The Writers' Bridge | Who We Are

JOHN MacINTYRE is a journalist from Nova Scotia with over twelve years direct experience as a reporter, writer and editor. As the former editor-in-chief of two city magazines as well as a large commercial fishing publication, he has directed, written or commented upon a wide range of subjects, and continues to write on many subjects for journals in the U.S. and Canada. His statistics column, Figuratively Speaking, appears in more than 40 U.S. and Canadian newspapers and magazines.

RUTH MARK is a licensed psychologist and freelance writer. Originally from a small town in Northern Ireland, she currently lives in the Netherlands. She has also lived in Scotland and in France. Her work has been published in diverse print and web venues including Riviera Reporter, Dakota House Journal, Poems Niederngasse, Snakeskin, Electric Acorn, etc. Her work has also appeared in many anthologies, and she has a new book of poetry, Daily the Sky Shifts, forthcoming from Path Publishing http://www.pathpublishing.com/.

High school sweethearts RON and CARYL McADOO discovered writing together in the late '80s, but it took the care and mentoring of folks at the DFW Writers' Workshop to bring out their true talents. Accomplishments now include eight published titles including two non-fictions, Great Firehouse Cooks of Texas and Antiquing in North Texas, both from the Republic of Texas Press, a thriller titled The Thief of Dreams from Longhorn Creek Press, a mature inspirational romance The Apple Orchard Bed and Breakfast by Thorndike Press, Absolute PI, an audio mystery from Books In Motion, The Price Paid, a WWII novel, and two children's chapter books written as Grami and O'Pa McAdoo: The Adventures of Sergeant Socks, The Journey Home and The Bravest Heart. The McAdoos served on the board of the DFW Writers' Workshop and at the Texas Coalition of Authors. The lifetime residents of Irving, Texas give credit for every good blessing to their relationship with Jesus Christ.

ROBERT H. McELROY is the Florida-based editor of This Week in Congress and an independent writer who has been contributing to newspapers and magazines in North Carolina and Florida since 1992. Writing is his second career, and his ability to qualify sources, glean information and report is the result of 10 years as a licensed private investigator in Washington, D.C. followed by seven years as a consultant investigator to several federal agencies when he was authorized at the agencies' secretary level. He has written extensively on subjects ranging from travel and local history to major environmental issues and the US Congress. His writing effort of choice is debunking politics. His philosophy: "Accuracy, whether in a news story or opinion piece is the primary responsibility of any writer and research is paramount."

ANNE McKEE is the Executive Director of The Mississippi Writers Guild (a statewide support organization for the writers of Mississippi), a weekly contributor for The Meridian Star daily newspaper, and a monthly contributor for Today’s Mississippi Woman Magazine. Her work can be read in Mississippi Magazine, and also several other southern journals, including Oxford So and So. She is a speechwriter with the most recent speech written for Miss Rodeo Mississippi, 2006. She has distinguished herself among the writers selected for The Commentaries Program on Mississippi Public Radio, plus several award winning competitive writings. Anne McKee is a founding executive board member of the Mississippi Writers Guild. She is the originator of the literary event Honoring Historic Mississippi Writers, and the creator of Friendly Beginnings for New Writers, a workshop geared town the baby boomer age group, but open to all. This workshop was taught at The Eudora Welty Library, Jackson Mississippi, October 2006 and The Mainstreet Books, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, November 2006. Supporting the craft of writing stirs her passion and creativity. As a playwright, Anne McKee’s most recent one-act-drama, Friday Morning at the First National Bank, was staged by The Little Theatre, Philadelphia, MS, in April 2007.

MATT McKINNEY is a reporter and feature writer for the Minneapolis Star Tribune. His speciality is food and agriculture, but his recent features have ranged from the hazards of taser weapons to the world's quietest recording studio. He also manages a blog in connection with the newspaper.

CINDY MURPHY McMAHON is a freelance writer/editor based in Omaha, Neb., with a bachelor's degree in journalism from Creighton University and a master's degree from the Missouri School of Journalism. She recently co-authored the book Nebraska: Centered on the Land, and her work has appeared in regional and national publications such as American Profile, Unique Opportunities: The Physician's Resource, and Family Safety & Health. Cindy's client list also includes Fortune 500 firms, universities and medical centers.

