Here Comes Even MORE Judges!

Judith A. McKee was born in Kansas, USA. As a child she moved frequently with her family following her father's job. She attended many schools until her father established his welding and blacksmith business prior to Judith entering high school. She graduated high school with the desire to attend college. She love the sciences and hoped to become and veterinarian. Her hope was dashed when she learned that women were not admitted to veterinarian schools without being recommended by a state representative or senator. Her family did not have those ties. She eventually married the cousin of her best friend. Five years and two children later he abandoned her and the children leaving them behind along with a huge amount of debt.

Judith struggled to support the children and pay the debt left behind by working two jobs. Years later she met her second husband and children were born of that marriage. Judith helped her husband establish a business and entered college to fulfill the dream of higher education. She graduated with a BS in Horticulture after changing majors. A divorce followed. She entered graduate school and received an MS in Horticulture. After working in the landscape nursery business for several years, Judith accepted a job as Director of Public Grounds for a community in north central Kansas. During those years, Judith met Nadine Laman and became "over the fence gardening buddies". Judith is now semi-retired, living in Southwest Missouri, working on her Masters certificate in Herbalism, gardening at her new home, doing Native American-like bead work and enjoying being active in her church.

Judith is one of my first beta readers. It is a bit funny that all the years we lived next door, I never mentioned my writing. I was truly a closet writer, and to me, it is like having blue eyes, writing is just part of me. With her scientific mind as well as her artistic nature, Judith is a fantastic beta reader. She is very exacting and keen on the emotional and artistic component of my writing style.
　
Glyn Pope writes full time in the solitude of his home in rural France. His writing style is varied and robust giving readers a choice of competition and award winning short stories and poetry, novels as well as children’s fiction. Glyn’s historical novel To The End Of Love was published by Turner Maxwell 2008. He has completed his second novel, The Plutocrat, The Mendacious Minister, and The Doctor which will soon be published. Glyn is now writing the follow up with the working title of The Dead Plutocrat, The Doctor, and His Dog. He is also writing a novel Accused. Glyn’s blog can be found at http://glynpope.blogspot.com/

I met Glyn last summer just prior to the Blog Party. When the time came for the party I hadn't realized that it was essentially set up to run 24 hrs a day - yes, for a month! Glyn jumped in like a life-time friend and helped moderate the party when I slept. From there we chatted about writing and I gave him a few writing tips geared to publication particulars. From there, we have reached a point where Glyn will be the debut author for Cactus Rain later this year with his historical fiction about post WW II England. Watch for when it is available for purchase!

And...

Jan Zitek. Jan didn't have time to send me a bio, so when she does I'll update this post. Jan is my sister-in-law. She beta reads for me. She travels a lot and has lived all over the world, but beta reads via email wherever she is. Jan did the contest judging just before leaving for Bolivia to deliver wheelchairs. She is an awesome person and I'm so lucky to have her help with my books. She lives in California and has a beach house as their second home. She helped with research for Kathryn's Beach. She is a priceless addition to my team. She is a 49ers fan and a graduate of Kansas State University.

Jan Laman Zitek. As Nadine mentioned in her blog I have known Nadine for a long time as she fortunately or unfortunately, depending on the day, married my only brother, Charley and joined my 2 sisters as my third sister!! I have lived, thanks to the US Army, in many places and still have that wanderlust which I inherited from my father. I was born in southern California and was raised in my parents' hometown of Concordia, Kansas and always planned to leave. I attended Kansas State University where I met my husband, Lyle, a veterinarian. Since Viet Nam was in full swing, we joined the Army after a year in South Dakota and yet another school. I have 2 children, Dawn & Kyle, and 2 grandcats which visit often.

