SCN members make the news by publishing books, articles, essays, poems, dramas, and art. They also make presentations, lead workshops, facilitate groups, and organize programs. Below are some of our members’ achievements this year.
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Sara Etgen-Baker Poem First Place
Sara’s poem “Rubaiyat of the Midnight Carousel” received first place in the Carnivals and Carousels Category, Adult Non-Resident with Highland Park Poetry. A number of her poems have been published with MockingOwlRoost, Haiku Shack, and Ultramarine Review. In addition, her memoir vignette, Talking Aprons, was published in the March issue of Good Old Days Magazine.
After a 25-year teaching career, Sara Etgen-Baker began pursuing her teenage writing dreams. She’s written a collection of memoir vignettes, a collection of poems, and a novel. Her writing has appeared in numerous anthologies and online publications.
Donna Cameron Essay a Finalist, Published Online
Donna Cameron’s essay, “A Recipe for Immortality,” was a finalist in the biennial Erma Bombeck Writing Competition. You can read it here.
Donna is author of the multi-award-winning book, A Year of Living Kindly: Choices That Will Change Your Life and the World Around You.
Linda C. Wisniewski Releases “Time Is a Pilgrim”
Linda C. Wisniewski has released her second time-travel novel, the sequel to Where the Stork Flies. Time is a Pilgrim is a tale of women living in a time of suspicion and fear until a time-traveling American, a medieval queen and a gypsy’s forecast open windows into a world beyond their tiny village.
Linda C. Wisniewski is a former librarian and journalist living in Bucks County, PA, where she volunteers at the historic home of author Pearl S. Buck. She is a longtime member of SCN.
Jo-Ann Vega’s Newest Article Issues Important Warning
What author wouldn’t be tempted by an offer from a Big 5 publisher sweetened with a 6-figure cash inducement? I almost fell for a Publisher Impersonation Scam that seemed like it was real. Find out what happened and how to spot warning signals in my article here.
Jo-Ann Vega is an award-winning poet and author, dynamic educator, and dedicated journaler who lives with her feisty life partner and canine companion.
SCN Members Nominated for Pushcart Prize
SCN has nominated six exceptional pieces from our 2025 anthology, Real Women Write: In the Garden, for the Pushcart Prize. Each author’s skilled writing enriches the anthology’s theme.
In alphabetical order:
- Lorinda Boyer—The Day I Chose Dirt over Doctrine
- Debra Dolan—The Gardener’s Ex-Wife (A Story of Letting Go and Growing Back)
- Linda M. Hasselstrom—Late Harvest
- Sue Kusch—Life, Death, and Renewal in the Garden
- Susan Marsh—Going Native
- Ellen Notbohm—My Dirt-y Little Secret
“The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses series, published every year since 1976, is the most honored literary project in America—including Highest Honors from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.” ~www.pushcartprize.com
To read the nominated pieces, and discover more great writing, check out our 2025 Real Women Write anthology. Request it at your library or find it online here.
Special thanks to Shelley Johnson Carey, editor of In the Garden, and sincere congratulations to the nominees!
Fran Hawthorne Releases New Book, “Her Daughter”
Praised by Kirkus Reviews for its “grace, realism, and empathy,” Her Daughter is a novel about a family in which the father deliberately turns the daughter against the mother; the daughter cuts off all contact with the mother; and six years later, the mother learns that her daughter has been arrested–with no way to find her.
Fran Hawthorne started writing novels when she was four years old. Her eight nonfiction books and first two novels won multiple awards, including Sarton Award finalist. Her third novel, HER DAUGHTER, was published by Black Rose Writing in January.
Regina Allen Releases “Napako, Our Journey: The Coahuiltecan Creation Story and the Sacred Springs”
Napako is a written and illustrated retelling of the Coahuiltecan creation story as it has been told by indigenous storyteller Maria Rocha and adapted for young readers by Regina Allen. The book views the telling from a child’s perspective and includes facts about the Coahuiltecan people and the San Marcos Springs. It is an inspiring and educational introduction to the creation beliefs of one of the most widespread Indigenous peoples in Texas and northern Mexico. See more here.