Writing is TOM McMAHON's second career, after working 20-some years in human services and earning bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Tom is the Southwest Iowa reporter for the Council Bluffs Nonpareil newspaper. He also freelances for national, regional and local publications. His human services background gives a special human-interest quality to Tom's articles. He is based in Omaha, Neb.

JENNY MEADOWS has been proofreading and copy editing, both professionally and pro bono, since she was 10. Parallel careers during the almost 50 years since then have been church organist, mother, nursing student, elementary school teacher (she gave up nursing and got a BS in English and Education), sign language interpreter, piano teacher, assistant director and accompanist at the local theater, business forms final proofreader, calligrapher, editor of “Line One” for 13 years (it was a consumer complaint column in The Dallas Morning News), tattoo artist and owner of three studios in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area, grandmother, and freelance copy editor and proofreader. When she writes, it's usually about her latest travel adventures, especially her lengthy trips to South Africa. An inveterate reader and people-connector, she has a passion for words, languages and editing, and for helping authors make their writing the best it can be. After selling her tattoo studios in 2001 and moving to Austin, she founded her own company, My Copy Editor. Jenny has an ear for maintaining the writer's voice, whether it has an American English accent, or is more British, Indian or South African. She also specializes in converting non-American English to American English when necessary.

KERRIE L. MILLER is an internationally published freelance writer and award-winning journalist specializing in writing for writers, true crime, and not running with the pack or blindly following a herd. A recent graduate of the Stonecoast creative writing program, she spends a good deal of her time "preachin' the gospel of creative nonfiction" to groups and programs interested in learning more about this "new" form of writing. Through her business, Splash Landing Studios, she runs a variety of writing workshops and offers proofreading and copy-editing services. Works in progress: "Recipes from the Cottage: The Cottage Book Club serves up favorite recipes and selected titles"; "Misery Bay, A Twisted tale of Murder for Money"; "Just Write: A collection of inspirational essays for new writers"; and "Around the House, A collection of personal essays of home and life". Miller can be reached via email at splashlandingstudios@charter.net.

MICHELLE MILLER-ALLEN writes in all genres. America's poet laureate Miller Williams sponsored her as a 1970 Breadloaf Writers Scholarship winner, she received a 1995 Masters in Theatre/Playwriting from UNM, and her poetry, articles and short fiction have appeared in U.S. and Canadian literary journals. She writes occasional features and a monthly book review column for New Mexico Woman Magazine. Her first book, Hunger in the First Person Singular, was awarded the 1993 New Mexico Press Women's Zia Award. Her novel, Journey From the Keep of Bones, was awarded #1 Runner-up COVR (Coalition for Visionary Resources) Award for Best Visionary Fiction, 2003. Also an editor and publisher, see information at her website at the page called Last of the Nice Girls. For the full scoop on this renaissance woman, visit her Services & Workshops page at www.greenphoenixproductions.com. In her "real life" she has also built a 24-year-career as a family law paralegal (researching & writing case-winning legal briefs) and is a remote (on-line) commercial-conflict mediator, with dual residency in Scotland and New Mexico USA. Creativity salon/workshop: http://abearnamedhope.blogspot.com.

WILL MOREDOCK is a South Carolina native, now living in Charleston. He has written for daily and alternative weekly newspapers and his stories have appeared in newspapers and magazines around the country, including The Charlotte Observer, The Washington Post and the Philadelphia Inquirer. His book, anana Republic: A Year in the Heart of Myrtle Beach, explores the impact of tourism and massive development on the small towns and fragile coastal environment of South Carolina. Moredock has won awards for his journalism and short fiction. He likes to write about southern history, culture and politics, and contributes a weekly column for the Charleston City Paper.

GRANT MOSER is a New York City-based writer who has had a lifelong love affair with writing. A regular contributor to a number of New York publications -- and the occasional national one -- Grant has written about music, art, food, and the local side of life. He has also loves conducting interviews and has even been known to write poetry and stories as well. To see a categorized list of his writing, please visit www.grantmoser.com/writing.html.

