Story Circle

by, for, and about women

About

Our Story

We learn best to listen to our own voices if we are listening at the same time to other women, whose stories, for all our differences, turn out, if we listen well, to be our stories also.

– Barbara Deming

Our Mission Statement:

Story Circle Network is a supportive writing community dedicated to empowering all who identify as women or nonbinary to find their voices and share their stories.
Since 1997, we have championed traditionally unheard voices through education, publication, and recognition.

SCN was founded in 1997 by Dr. Susan Wittig Albert and received its nonprofit 501(c)(3) status shortly afterward. Our activities are funded by the annual dues of our members, through our educational programs, and by the generous gifts and grants of our supporters, including $100,000 grant that sponsored the Older Women’s Legacy Circle Project. Our national office is located in Georgetown, TX, and our membership is made up of hundreds of women around the country and the world who share their experiences in Story Circles in their local communities, through our online Circles Program, and through the Story Circle Journal, our eletters, publications, online classes, book reviews, and the annual SCN Women’s Book Awards.

Most of my life I have been a quiet daily writer. …Belonging to this organization has really-really helped me develop my style and belief in myself. THANK YOU. During the past few years I have completed two self-published books. …I am proud. THANK YOU.

– Debra Dolan

About Our Board of Directors

Story Circle Network was founded thirty years ago by a handful of women who met to share their stories, led by award-winning author Susan Wittig Albert. It has grown into a multinational organization that offers classes, publishing opportunities, an acclaimed book award program, writing contests, book reviews, retreats, international trips, conferences, a vibrant community and much more to hundreds of members. This growth has been challenging at times, but was made possible by the foresight of the original founders to create a working board of directors.

Many women have served on SCN’s board through the years, most notably Susan Wittig Albert, who is still an ex officio member as President Emerita. Today our board has ten members plus five ex officio members. They are women who love books and stories, who have lived full lives, who care about other women, and who are willing to lend a hand. They laugh a lot, sometimes puzzle through difficult decisions, and do their best to keep Story Circle a warm and welcoming place for the women who need it. Let’s meet them!

Interested in serving on our board? Read more and apply.

Board Members

 

  • Susan Wittig Albert
    Susan Wittig Albert
    Founder; Past President: 1998-2003, 2015-2018
  • Liz Beaty
    Liz Beaty
    Program Director, Treasurer
  • Shelley Johnson Carey
    Shelley Johnson Carey
    Secretary; Publications Coordinator
  • Cynthia F. Davidson
    Cynthia F. Davidson
    Reading Group Coordinator
  • Tina Games
    Tina Games
    Social Media
  • B. Lynn Goodwin
    B. Lynn Goodwin
  • Jeanne Guy
    Jeanne Guy
  • Helen Leatherwood
    Helen Leatherwood
    Vice President, Online Classes Coordinator
  • Teresa Lynn
    Teresa Lynn
    Administrator, Book Reviews
  • Susan Schoch
    Susan Schoch
    President
  • Jo Virgil
    Jo Virgil
  • Jude Walsh
    Jude Walsh
    HerStories Blog
  • Robin Wittig
    Robin Wittig
  • Paula Stallings Yost
    Paula Stallings Yost
    Periodicals Editor
  • Ariela Zucker
    Ariela Zucker
    Substack editor

Our Policy on the Use of Artificial Intelligence

As our focus and mission are on amplifying the voices of real women, Story Circle Network does not accept or print any work written in whole or in part using Artificial Intelligence (AI)-generated text. We do, however, use generative AI and other innovative tools selectively and responsibly in research and other ways which can advance our goals without compromising the value of human writing.

Our Commitment to Privacy

Your privacy is important to us. We use the information you provide only for the purpose for which you have provided it. We do not provide your information to any third party. View our expanded statement: Privacy Policy.