Regina Allen is a writer and a retired librarian. Her years as an educator enhanced her lifelong love and knowledge of children’s literature. She is currently writing a novel of women’s literary fiction.
Kathleen Rodgers Releases “The Llano County Mermaid Club”
The Llano County Mermaid Club tells a story of childhood friendships, an adult affair, and the lost innocence of a group of young girls longing for the sea. Scandal, tragedy, and later, darker discoveries make for an enthralling read. Published by University of New Mexico Press.
Kathleen M. Rodgers is the author of four previous novels, including The Flying Cutterbucks. She was born in Clovis, New Mexico, and currently lives in north Texas. https://kathleenmrodgers.com/new-book
Ellen Notbohm is the featured author in two literary journals in August
Ellen Notbohm is Macrame Literary Journal’s featured author for Summer 2025, along with her poem Boneyard of the White Elephants. She is also a featured contributor interviewed in Pictura Journal’s current issue, with her short story Sempty Inches.
Ellen Notbohm’s work touches millions in more than 25 languages. Her acclaimed novel, The River by Starlight, nonfiction classic Ten Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew, and short fiction and nonfiction have won more than 40 awards worldwide.
S.M. Stevens Novel “Beautiful and Terrible Things” Wins Awards
Beautiful and Terrible Things: A Novel by S.M. Stevens was named Best Literary Book of the Year by Indies Today, and it received the gold award in the LGBTQIA+ category of the Reader Views Reviewer’s Choice Awards. 
The contemporary novel addresses social justice themes including mental health, immigration, and racism, and explores the power of friendship to validate, destroy, transform, and save lives. Available in paperback, audiobook, and ebook.
Stevens began writing fiction during back-to-back health crises: a shattered pelvis and ovarian cancer. She writes contemporary novels designed to make readers laugh, cry, and think. She lives in New Hampshire. Visit her website: https://authorsmstevens.com/.
Sara Etgen-Baker Published Multiple Times
I have wonderful publishing news! Two of my stories, “Peep, Peep Baby Chicks” and “Plantin’ Season,” were published in the March/April issue of Good Old Days Magazine. Additionally, “An Engaging Evening” was published in its January/February issue. “God’s Heavenly Messenger” was published in Guideposts‘ publication Angels and Divine Encounters. “Where Cardinals Fly” was published in Guideposts‘ February/March issue in the Mysterious Ways section. “No Ordinary Christmas” was published in Angels on Earth Magazine.
My Haibun poem, “Echoes,” was published in the February issue of All Your Poems Anthology Magazine. My narrative “Fishing for Words” was published in its sister publication, All Your Stories Anthology Magazine. That magazine also published “It’s Fruitcake Weather!” in its December issue. “Christmas Without Tiny” and “Having Enough” were published in the winter issue of Winter Splinter Magazine.
My poems “Rainy Days” and “Confetti” were published in The Pen Woman Magazine (the publication for National League of American Pen Women); “Spaces” and “Forest Souls” in Highland Park Poetry’s online poetry site; and “Poetic Vagabonds” was published in Literary Journal.
Sara began writing after her 25-year teaching career. Her memoir vignettes, personal narratives, & poems have been published in numerous anthologies and magazines. In 2025, she’s publishing her poetry chapbook, Kaleidoscopic Verses, and her collection of memoir vignettes, Shoebox Stories.
Margaret Ostrowski Wins Gold Award
The Non Fiction Authors Association and Nonfiction Book Club bestowed the Gold Award on Lost Legacies: Learning from Ancestral Stories for Inspiration and Policy-Making Today by Margaret V. Ostrowski. In her book, ancestral stories inspire differing views of how to live, help formulate opinions and policies on immigration today, and assist in properly caring for our invitees or alternately aiding them to remain in the homelands they hold in their hearts. Available from Amazon.
Marilea C. Rabasa’s Newest Book Wins Award
Marilea Rabasa’s third memoir, Gene & Toots, and the third of her award-winning trilogy, is an uplifting love story she’s written with her partner about her ultimate recovery from substance use disorder. It has won the International Firebird Award in two categories. Gene & Toots follows the couple in their travels around the United States, Canada, Greece, and Hawaii over the course of nearly thirty years. They live on an island in Puget Sound.