With 15 years experience in marketing, communications and public relations, CATHERINE CHAPMAN MOSELY has spent the last four years freelancing since the birth of her son, Luke. She says the greatest thing about writing is learning new things. She also does media relations for several "mompreneurial" businesses. Catherine has written for The Roanoker magazine, the Blue Ridge Business Journal, Central Virginia Home Magazine, The Roanoke Times and the News & Advance (Lynchburg, Va).

DEBORAH NASON is a full-time freelance business journalist who splits her time between serene southern Connecticut and frenetic northern New Jersey. She has been a regular contributor to regional, statewide, and national publications, such as the Blue Ridge Business Journal, Virginia Business magazine, Investment News and the Christian Science Monitor. Her varied career path has taken her to the fields of accounting, optometry, refuge resettlement, career counseling, competitive intelligence, desktop publishing and webmastering. She has a BA in history from Brandeis University and an MA in management and human resources from Webster University. Over the years, Deborah has worked on writing projects as both a staff writer and freelancer. She loves research, which often brings with it the thrill of an unexpected story or angle. Her personal writing interests currently focus on business trends and developing a sense of community. Deborah's clips can be found at her website www.c4sb.com. She is a member of the American Society of Business Publication Editors and the Society of American Business Editors and Writers.

RACHEL NEWCOMBE is an award-winning writer, editor and researcher based in the UK. She specializes in the fields of health, parenting and lifestyle issues, as well as frequently covering education, travel and property. She’s written for a wide range of print and online publications worldwide, including The Times of London, Living Abroad magazine, Channel 4, BUPA, Kelloggs Special K and Discovery Health, plus she won the online journalism category in the 2004 Medical Journalism Awards. She can be found on the web at www.newcombe.co.uk/media.

MARILYN NOBLE is a Colorado-based freelance writer who specializes in telling the inspiring stories of people who do amazing things. Her main areas of focus are aviation, the arts, travel and the environment. A native of southern Arizona, Marilyn has been writing since she was a child. She won her first award for poetry in eighth grade, served as the editor in chief of her high school newspaper, and then gave up writing to pursue a degree in plant pathology. She followed that with careers in sales, management consulting and motherhood. A few years ago she ran screaming from the corporate life and returned to her first love, the written word. Her feature stories have appeared in local, regional and national publications, and she's currently writing a book about the Flight Across America, an aviation event that brought hundreds of pilots from across the country together to celebrate the magic of flight and restore the spirit of aviation. Marilyn lives in Denver with her partner, sculptor and goldsmith Reno Carollo, as well as any of their three children who happen to be home from school. She is a member of the Project Purpose Writing Team of the Life On Purpose Institute, whose mission is to write and publish articles about people and institutions whose lives and missions are dedicated to a bold and inspired purpose or vision.

TED E. PALIK is a professional journalist with an extensive background in news reporting, editing and headline writing. He has worked as a reporter at daily newspapers in Cambridge, Md., and Manassas, Va., and as a copy editor in Lynchburg, Va., and York, Pa. He is currently a copy editor for the Harrisburg (Pa.) Patriot-News (pennlive.com), where he has worked since 1999. He moves easily between hard news and pop culture, and will edit anything from magazine pieces to community newsletters to technical manuals.

Writer and copy editor JENA PASSUT recently relocated to suburban Philadelphia after her husband, Charlie, landed a job there. She now is trying her hand at freelancing, having left the daily newspaper grind (temporarily?) after 10 years of steady and exciting work. The award winning writer has had freelance stories published in Ford Magazine and Arthritis Today, and she's looking forward to expanding her clip file. Her feature writing for the Oakland Presss won a 2006 award from the Michigan Press Association.

DENNIS PAYNE has been writing for publication since the mid '60s -- first, as a technical writer/editor for Boeing publications. Since then, his focus has been on sales and marketing activities, mostly for his own companies. Copywriting for product brochures, press releases, direct mail, training curricula, and other business purposes is yielding way to travel articles for his own websites, which primarily spotlight the hospitality and gourmet foods industries of Hawaii and Europe.

