Brief description: I have been teaching high school English in Philadelphia for twenty years.

Brief description: Classes with Linda Joy..very encouraging,..Studied art, English lit and music..Born in Northern England. Currently working on a memoir..Published locally and in Book of memoir, poetry and fiction by nine women authors.

Brief description: Though an American citizen since the age of four, I have 20 plus years of experience living throughout Europe, Asia and the Middle East, in such countries as, Germany, France, The Netherlands, Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia. I enjoy all aspects of foreign cultures, including exotic cuisines, cultural history and language. I am proficient in French and well-versed in German and Dutch. Having lived and attended school in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from 1968 to 1975 and traveled in and around the country has truly been educational. Henceforth, through my my memoir; my mission: an appreciation of inherent culture.

Brief description: My memoir, "A Long Hello: The redemptive Beauty of Alzheiemr's" is coming out in September!

Brief description: I have been a writer and editor for more than 20 years. I have been working on a memoir, A Sister Between Us, for the past several years. The memoir is about my mother and her relationships with the women in our family and how it impacted me.

Brief description: Corrected expiration date to 2/8/12 after looking at 1SC.

Brief description: Board Certified Hospital Chaplain Volunteer at an Acute Care Regional Hospital / Published Writer / Speaker, when asked / Wife / Mom, Step-mom & NaNa / Gardener / Inspired beyond my visual impairment. Being born with an inoperable visual impairment made me tenacious in life and yet humbled me to the core. Thankfully, I was never allowed to "opt out" from living and my insatiable curiosity has entertained me well. I tamed a black Arabian horse at 11 years old, raced on the cross country highschool ski team in Vermont, and returned to the Rocky Mountains in Colorado in 1982. At 37 years old my eyesight unexpectedly improved. I used this window of sight, returned to college and earned my BS Degree in Organizational Management. At 39 I had open heart surgery to repair an aortic anuerysm- that's when I experienced the healing ministry of an interfaith hospital chaplain. Within one year of open heart surgery I began my professional training to become a hospital chaplain. I entered graduate school, earned my Masters degree in Pastoral Theology, completed my clinicals in Pastoral Education and became a board certified hospital chaplain. I've served as an interfaith chaplain volunteer at a regional acute care hospital since 2001 and also provide private spiritual guidance. I did not attend "church" in my youth and yet I listened deeply... and still do. I'm a published writer whose grateful for editors because I can't spell! I've traveled extensively, love extra-ordinary moments, my husband, family, and Indian summer fodue parties with friends. My hope is to inspire others to listen deeply, heal well, and to touch the heart of humanity with their newfound joy and Shalom.

Brief description: A court reporter for 35 years, genealogist for even longer, personal historian & Cherish|Bound consultant, I enjoy writing family and life stories, creating scrap-moirs and publishing them for posterity.

Brief description: More than fifteen years ago I discovered that I was a professional writer. Besides publishing a Christian newspaper for two years, For five years I worked as a reporter/editor for a daily newspaper and freelanced another 10. I published two children's chapter books and served as ghostwriter for Scott Gregory's CHAMPION MINDSET. I am an ordained minister (www.wordwarriorministries.org) and write audio plays for our prison outreach. I teach scapbooking and cardmaking classes in two store locations for a national arts and crafts chain.

Brief description: I have published 15 Books over the past 40 years; fiction, self help, Bible Commentary, memoirs and ghostwritting assignments. I am a full service ghostwriter. Please check out my video by taking a quick trip to my website.

Brief description: I am a writer of narrative nonfiction specializing in memoir, essays, humor, and commentary. My writing is influenced by growing-up years as a Tennessee farm boy and, while unimaginable in my youth, by the path my life has taken in the decades since. I live in lively Austin, Texas. My academic career was at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Ohio State University, and the University of Georgia. More detail may be viewed at: http://alec.unl.edu/web/aglec/alec_earl_russell

Brief description: Retired Landscape Architect and Marriage & Family Therapist. Started a writing practice ala Natalie Goldberg with Laura Davis just last summer. The process was/is very exciting and healing and the possibility of memoir is really only emerging.

Brief description: I am a life transition and retirement lifecoach, and want to include journaling and memoir writing as part of my practice to assist people negotiate the lifestyle transitions that occurr in retirement.

Brief description: I was born and raised in Rovies, a coastal village of the Greek island Evia. I immigrated to the United States at 20 years of age. I have a degree in English and I am pursuing a Master's degree in Library and Information Science. I kept journals with my experiences during my first five years in the U.S. that I would like to combine into a memoir one day. Currently, I am working on publishing a Greek novel that I translated into English. My day job involves cataloguing materials for my local public library. On my free time, I sew for friends and family.