 

Members Only                                                                                                              For the Board

Susan Wittig Albert
Founder; Past President: 1998-2003, 2015-2018

Susan is SCN's founder and past board president. She has presented at conferences, LifeLines, and Writing From Life events; taught in the online class program; and volunteered as the coordinator of StoryCircleBookReviews and the Sarton Award Program. She is also a facilitator in the WorkInProgress Roundtable and coordinates the Austin Reading Circle. She writes mysteries, historical fiction, memoir, and nonfiction; her work is traditionally published and published by her own imprint, Persevero Press. Visit her website.

Liz Beaty
Program Director, Treasurer

Liz Beaty, SCN's Program Director, lives with her husband, bulldog, and seven chickens on an orange grove in Ojai, California. She is a licensed California attorney with years of experience working with/in nonprofit program management. Her areas of expertise are coordinating teams of volunteers and improving organizational/information systems. In her free time, she enjoys yoga, hiking, and spending time with her family. Liz is an avid reader and loves to travel. Her involvement with SCN began in 2019 as a participant in the International Writing Workshop in Italy.

Shelley Johnson Carey
Secretary; Publications Coordinator

Shelley Johnson Carey is the author of numerous articles, short stories, and poems, and of the nonfiction book, Thin Mint Memories: Scouting for Empowerment through the Girl Scout Cookie Program. She recently retired from her nearly 40-year editorial career, where she worked on several award-winning magazines and journals. Most recently, she served as the editor of Peer Review, a higher education journal, where she worked with hundreds of authors to polish their writing. Shelley has an BA from Hampshire Colleges and an MFA in nonfiction writing from Goucher College. She has facilitated several writing workshops for teens and adults. She is currently revising a novel about a group of friends, which is based on her own lifetime friendships. www.shelleyjohnsoncarey.com

Cynthia F. Davidson
Reading Group Coordinator

A member of SCN for over a dozen years, Cynthia F. Davidson is now a member of the board and on the faculty. A long time expatriate and former CBS News journalist, she spent two decades as a pioneer in the global management field. She credits SCN membership with the support and skill development required to publish her first memoir, The Importance of Paris. SCN also inspired her to start facilitating workshops and writing groups that capture women’s lived wisdom.

Tina Games
Social Media

Tina lives on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, where she has been inspired as a freelance writer for over nine years, after moving from the Washington, DC area where she was active in the political scene. She owns her own consulting/coaching business where she works with highly-creative women who want to make their mark in the world through creative activism and artistic endeavors. She is also a contributing writer for a variety of print and online publications, and a licensed workshop facilitator.

Tina serves on numerous boards in a leadership capacity, and is also a grant writer, having written several grants for a variety of nonprofit organizations, causes, and campaigns focused on the general welfare of women and children, as well as charitable organizations focused on the arts, culture, and education. Through her volunteer work, Tina has utilized her creative, visionary, and organizational skills to plan and execute an array of successful programs, projects, and events. She has been a member of Story Circle Network for over a decade and is fully committed to serving its mission.

B. Lynn Goodwin

Writer and editor B. Lynn Goodwin owns Writer Advice, www.writeradvice.com. She’s written three award-winning books, two YAs, Talent and Disrupted, and a memoir titled Never Too Late: From Wannabe to Wife at 62. Her flash fiction is published in Flashquake, Nebo, Cabinet of Heed, Murmur of Words, 100-Word Stories, Ariel’s Dream, and Writing in a Woman’s Voice. She's also a book reviewer and teacher at Story Circle Network and the owner, editor and manuscript consultant at www.writeradvice.com.  

Jeanne Guy

Jeanne, a resident of Whidbey Island, Washington, is a speaker and veteran self-awareness reflective writing teacher. She’s the multi-award-winning author of You’ll Never Find Us: A Memoir, the story of how her children were stolen from her and how she stole them back (She Writes Press 2021), co-author of Seeing Me: A Guide to Reframing the Way You See Yourself (2015), and author of numerous anthology essays. Details about this avid walker, slow reader, and irreverent writer are here: website.