I love to read anything and everything which led me to be an English major. I am retired and enjoying the freedom to travel whenever the spirit and the money permit. As Nadine mentioned I just returned from Bolivia where we delivered 280 wheelchairs which our local Rotary district raised $42,000 to purchase. Bolivia was not on my "Bucket List" but was a special place as we sat in the jungle in a semi-restored Jesuit mission and listened to Baroque music being played by a string orchestra composed entirely of 8-14 year olds with no formal music training, or seeing the tears in the eyes of the parent of a 10 year old as we sat her in a wheelchair so that after 10 years of being carried everywhere by her mother suddenly had mobility, or the smile on the face of an old gentleman as we gave him back his dignity and his independence. Our next trip is to the Dominic Republic and Cancun, Mexico, entirely for fun--a beach, a book, and a marguerita are all I have planned unless Nadine has something new for me to read!!!


NOTES: The certificates and checks have gone out to our three winners. Please watch your mail, Jo, Peggy, and Don. Coming on Wednesday will be Don's winning story. Again, I want to thank the judges and all those who took the time to enter the Short Story Contest.

Here Come More Judges!

Here are more of the people who judged the short stories. I can never thank them enough for the time and energy they put into this little contest. Again, my comments are in blue after the bios.


Mary Edington
An Abridged Story of My Life: Mary Edington. So, how did a Yankee-born, Southern bred woman get to be a judge in a web based writing contest? It all goes back to my profession…..that of teacher. I am a veteran teacher with an undergraduate degree in Elementary Education, and a Master’s in Education with an emphasis in Mathematics and Science. I taught for many years in Florida, where I honed my skills in a variety of areas. Eight years ago, my career brought me to Arizona, where I eventually met up with the Laman family. As a teacher to one of the boys, Nadine saw my take on education and how being able to communicate coherently is integral to being an educated person. Nadine and I became friends, and the rest….as they say, is history.

What Mary doesn't say is that she is one of my beta readers. We will discuss her read over lunch at the Sweet Tomato and (get this) she will tell me what page and which paragraph she took issue. No big deal unless I mention that she does this without notes and will comment on things that I find later are not in her notes. Not only that, Mary checks EVERYTHING. When Kathryn goes on the commuter flight to San Francisco, Mary checked to see if there really were such flights at the time I said there were. I don't remember what she found, but was thankful that I had checked that at the time I wrote it. Mary is very good hearted about the whole thing of me being dyslexic. Mary now teaches at the one of the schools on the Navajo Reservation in northern Arizona. How's that for cool?


Carolyn Howard-Johnson
Carolyn Howard-Johnson's first novel, This is the Place, and Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered (www.budurl.com/TrueShortStories) are both award-winners. Her fiction, nonfiction and poems have appeared in national magazines, anthologies and review journals both online and in print. Howard-Johnson is a popular seminar leader at conferences like Dayton University's Erma Bombeck Writers Workshop, San Diego State's world renowned Writers' Conference and Sinclair Lewis Writer's Conference. She also appears in national TV commercials. She is an instructor for UCLA Extension's Writers' Program. She was named Woman of the Year in Arts and Entertainment by members of the California Legislature and her nitty gritty how-to book, THE FRUGAL BOOK PROMOTER (www.budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo), USA Book News' "Best Professional Book" and was an Irwin award winner. Her THE FRUGAL EDITOR (www.budurl.com/TheFrugalEditor) was also a USA Book News award winner as well as a Reader Views Literary Award winner and her marketing campaign for that book won the New Millennium Marketing Award. Her chapbook of poetry, TRACINGS (Finishing Line Press) (www.budurl.com/CarolynsTracings), was named to the Compulsive Reader's Ten Best Reads of 2005 list and her newest chapbook series of holiday celebrations coauthored with Magadalena Ball includes SHOW WORE EMERALD THEN (www.budurl.com/MotherChapbook) and CHERISHED PULSE (www.budurl.com/CherishedPulse). She loves to travel and has studied writing at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, UK: Herzen University in St. Petersburg, Russia; and Charles University in Prague. She has a completed screenplay commissioned by a now-defunct publisher now moldering in a drawer. Her website is: http://www.howtodoitfrugaly.com/. She blogs at Writer's Digest 101 Best Websites pick http://www.sharingwithwriters.blogspot.com/ and several others.Website: http://www.howtodoitfrugally.com/ E-mail: HoJoNews@aol.com