Brief description: Ms. Cariou is the best-selling author of “Sixtyfive Roses: A Sister’s Memoir,” which (Globe and Mail Best 100 Books of 2006, Foreword by Celine Dion, Film rights optioned by Eva Longoria and UnbeliEVAble Productions.) She was born, raised and educated in Ontario, Canada. In her early years, she trained as a ballerina at the National Ballet School of Canada. As a teen, she was active in several community theatres, high school drama clubs, and was an award-winning young actress in her community. After two years at Ryerson University Theatre School and a third at Sheridan College, she graduated with a High Honors diploma in Media Arts. She became a founding member of the Center for Actor’s Study in Toronto, and enjoyed a career lasting twenty years, acting professionally on stages across Canada and off-Broadway. She is a founding member of the Galaxy Writers Workshop in New Jersey, and was a Director on the Board of the International Women’s Writing Guild for 20 years. As a writer learning her craft she participated in the Humber College Mentor Program, the Aspen Writer’s Conference, the Mid-Atlantic Creative Non-fiction Writer’s Conference, and attended the I.W.W.G. Skidmore and Big Apple writing conferences. As the daughter of the founders of the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Ms. Cariou has been involved in fund-raising and promotion for over forty years. Between acting engagements, Ms. Cariou held jobs in sales, fashion, catering, and business management. She grew up the eldest of four children, and is growing old as the grandmother of two. Married to Emmy-nominated, Tony Award winning stage and screen actor Len Cariou, Heather is her husband’s “roadie,” dealing with every conceivable challenge of working and living on location. She is known among friends and family as the go-to person for anything that needs fixing, whether it’s an appliance or a life. Phrases that her friends and associates have used to describe her include “damn the torpedos” and “shoot from the hips.” She can throw a formal dinner party for twelve at the drop of a hat, and has cooked Thanksgiving dinner for the entire cast of a Broadway show on the road in a hotel room. An insatiable reader, her other favorite pastimes include writing poetry, walking, and gourmet cooking. She can golf if she has to. Ms. Cariou is currently at work on a novel, and is teaching Memoir Workshops. She has spoken to and inspired groups both small and large, and keynoted organizations such as the National Kinsmen AGM and the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation AGM, and the Story Circle Network for Women “Stories from the Heart” Conference in Austin, Texas.

Brief description: Working on my first book, a spiritual memoir. Struggling to get started.

Brief description: Ph.D in French + Ph.D. in Spanish. College Professor for 36 years. Now retired. Published author of 11 books, and published editor of five others, most of them in Spanish and some in French. Those books include literary essays, collections of short stories, plays and a Spanish-language novel titled ¡Taino! currently in press, as well as books on literary criticism. Numerous articles published in journals hailing from Puerto Rico, the U.S., Spain, Italy, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, and Peru. He has received literary awards in Portugal, Puerto Rico and the United States, and his work has been the subject of large portions of two published books. He currently has several books in press. Currently, he is seeking an agent for his memoir "The Other Island."

Brief description: For 20 years, Fishler was a corporate scriptwriter and video producer, as well as a marketing and public relations consultant. She is the producer of the DVD writing series, “The Path to Publication,” distributed by Films for the Humanities and Sciences, and the co-author of a series of articles on post traumatic stress disorder published by VietNow magazine. "Searching for Jane, Finding Myself" is Jan's first memoir. It is available on Amazon. To find out more about the author, visit her web/blog: http://searchingforjane.com.

Brief description: A lifelong writer with degrees in journalism and English, I started my own firm, LivingStories.us, in 2009. My focus is capturing and documenting the memories and history of individuals, couples, families and organizations to benefit others. I am "writing for life...one story at a time."

Brief description: I am fluent in English & Southern; still married to the man I once hung wallpaper with; and I never, ever had to attend a PTO meeting under an assumed name.

Brief description: After all these years of living, I've become increasingly interested in understanding what it was all about, so I began to write about myself in what turned out to be one of the most interesting projects. Writing about life is a perfect answer to my age old question, "Who Am I?" Finally!

Brief description: At 76 I am attempting to write my memoirs. Raised in an orphanage, jail time at 17, undesirable military discharge at 18, high school drop-out, then 6 years military with honorable discharge and a college degree, teacher, industry, teacher again, still teaching after 50 years.

