Review Team

I am a retired social studies teacher with 33 years of classroom teaching experience followed by ten years of substitute/tutoring at a local elementary school. Although born in West Virginia, I have spent most of my life in Texas. I have been married for 53 years, am the mother of two wonderful adult children who are both public school teachers, and the grandmother of one grandson. I am a dog lover with two shih-tzus who have currently “rescued” me. I am an avid reader, averaging 100-120 books per year, and I love books with strong women characters, historical fiction, history, and big, fat books.

D Ferrara has been an active writer and ghost writer for more years than she cares to admit. Articles, essays and short stories are her continuing obsession; inclusion in publications, including The Main Street Anthology — Crossing Lines, East Meets West American Writers Review, Storytellers Magazine, The Broadkill Review, MacGuffin Press, Crack the Spine, Green Prints, Amarillo Bay, The Penmen Review, At the Inkwell, and RIMS Magazine has fed this mania. As editor of the American Writers Review, she gets to see wonderful new work regularly. Her script, Arvin Lindemeyer Takes Canarsie, won the Oil Valley Film Festival, was a Selected Screenplay (Finalist) in the Hollywood Blvd. Film Festival and a Top Finalist in the ASU Screenwriting Contest. Her play, “Favor,” won the New Jersey ACT award for Outstanding Production of an Original Play, while “Sister Edith’s Mission” and “Business Class” were produced at the Malibu Repertory Company’s One Act Play Festival. Three of her full-length film scripts have been optioned. Her paintings – watercolor on Yupo – have been hung in group shows, and included in several journals.

She received her M.A. in Creative Writing, where it joined her J.D., L.l.M. and B.A, amid the clutter of her office.

I have found so many ways to nurture my reader’s/writer’s soul in SCN since joining in 2001. As I found deeper levels of my own story by reading other women’s stories, my segue into writing book reviews was a natural. I am honored to be part of the editorial team for our outstanding SCN Book Review site and hope you visit it often. The reviews are so excellent and the books reviewed are both current and the best from today’s indie women authors.

I am the everyday woman. I am one, like many others, who has led a life of love and loss. I was always a creative type. Drawing, reading, writing and later painting was how I expressed myself. My personal life went through tumultuous times on several levels. The deepest one was life altering. It took me to a very dark place where I remained for a long time. It changed me. I like to believe for the better. It led me to pick up a pen again after many years. She now lives in Chicago with her two cats, where the four seasons can be challenging but also inspirational.

Eileen Harrison Sanchez is now retired after a forty-year career in education. She started as a teacher and ended as a district administrator. She has been writing part time for eight years with a writers group in Summit, NJ. Eileen is a member of the Historical Novel Society, Philadelphia Stories Writers Community, Goodreads American Historical Novels Group and several online writers groups. A reader, a writer, and a perennial—a person with a no-age mindset—she considers family and friends to be the most important parts of her life, followed by traveling and bird watching from her gazebo.

Learn more at www.eileensanchez.com and connect with Eileen on Facebook @eileensanchezwriter, Twitter @EileenHSanchez, and Instagram @eileensanchezwriter.

Janilyn Kocher is a Professor of History and Political Science in central Illinois. She has adored books her entire life. Books, history, and travel are her passions. In her free time she is a book reviewer for Edelweiss and NetGalley. She also has a book blog on Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/booksreadbyprairiegirl/.

Teresa Lynn has written for a range of publications on a variety of topics and authored three books. In 2014, she helped establish Tranquility Press, where she provides all types of writing, editorial, and publishing services. She is also administrator and a board member of Story Circle Network and president of ACFW Cen-Tex. Teresa speaks to groups nationwide on select subjects. See her website.

Judy is the author of three mystery series—Kelly O’Connell Mysteries, Blue Plate Café mysteries, and Oak Grove Mysteries. The next Oak Grove Mystery, Pigface and The Perfect Dog, is scheduled for September 2017 release. In a long career, she has written fiction and nonfiction for adults and young adults, primarily about women in the American West, and garnered several awards. Judy retired as director of TCU Press, a position she held for 23 years. She is a member of SCN; a member of Sisters in Crime and the SinC subgroup, the Guppies; and a member of the Texas Institute of Letters and the Texas Literary Hall of fame. She edits her neighborhood newspaper and welcomes her fifth-grade grandson every school day. A single mother of four and grandmother of seven, she lives in Fort Worth with her lively Bordoodle puppy, Sophie. Visit her blog and her website.

Judy Gruen is the author of several humor books and the memoir, The Skeptic and the Rabbi: Falling in Love with Faith. Her work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, New York Daily News, Aish.com, and many other media outlets. She is also a non-fiction book editor and writing coach. www.judygruen.com.

B. Lynn Goodwin owns Writer Advice, www.writeradvice.com. She’s written Never Too Late: From Wannabe to Wife at 62 (memoir), Talent (YA) and You Want Me to Do WHAT? Journaling for Caregivers (self-help). Never Too Late and Talent are multiple award-winners. Shorter works have appeared in Hip Mama, The Sun, Dramatics Magazine, Good Housekeeping, Purple Clover, and Flashquake. She is a reviewer and teacher at Story Circle Network. She lives east of Berkeley and west of the San Joaquin Valley with her husband and their highly intelligent terrier.

I share an empty nest with my retired scientist husband in Bucks County, PA. As a long time member of Story Circle Network, I have benefited greatly over the years. I’ve facilitated an e-circle, written book reviews, and was one of the editors of the Kitchen Table Stories anthology. I have taken online classes, served on the board, was a contributing editor of Story Circle Journal, and have been one of the judges for the annual memoir contest.