Helen Leatherwood
Vice President, Online Classes Coordinator

Len Leatherwood, the Program Coordinator for SCN’s Online Classes program, has been teaching writing privately to students in California for the past 26 years. She is a nationally recognized writing coach and award-winning author. Len has published work in flash fiction and nonfiction and has been nominated for two Pushcart Prizes. Her novel, Hope in a Time of Dying, won the American Fiction Award in the LBGTQ+ category. Her blog, 20 Minutes a Day, can be found at lenleatherwood.com.

Teresa Lynn
Administrator, Book Reviews

Teresa Lynn is a writer and editor with a background in journalism. She has written for a range of publications on a variety of topics. She has authored three books, Little Lodges on the Prairie, Thanksgiving Joy, and Understanding Copyright, under her own name, as well as ghostwriting works for others.
In 2014, Teresa helped establish Tranquility Press, a hybrid publishing company near Austin, Texas. Today, she provides all types of writing, editorial, and publishing services. She is also administrator and board member of Story Circle Network, editor for Georgetown Friends of the Library, President of CenTex Fiction Writers, and Distribution Editor for Story Circle Book Reviewers. She is a member of Women Writing the West, the Writers League of Texas, the Former Texas Rangers Association, the Order of the Eastern Star, and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Legacy and Research Association. Teresa speaks to groups nationwide about writing and publishing.
In her free time, she enjoys reading, traveling, and seeking out little-known history of interesting people and places. She lives in Georgetown, Texas with her husband, near their two grown daughters. Website, blog.

Susan Schoch
President

A member since 2002, Susan has edited books and periodicals for SCN since 2014. A member of the Board since 2016, she edits the annual Real Women Write anthology, as well as special books such as Kitchen Table Stories 2022. Susan coordinates all SCN book publications. She is also a frequent reviewer at Story Circle Book Reviews. She has been a freelance writer and editor for over 30 years, specializing in personal history and biography. Her work for the American Museum of Ceramic History is currently available – The Clay Connection: Jim and Nan McKinnell. Susan shares SCN’s commitment to women’s growth through the empowering focus of writing and recognizing women’s stories.

Jo Virgil

Jo Virgil has been a Story Circle Network member for many years and now serves as editor for True Words and as a SCN Board Member (Publication and Program member). Jo has a Master's Degree in Journalism and has worked as a reporter, as a writing workshop teacher, as Community Relations Manager for Barnes & Noble, and as Community Outreach Coordinator for the Texas Governor's Committee on People with Disabilities. One of her favorite messages was from one of her journalism professors who said, "Stories are what make us matter."

Jude Walsh
HerStories Blog

Jude Walsh writes personal essay, self-help, and fiction. She is the author of the award-winning Post-Divorce Bliss: Ending Us and Finding Me.  She is published in numerous anthologies and literary magazines. A Story Circle member since 2005 and a current board member, she credits SCN with lighting the spark that inspired her to become a full-time writer.

Robin Wittig

Robin is the editor of the SCN Journal and Senior Director of Community Programs at Pikes Peak YMCA. She lives in Woodland Park, CO. In addition to her work with the Journal, Robin does the layout for the annual anthology, Real Women Write, and creates the print program for "Stories From the Heart."

Paula Stallings Yost
Periodicals Editor

Paula is a former and current board member. She has presented at conferences and Writing From Life events; taught in the online class program; served as co-editor of a couple of Story Circle anthologies; and volunteers as the coordinator of the Sarton Award Program. She also is a personal historian who helps families and individuals write and publish their life stories. Visit her website.

Ariela Zucker
Substack editor

Born in Jerusalem, I spent two decades between the U.S. and a Judean desert town before settling in Maine in 2001. There, my husband and I ran a motel near Acadia for sixteen years. A lifelong bilingual writer, I now devote myself fully to writing in retirement, drawing on a rich tapestry of places, people, and memories that have shaped my journey. I offer online classes and blogs regularly at Paper Dragon (http/:www.paperdragon.me)