Brief description: Short of stature, but big on passion, tenacity, and curiousity. I live in Palm Desert CA and I'm in the process of becoming a Memoire Workshop Professional. I have been urging my husband of several decades, and my teenage daughter to start writing their stories as well. I teach art in High School, and also teach piano and voice evenings and weekends. One interest supports and inspires the other in a circle of colors, music, and the lyrics of memoire.

Brief description: Judy L. Mandel is the author of Replacement Child, the memoir of her growing up as the replacement for her sister who was killed in a plane crash. She is also a veteran journalist and marketing professional.

Brief description: I live in Sierra Vista, AZ with my husband of 44 years. Professionally I am a trained musician and music teacher, and still have 11 students in my home studio. My interests are performing (harp duets, piano, flute) and writing, especially poetry and journaling. I'm beginning a memoir-writing support group at our church in January, and am eager to continue with my own life story.

Brief description: FIxed membership to correct renewal 7*28*11 by LJM 12-17-11

Brief description: Educator, author and storyteller, I've have loved and promoted the power of story in many venues throughout my life: classrooms, hospital wards, on stage as performer, and in recovery programs, even in jails. Now I hope to rediscover the legacy of mother-daughter wisdom through a memoir project: Wisdom Has a Voice: Daughters Remember Mothers.

Brief description: Wonky 50-ish woman writing for myself and my cause....my blog is devoted to piecing together my journey...recovery from childhood sexual abuse and cruel ignorance...the effects of those incidious acts through adulthood... until the grace of recovery transcended the trauma and shame of my past, making it possible to return to Rescue Little L....

Brief description: I am a full-time HR Management Systems Analyst and a part-time writer. I am currently working on a memoir about reconnecting with my birth-family and the subtle ways that being an adoptee continues to touch my life. I am a member and board member of the Story Circle Network. I live in the Pacific Northwest with my husband and our two doted-upon Yorkshire Terriers. I have four children and two brilliant grandchildren.

Brief description: Born in Saginaw, MI, leaving the state in 1978 for job-related moves to TX, WA, and VA. Retired in 2003 from 38 years of Federal service with GAO, EPA, and FAA. Have done extensive traveling in the US in RVs and now operate a 28' RV alone. Now living in Medford, OR and loving it. Introspection has evolved into memoir writing. Now facilitate a Memoir Club of 5 women.

Brief description: I'm a resident of Greater Boston, and feel at home saturated in earthly textures, colors, and smells of the woods by day, and the convenience of the city by night. When I was thirty back in ‘95, I endeavored to write about my experiences working with cowboys. I had run away from Massachusetts in upheaval over my marriage, job, and school, and set my sites on building a better life, a compassionate one, liaising between the glamorous and disabled in sunny California. But I never made it to L.A. En route, I fell captive to the mountains in Wyoming, and decided to stay, just for the summer, to air out my soul. And I was doing it fantastically, working on a ranch, toiling and caring for animals in the glorious, wide open spaces. The locals, though, grew to dislike my enthusiasm, and two months into my soul airing, conspired to get my hide out of town. A newly licensed sixteen year old was in on it—she ran me down in Dodge Central, busted my leg, and rendered me useless on the Grin-N-Barrett Ranch. The thought, then, of venturing onto liaise between the glamorous and disabled as a disabled person myself, just didn’t seem right. So filling in the time to heal, I pursued a job in the Pacific Northwest. After an hour’s discussion, I was offered the job to computerize the details of his upscale marina—a task that would be conducted within a lovely cottage overlooking Gig Harbor and Mount Rainer. However the following morning, having slept on his decision, my employer taunted me with something “bigger and better” and deferred me, despite my contention, to his consultancy in Houston. So off I went, bypassing my California Dream for Mission Control, manning my truck’s gas, brake, and clutch with my good leg over the busted one. But I never made to Mission Control. En route, I blew a head gasket—literally and figuratively—in the inferno of the Sonoran Desert. There, I remained stranded, and succumbed to a costly truck repair, and a no-nonsense chiropractor who insisted on reattaching my ACL and scraping out the bone fragments from my busted leg. Wayward, homeless, and in pain; I stayed put. While the busted leg recovered, I tried my hand at landing work, but my northeastern get up didn’t fare well with Tucsonans either—I left potential employers wearing dazed and mixed expressions. Eventually, I became consumed with doom and fell into a deep, dark hole. At dusk, when the black widow spider outside my decrepit door began sucking the life out of her victim, I opened a bottle of Night Train. Indulging in the aptly cheap and fortified wine cherished by vagrants, I feverishly typed streams of consciousness until the words blurred. Then, I’d take a bath and in between howling along to Pink Floyd’s “The Wall,” prayed for cosmic insight as to how to pick up the pieces and move on. Thankfully, I did find God in my dark and dingy rental, and forgave myself for trading in my husband for my fierce and futile drive for independence. Having scored a small business grant, I stayed in the inferno and managed my own graphic design business until I high-tailed it out of there when learning an aircraft mechanic I was dating was a crack head and had on one infamous occasion while enibriated, taxied a 737 up and down the tarmac at Tucson's Airport. In September of '98, I returned to familiar soil in Massachusetts as a soul searching flunky, and continued to want for nothing except solace in nature and caring for large, unwieldy animals. And I did just that, immersing myself in the earthly textures, colors and smells by mucking stalls at the Wealthy Pines Horse Farm, until a relationship with a hypocritical Christian burned a hole in my stomach. Rendered physically useless again in September of 2000, I returned to the corporate world and endeavored on an epic fourteen year tenure to finish my MBA. I became consumed with my career again, but ultimately learned that trudging through the corporate muck amounted to nothing but steep MBA loans, and skirmishes with women who envied my savvy apparel and trim waistline. My last job was terminated in December of '08 when the CEO's dinosaur of a hubby got let go from ABC Widget, albeit “with a generous package,” and pursued his wife’s offer of my job. In the thick of a recession in ‘09, I picked up Shakti Gawain's "Creative Visualization," and following her model, drew a treasure map to plot, visualize, and poke the universe with my desire for a purpose-driven endeavor. My map depicted humanitarian-based goals, and ultimately, yielded a treasure chest full of goodies for the universe to manifest. One of the goodies was the means to create my own animal sanctuary. The universe, needless to say, had a lot of fun with me. In succession, it presented three viable opportunities working for physicians. The first two docs strangely fell by the wayside, and the last, an old fuddy duddy of a cardiologist, wanted to set our working relationship ablaze by sleeping together. Bye-bye, Doc. Subsequently, one year after I lost my job to the CEO’s hubby, I foreclosed on my home and filed bankruptcy. Since then, however, I started writing again. From the confines of my new cardboard box, and in the company of my rescued animals—from newt to dog—I’ve recapped those experiences working with cowboys, and a whole lot more. And I’ve enjoyed that. Maybe, just maybe, the universe is poking me.