Carolyn is such an underachiever as you can tell from her bio. BTW, UCLA is the University of California, Los Angeles. She did briefly mention that she is a model and actress, but not that she was an editor for a big name magazine in New York City. Carolyn was also a participant in the Blog Party, always making time in her busy schedule for me and my little projects.

Here Comes the JUDGES!

First off, I alphabetized the judges' list. I'll introduce the eight judges in several posts. Between each post, I'll post the winning stories - both should keep you coming back!

After the bios the judges sent me, I'll do my comment thing like I did during the blog party. (Yeah, that should worry the judges - no one ever knows what I'll say next!) Not everyone submitted photos so you'll have to track them down through their links.


Anita Beery
Anita is a certified proofreader whose clients are usually new authors preparing their manuscripts for submission. She has proofread numerous works of fiction, pamphlets, and poetry for small publishers in Arizona, California, and Colorado. Her "8-5" job has been with Maricopa County Superior Court for the past 18 years. An avid reader, she also enjoys her houseful of cats, tortoises, and a very patient husband.
expertproofreading@cox.net

Anita is here in the Phoenix area. We met at a local writers' conference several years ago. I've worked with Anita and can highly recommend her to anyone needing a proofreader. She is prompt with returing works, probably the only person in this industry who moves faster than a snail's pace. She will be the official line editor for Cactus Rain Publishing. How's that for awesome?
　
Joy Collins
Joy worked for many years in the nursing profession. So, it was logical that when she started her writing career, she authored many health-related articles. However, her love is fiction and in 2007, she published her first novel. Titled Second Chance, it dealt with many timely topics, such as marriage, step-families, and aging parents. Her second novel Coming Together, co-authored with Joyce Norman, highlights not only a love story but also the plight of orphans in Brazil.

Joy now divides her time between working on her third novel and her two publishing companies. Chalet Publishers is a small traditional publisher. For more information go to www.ChaletPublishers.com. Her other company is Coyote Moon Books, her newest venture for self publishers. For more information, visit www.joycollins.com or contact her at coyotemoonbooks@cox.net.

Joy is also in the Phoenix area. We are officially 'competitors' by all the definitions, however we are non-partner partners. Joy and I get together regularly to share tips and tricks we use in our own books and our publishing enterprizes. We also team market our books and refer authors to each other. Ain't that cool?

Nick Daws
Nick is a full-time professional freelance writer, editor, and writing teacher. He is the author of over 80 non-fiction books, ranging from 'Living & Working in Germany' to '365 Ways to Have Fun at Work'. He has written innumerable published articles and short stories, and has also had scripts broadcast on BBC TV and radio. He has written several top-selling distance-learning courses, including 'Write Any Book in Under 28 Days' and 'Essential English for Authors', both published by The WCCL Network.

In recent years Nick has specialized increasingly in writing for the Internet, and runs the popular online writers forum www.Mywriterscircle.com. He has a blog at www.mywritingblog.com, where he regularly shares hints, tips and market information for writers, and a FaceBook Fan Page at www.facebook.com/NickDawsPage. He is also an active Twitter user at www.twitter.com/nickdaws. Nick lives with his partner Jayne, an IT lecturer, at their home in Burntwood, Staffordshire, England.

I met Nick when I stumbled upon My Writers Circle several years ago. I wasn't finding what I needed from other forums and soon found that I only went to MWC. Not only did I gain writing info about the international writing community, I shared the little bit I knew. I've always found Nick to be supportive of my crazy ideas for this blog (the blog party and this short story contest), and of me as a fellow writer. I think Nick is a Peach of a guy!