A retired ESL teacher, her travels with Gene provide the backdrop for Marilea’s third memoir, Gene and Toots, full of humor and pathos, on how she’s overcome her lifelong depression and found her own prescription for happiness.
Jodi (J.A.) Wright Wins 2024 Booklife Prize for Fiction
Eat and Get Gas is the winner of the 2024 Booklife Prize for fiction.
Jodi (J.A. Wright) was born and raised in the PNW and moved to New Zealand in 1990. She published her award-winning novels How to Grow an Addict and Eat and Get Gas with She Writes Press.
Elizabeth Costello Receives Major Review of “The Good War”
Publishers Weekly gives The Good War, Elizabeth Costello’s debut novel, a thumbs up! The book will be out on January 28, 2025 and is available for preorder now. Click here for details.
Elizabeth Costello’s previous publications include arts writing for SF Weekly and 7×7 and the poetry chapbook RELIC. She is a cofounder of ekphraestivalpdx.
Catherine Steinberg Releases “Eating Chocolate & Watching the Moon”
Psychotherapist, shamanic practitioner, artist, and author Catherine N. Steinberg has published a new book, edited by fellow SCN member Cynthia F. Davidson. Steinberg’s powerful memoir explores the complexities of how to balance relationships with one’s individual needs and desires as she learns to follow her heart-truth, cultivate an awareness of intuitive nudges, and discover what is truly inspired by love. Get your copy here.
Catherine Nogas-Steinberg, LMFT, is a licensed marriage and family therapist with over 40 years of experience with individuals, couples, families and groups. She is a shamanic practitioner and has combined shamanism with expressive arts in leading shamanic painting workshops. Catherine has also worked with Yale University as an educator, clinician and/or supervisor on various projects. In 2024, Catherine birthed Rubybear Creations. Learn more at her website.
Jan Marquart Releases New Memoir
Lunch with Mom: A Daughter’s Soliloquy brings to light the awesome power a mother has over the life of her daughter as she shares her complex feelings about being raised by a mother who was unwilling or unable to let her go. Like Jan’s previous books, it reveals trials, errors, struggles and triumphs common to women as she experienced them. It is now out on Amazon. Get your copy here.
Jan was born in New York where she learned about determination and tenaciousness. Her mother bought her a Girl Scout Diary and in the confines of those blank pages Jan fell in love with writing. She later moved to California and earned a master’s degree in social work from San Jose State University. As a psychotherapist and therapeutic writing specialist, Jan helps people understand the power of their words, the purpose of story and the empowerment of writing their own narrative. Follow her at freethepen.wordpress.com.
Eileen Vorbach Collins Has Article Published
But Aren’t We Too Young for a 55+ Community? Eileen asks in her recent article published in Next Avenue about moving to a retirement community. She misses her chickens. Read it here.
Eileen Vorbach Collins writes about aging and finding community. She needs to make some younger friends who still drive at night.
“Footfalls to the Alamo” by Shawn LaTorre a Finalist in Southwest Book Design Fiction Category
Shawn LaTorre’s debut historical fiction book made it as a finalist in the prestigious Southwest Book Design Fiction category! She says, “I’m so excited and grateful for Publish Pros’ guidance and creative input along this journey. This particular award ‘recognizes creativity and quality in book design and distinction in production.’ Footfalls to the Alamo definitely showcases these two aspects as we spent considerable time discussing both the cover and the best presentation techniques.” Learn more at https://www.nmbookassociation.org/2024.html.
Shawn LaTorre is an Austin-based writer whose debut novel, Footfalls to the Alamo, highlights a lesser known participant in the Battle of the Alamo–a woman by the name of Señora Candelaria. Shawn is affiliated with Publish Pros and Story Circle Network.
Catherine Shields Published in TODAY
In “My Daughter Has a Disability,” Catherine Shields writes about her 40-year-old daughter who has cerebral palsy and an intellectual disability. Shields says she’s lost count of the number of times she’s heard, “God only gives special needs children to special people.” She’s often found herself resisting the urge to retort: “Add that to the list of things God forgot to give.” Her article explores her mixed emotions at hearing this phrase. Read it here.
