a unique image for internal corporate projects and shareholder meetings. Hosting the advertising industry's annual ANDY and CLIO awards ceremonies is usually a once-in-a-career honor for voice-over talent. Ed has presented both - several times.
Who needs this course? You should ask, who doesn't? In other words, this course isn't just for those who wish to make a career choice, this is equivalent to a great public speaking course as well. If you're a teacher who wants to make greater impact on her students, a business person trying to climb the corporate ladder, a writer promoting a book doing book signings, readings and giving live radio and TV interviews or perhaps even a student who must give presentations, this course is for you! Your voice is your image - make a great impression when you speak and success will follow. Your fears will be assuaged, and you'll speak with the confidence you desire. Let's get started!
Rose Walker is president and CEO of Writing4Success PR and Marketing, which offers public relations and marketing for writers, an editing service and an education division where she teach writing classes. Rose is an international freelance writer, columnist, motivational speaker, workshop facilitator, publicist and editor. She has written articles on public relations and marketing for Absolute Write, Writing For Dollars, and a five article miniseries for the British magazine, The New Writer, along with publishing over 175 articles for several publications, including The Writing Parent, IslandOak, Busy Freelancer, WriteforCash, Working Writer, eHow, The Cordova Appeal and The Mid-Town Appeal. A motivational speaker for writers specializing in public relations and marketing, has spoken on PR and marketing at the 11th Memphis Black Writers Conference and Southern Film Festival and 10th Annual Life Press Christian Writers Conference. As a speaker and workshop facilitator Rose also has given talks to audiences at East Shelby Library, Germantown Community Library, Christian Brothers University, Courtyard Marriott, The Hilton and Mid-South Writers Association. She has been a guest on radio and television programs including Sister to Sister, On Cable Tonite and Live a t Nine. Rose has written three columns, Financially Write for One Swan Productions, Money Matters for Single Focus Newsletter and Financially Write for Writer Gazette. She was a contributing writer for Successful Families News Magazine and taught a freelance writing class through continuing education at The University of Memphis, a six week course on publishing at Christian Brothers University and several workshops for writers sponsored by Writing4Success. In 2005 she developed and sponsored a writing conference "Breaking into the Writing Business" at Christian Brothers University. Ms. Walker and her company, Writing4Success, have been recognized for Inclusion in The Metropolitan Who's Who Registry for Executives, Professionals and Entrepreneurs.