For the last five years, HEIDI PRICE has covered education and children’s issues for the Observer-Reporter in Washington, PA. Her beat includes generating stories from an area that includes 19 public school districts, three private and charter schools and four colleges and universities. Prior that that, she spent two years as a general assignment reporter writing about everything from one community’s efforts to get public sewerage to the long-held tradition of sheep shearing in southwestern Pennsylvania (she even attended sheep shearing school) She's also written extensively about disability issues as a staff writer and editor of the “UCP Voice,” a publication of United Cerebral Palsy of Pittsburgh. Heidi is a licensed auctioneer and Ohio and works weekends for an auction company. She also has a license in real estate. For the last two years, she has written restaurant reviews for “City Search” and the Observer-Reporter’s Weekend edition. She has also done travel pieces on Belize and France.

RICHELLE PUTNAM has graduated from three Institute of Children's Literature courses, the Writers Digest Novel Writing Program, and the Advanced Writing Program of the Open College for the Arts in England. She has been published in both adult and children's print and electronic publications, such as E2K Literary Journal, World Wide Writers, Southern Hum, Beginnings, Suite 101's “Miracle of the Internet” Anthology, Orchard Press Mysteries, The Copperfield Review, Cayuse Press, Writer's Journal, Novel Advice, Obadiah Press's “Living By Faith” Anthology, “A Tribute to Mothers Anthology” by Paper Doll Press and “A Cup of Comfort for Mothers and Daughters.” Four of her poems have been optioned by Blue Mountain Arts. Her children's literature has been published by the Institute of Children's Literature, Gotta Write Network, Writing Korner, and Wee Ones, and in print publications, such as Boy's Quest, Appleseeds, and Hopscotch Magazine for Girls. She has been a Poetry Out Loud Regional Faciliator and Write Initiative Instructor for the State of Mississippi. She freelances for All Headline News and is the founder and president of the Mississippi Writers Guild. You can find her work at www.authorsden.com/richellemputnam; and www.richelleputnam.net.

When BRENDA POTTER REYNOLDS of Orwell, NY, travels, she not only takes her laptop, but her camera, a canoe and a stout pair of hiking shoes. As the editor of BellaOnline.com's New York and New England Travel sites, she travels extensively throughout the New York State and New England. A former newspaper editor, she has been a professional writer for 20 years, and has written over 600 columns and articles for print publications and online sites. Her website can be accessed at www.bpreynolds.com.

CINTHIA RITCHIE is a features writer and columnist for the Anchorage Daily News. She has an M.F.A. in creative writing and has interned at We Alaskan magazine and Alaska Quarterly Review literary magazine. She's a 2006 Pushcart Prize nominee and recipient of Alaska Council on the Arts 2005 Connie Boochever Fellowship, the 2004 Drexeal Journal Creative Nonfiction Award, the 2004 Brenda Ueland Creative Nonfiction Award, the 2004 Rosalie Fleming Creative Nonfiction Award and writing residencies at Hidden River Arts and Hedgebrook. Her work has been published in the New York Times Magazine, Water-Stone Review, Under the Sun, Slow Trains Literary Journal, Gin Bender Poetry Review, Drexel Journal, Ice Floe, PMS:poemmemoirstory, Cascadia Review, Anchorage Press, We Alaskans, Alaska Women Speak, The Coast, Art Matters, the Anchorage Daily News and over 25 literary magazines

JULIE ROSENBAUM-ENGLEHARDT has had articles published in Smallville magazine, New York's Long Island Woman and Evansville Living magazine, among others. She has also worked as an entertainment reporter for several television stations in Evansville, Ind., as a columnist for Warrick Publications, and a correspondent for the Olney, Ill., Daily Mail. Julie has conducted interviews from everyone from members of the 1986 New York Mets World Championship Team to entertainment figures such as Kris Kristofferson, the Beach Boys, Willie Nelson and B.B. King. She is a published poet and movie reviewer and has written many political articles and interviewed many renowned lawyers, politicians and doctors. She is currently collaborating on a book, a fictionalized autobiography. Julie is a 1998 graduate of the University of Southern Indiana, Evansville, Ind., with a bachelor's degree in communications and a minor in sociology with emphasis on criminal justice.