Catherine Shields writes about parenting, disabilities and self-discovery. In her debut memoir, The Shape of Normal (Vine Leaves Press), she explores the truths and lies parents tell themselves. Her writing has appeared in numerous magazines.
Mary L. Grow Wins Gold Award in Literary Fiction from Independent Publisher Book Awards
Night Train to Odessa, a novel by Mary L. Grow, has received a Gold Award in the category of Literary Fiction from the Independent Publishers Book Awards 2024. The award recognizes excellence in independent publishing and honors the voices of independent authors worldwide. Mary has accepted this award in celebration to the writers, publishers, and people of Odesa, Ukraine. Get your copy here.
Mary L. Grow is a cultural anthropologist and Fulbright-Hays Research Scholar. An intrepid traveler, she’s performed with itinerant puppet theater troupes, an experience that informs her recent novel, Night Train to Odessa. She lives in northern New Mexico. Her website is http://www.marylgrow.com.
Linda Wisniewski Releases “Old Women and Other Strangers”
In this collection of essays, Linda C. Wisniewski considers the influence of helpful strangers, foreign cultures, and spiritual exploration in the light of family and heritage. A loving grandfather, a stranger who saved her life, and other events explore the connections to be found in strange places. Old age brings reflection on the unforgettable moments of a woman’s life.
Linda C. Wisniewski is a former librarian in Bucks County, PA, where she volunteers at the historic home of author Pearl S. Buck. She has been first-prize winner in the SCN Lifewriting Contest and a Pushcart nominee. Her website is http://www.lindawis.com.
Peggy Joque Williams Releases Courting the Sun: A Novel of Versailles
Peggy Joque Williams is pleased to announce the May 2024 release of her historical fiction, Courting the Sun: A Novel of Versailles, by Black Rose Writing. In the month since its release, Williams’ book about a naïve 17th-century girl invited to attend the court of King Louis XIV has garnered high praise for the author’s historical research from Kirkus, Midwest Book Reviews, and others as well as earning a Literary Titan Gold Book Award.
Peggy Joque Williams is the author of Courting the Sun: A Novel of Versailles. A retired teacher, Peggy credits her fascination with genealogy and her French-Canadian ancestry for inspiring her historical fiction. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin. Learn more at peggywilliamsauthor.com.
Susan Wittig Albert Releases Newest China Bayles Mystery
Forget Me Never, the 29th entry in the China Bayles series (and the 17th published under Susan’s imprint, Persevero Press), asks the compelling questions, Who remembers? What do we choose to remember? Why do we forget? “An engaging mix of mystery, murder, and herb lore.”–Publishers Weekly. Click here for more info.
A former university professor, Susan Wittig Albert is the author of mysteries, mainstream fiction, memoir, and nonfiction, and the founder of the Story Circle Network. You can find her recent essays and short fiction on Substack: https://susanwittigalbert.substack.com/
Two SCN Members Published in Writers’ Anthology
Janice Airhart and Teresa Lynn, both proud members of Story Circle Network, are pleased to be sisters in another venture as well: Writing Strong! 35 Years of Creativity. This anthology by San Gabriel Writers’ League features Airhart’s essay “Change of Plans” and Lynn’s short story “Hideaway Murder.” The book is available from Amazon.
Janice Airhart has been a medical technologist, biomedical research tech, freelance writer and editor, science teacher to pregnant teens, bioscience program representative, and adjunct English professor. Her memoir, Mother of My Invention: A Motherless Daughter Memoir, won the Minerva Rising 2021 Memoir Contest and was released in November 2022. Her essays and articles have appeared in The Sun, The Science Teacher, Lutheran Woman Today, Concho River Review, Story Circle Network’s Real Women Write 2021 and 2023 anthologies, and One Woman’s Day blog, among others. Her website is janiceairhart.com/.
Teresa Lynn, administrator for SCN, is also a writer and editor with a background in journalism. She has written for a range of publications on a variety of topics, as well as three books. In addition to writing, she provides all types of editorial and book design services. In her free time, Teresa enjoys reading, traveling, and seeking out little-known history of interesting people and places. She lives in Georgetown, TX with her husband, near their two grown daughters. Reach her through her website, www.teresalynneditor.com/.