Brief description: Aah. What to say. My spiritual path is what is most central in my life: my love of truth. I have been a writer since I could write: writing has been both healing and expansive. I practice as a psychotherapist near Seattle, am married and have 2 sons in their mid-20's who are happily engaged with their own creative lives.

Brief description: I am an RN and disabled veteran. I write about the church & the disabled. I do medical research & then break it down for laypeople to understand. I write a newsletter, Jars of Clay, which is for church leaders and members who live with and without disability, chronic illness and their caregivers. I'm currently enrolled to get my Masters in English and Creative Writing with a concentration in Nonfiction, starting September 2012

Brief description: Marilyn H. Collins is an award-winning author of local/regional history books and how-to books for writers. Collins leads workshops for memoir and family-history writers. She is editor of an online newsletter, Proficient Writer NEWS www.proficientwriter.com and several ebooks on writing history. She also leads workshops for the OLLI program for the Univ. of AR. Collins is a frequent conference speaker. Her passion is to help people bring their stories to life.

Brief description: I began writing in my early teens. Growing up in 1970s New York and in and out of the foster care system has given me a lot to reflect on and write about. Aside from self exploration and development, the thing I most wish to achieve through writing is a connection to others in a meaningful way. I aim to shape the hard lessons from my youth into a tool that can help others going through similar challenges. Since 2006, I have spoken publicly about issues ranging from parenting, overcoming adversity to building healthy relationships and connections.

Brief description: Original membership date 6/30/08. Renewed on 6/2/09, 6/25/10, and 11/29/10. Updated membership status to reflect correct expiration date of 6/29/12.

Brief description: Professional writer/editor since 1976 as a journalist & columnist for a large daily newspaper. Created "Written Legacies: Stories from your Life," a memoir writing class, in 2002. Teach it at community colleges and senior centers in CT. It's gratifying to inspire others to find and put their stories on paper.

Brief description: Originally from Philadelphia, I live near Sacramento, CA. I write memoir, children's stories and poetry. My writing evolves from my experiences as a teacher and my love of nature. I participate in a local group of Amherst Writers and Artists which meets weekly to generate first draft material. I am also a Certified Life Coach specializing as a Writing Coach and proofreader.

Brief description: I changed her from expired to renewed at of June 2011. LJM 12-16-11