I write feature stories and collaborate on a mental health column for the Bucks County Herald and write a column on local women writers for the Bucks County Women’s Journal. I also teach memoir workshops throughout the Philadelphia area. My work has appeared in publications as diverse as the Christian Science Monitor, the Philadelphia Inquirer, gravel, Massage, and The Quilter. My memoir, Off Kilter: A Woman’s Journey to Peace with Scoliosis, Her Mother, and Her Polish Heritage was published in 2008 by Pearlsong Press. You can read about it here. My as yet unpublished novel, Where the Stork Flies, is a finalist for the 2015 Eludia Award. If you’d like to know more about me and read my blog, please visit my website.

I am a poet, writer and circle leader in Nanaimo, British Columbia. Ever since carrying them around, for the feel and smell of them, I have loved books—before I had yet learned to read! Writing book reviews comes out of my life-long love of sharing stories. Writing a review involves a closer examination of a book and further learning about its subject and its author. How DID she make it work? In the twenty years I have been offering women’s writing circles, I have found it an honour and a delight to witness women awakening their creative potential. As well as offering circles in my own home, I have facilitated circles for the mental health community; a First Nations reserve; community care workers and hospice counselors; women’s retreats and conferences; and adult literacy programs. I offer one to one mentoring, which can be done by distance, through a program I created called Writing Home: A Whole Life Practice, described on my website. My poetry, fiction, book reviews, personal essays and articles have appeared in various publications in Canada and in the U.S. My first full-length book of poetry, Fishing for Mermaids, was published by Leaf Press in 2014. I very much appreciate being on the Story Circle review team and having the opportunity of sharing reviews with other women. May they in turn be inspired to read and reflect on their own story.

Mary Ann Moore specializes in reviewing Activist Memoirs.

Pat Bean is a retired journalist who traveled the country for nine years in a small RV with her canine companion, Maggie. She currently resides in Tucson, Arizona. Her book, Travels with Maggie, was published in September, 2017. The book is about a six-month journey through 23 states and Canada on her way to Acadia National Park in Maine. Pat is on the Board of Directors for SCN, and was named SCN’s blogger of the year for 2015. She enjoys reading, walking her dog Pepper, birding, photography, and art. She won first place in Story Circle Network’s recent Hot Flash writing contest for her flash-fiction, “The Heart of a Dog.” Her interviews with Sarton winners are featured in the SCN Journal and on the SCBR website. Visit her blog.

Paula Robertson, aka Paula Shaffer, has a BS in English/Journalism from Northwestern University in Chicago, IL. After spending years as a technical writer for various companies, she is retired from the corporate world and spends her free time pursuing her passion for writing poetry and prose. She is the author of Absent Mother, a published memoir about growing up in foster care, and is currently working on a sequel. She resides in Orange County, California with her husband, son and a very confused dog named Taco.

Former teacher, International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program coordinator, and director of a Law Humanities Magnet program, Shawn currently lives in Austin, Texas. She is a reviewer for Story Circle Network and has contributed her time and efforts to Impact Austin as well as People Against Child Trafficking. She enjoys spending time with family, reading and reviewing books, gardening, biking, sailing, quilting, cooking and writing. She says, “Nothing is more thrilling than finding a good read and thinking about for whom and how it might be explored in an educational setting.” Books, like boats, can take a reader to interesting shores. Speaking of shores, Shawn can be found exploring the northern coast of Michigan aboard her thirty year old sail boat, HMS Juicy Fruit each summer.

Susan J. Tweit is a plant biologist and the award-winning author of twelve books (including her memoir, Walking Nature Home: A Life’s Journey, and Colorado Scenic Byways, winner of the Colorado Book Award), numerous magazine articles, and newspaper columns. Read her popular blog and learn about her books on her website. http://www.susanjtweit.com/meet-susan

Susan Schoch is a Colorado member of the Story Circle team. Specializing in personal history, she is the author of The Clay Connection, a study of ceramic artists Jim and Nan McKinnell, for the American Museum of Ceramic Art. Susan is a committed member of Story Circle Network, and the editor of the annual SCN anthology, Real Women Write, as well as a regular reviewer for SCBR. She says, “Every year, women write fine new books, and I’m glad for the opportunity to read and share some of the best of them, and to support the work of small and independent presses. Working with the remarkable women of SCBR is a wonderful bonus, and I find inspiration in the books and reviews they bring to light. SCBR is a powerful resource for women’s writing. I’m honored to be a part of its good work.”

Tracie Nichols, M.A. is a poet exploring human and wild nature through words, making sense of a world that feels both intriguing and often overwhelming. She regularly contributes to KindOverMatter.com and Journey of the Heart: Women’s Spiritual Poetry Project. So far, her work has appeared in three anthologies of women’s poetry. Tracie lives under rustling trees in southeastern Pennsylvania with her husband, a very determined ginger tabby cat, Strider, and, for an unexpected moment, her three adult children.

Ann McCauley is the author of three novels: Pressure Cooker Christmas, Willow Lane, Book 1, Mother Love, Willow Lane, Book 2, and Runaway Grandma. Ann loves to read, write and review books. She writes a monthly blog and is busy working on her next Willow Lane novel. Ann is an RN, and has a Masters in creative writing.  For more info, click www.annmccauley.com.