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Barbara, born and raised in Orlando when it was "nothing but orange trees and lakes," now resides in Lake Walk-in-Water Estates, an area of Lake Wales where you'll find "nothing but orange trees and lakes."

For several years Barbara wrote and published "Carpe Diem," an on-line subscription-based e-zine containing real life inspirations and life coaching. Her background as an entrepreneur and business owner gave her the opportunity to write and publish dozens of business, sales, and marketing training courses. Recently she published a children's book, It's Okay, Ginger, which is a story of reassurance for children going through divorce. She is also working on short stories based on her own life. Barbara lives with her husband and her younger daughter who attends Frostproof High School. She enjoys reading, writing and fishing. Barbara's favorite web site is: Mariel Elisabeth Hannah. You may contact Barbara at writingbee@mindspring.com.

Jean was born in Milan, Ohio, during the Great Depression. While Jean was still a young child, her family pulled up stakes and moved to Haines City. Later they moved to Bartow, but after suffering many disappointments, the family returned to Ohio. After high school, Jean attended Miami of Ohio University where she studied Financial and Standard Accounting and Legal Procedures. She was later invited to the University of Michigan as an Accounting advisor and assisted in the implementation of an Automotive Business Accounting course.

Jean and her husband Bud now reside in Babson Park where they have a working cattle ranch. They also make use of their considerable automotive accounting expertise to consult with auto dealerships in Florida and Ohio. With 17 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren, there is precious little time to write. Nonetheless, Jean is mid-way through her memoirs and is enjoying the challenge of writing her first short story.

Writing has always been part of Faye’ Hartleben’s life; at age 11 she had 63 pen pals from all over the country. Poetry is Faye’s favored medium but essays, stories and “tall tales” sometimes find the paper from the tip of her ready pen. She has had poems published in several anthologies and op-ed pieces in newspapers. She spent several years as a stringer for local newspapers.

She once self-published a trio of chapbooks to sell at a county fair. While My Book - A Collection of Writings Under Cover, My Other Book, and My Next Book were not big sellers, she had fun and learned a lot. Currently, Faye is working on a P.I. novella and a Western story. In between, she writes short stories and poetry that she enters in contests.

A retired secretary, Faye Hartleben lives at her home in a rural area of central Wisconsin during the summer and fall. The rest of the year, she and husband roam around the southern US in search of warmer weather. They have two sons and five grandchildren living in Tennessee and Colorado.

Mariann Huntoon

Mariann G. Huntoon was born and raised in New Jersey. She graduated Ocean County College in 1977 with an Associate of Arts degree. While attending college, her poetry was published in the school’s literary magazine. In 2003, Mariann, along with her husband and son, settled in Lake Wales, FL, to “semi-retire.” She is busy working on her memoirs.

Lorna Keith

Lorna Keith was born in Hollywood, California, and raised in southern California. She graduated from the University of California at Riverside with a degree in math. Lorna married in 1980 and shortly thereafter moved to Florida. She has published numerous science fiction and fantasy stories, as well as various articles. She has completed the first novel in a science fiction trilogy and is currently working on the first draft of the second book. Lorna lives in Sebring with her husband Greg.

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Operating under the guise of Group Leader, Jill enjoys helping others succeed as writers. She has been writing since she was in junior high school (back in the Dark Ages) and has fiction and non-fiction publishing credits to her name. She has over 30 years experience writing and editing corporate business documents, ten+ years experience writing critiques, book reviews, and editing the work of fiction and non-fiction authors. Visit her editing website TheUltimateEditor.com.

Ann Peters

Ann Lucas Peters is a teacher by day and writer by night. She is the author of Inspirational Thoughts for Living, an A-Z Guide for Life, a contributor to the book, The Simple Touch of Fate, and has written many stories for adults and children. Ann has lived in and traveled to many countries. She lives in Florida with her pets, close to her family and friends. Ann loves the written word, reading it, writing it, savoring it! Favorite websites: The Simple Touch of Fate and LitQuotes.

Helen is a second generation Florida Cracker. She graduated from Florida Southern College back when an electric typewriter was considered “uptown.” She taught preschool before moving to California where she attended the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, bought a bakery/catering service, and got married. She combined cooking with teaching by opening Little Chefs Cooking Academy and eventually returned to education as a substitute teacher.

Helen has had one tongue-in-cheek article about her two dogs published on the online e-zine Petwarmers. She currently has a picture book manuscript and a children’s short story searching for good homes. Helen and her husband Frank and daughter live in Winter Haven with two dogs, two cats, a fish and countless wild critters on two acres.

Born in Wisconsin, Judith Ulch divides her time between Florida, Arkansas, and Wisconsin. Judy graduated from UW-Parkside with a Bachelor of Arts degree. She is a teacher, mentor, writer, reader, and always a student. Her first published writing was an essay on the white birch tree which appeared in Grit Magazine when she was 12. Her first submitted poem appeared in “Grape Ivy” in 1973.

Judy has also been a bookstore owner, publisher, and restaurateur. She was the editor of SEARCH Magazine for years, and feature writer for several newspapers, including Polk County’s News Chief. Her work has appeared in Back Home, Reader’s Digest, McCall’s Magazine, Backwoods Home, and numerous other newspapers and magazines. She has self-published several volumes of poetry with her friend and fellow writer, Faye Hartleben.

Judy is currently working on her first novel, as well as a book on old folk remedies and one on fairies. She has just completed a book on the history of Wonewoc Spiritualist Camp and plans to self-publish it. Judy and her husband Harvey spend their summers at Wonewoc Spiritualist Camp in Wisconsin where she serves as a medium, teacher, and healer. They live near Dundee, Florida in the winter and in Eureka Springs, Arkansas in the spring and fall. She and Harvey enjoy spending time with their six children and ten grandchildren, as well sailing, traveling, and being “retired.”

Loren Ullom

Loren was born in Indiana but grew up in Haiti where his parents were missionaries. The family returned to the US when Loren was 13, settling in Babson Park .

Loren has written a number of poems and has now ventured into writing children’s stories. You can view Loren’s poems on his website at http://www.luchelp.com/loren.html. Some of his other interests are computer programming and repair, watercolor painting, music, soccer and an occasional jaunt to the paintball course.

Loren now resides in south Lake Wales with his wonderful wife and three children and is thankful to God for all of his blessings.

Gary Wiesing and his wife Marianne retired to Lake Wales in 1998 after Gary spent 30 years with IBM and another 11 years as a volunteer on a tourist railroad in upstate NY. Gary writes poetry, articles, memoirs, and short stores. Several of his personal experiences have been published in the First Person column of The Ledger. He is currently working on a biography of a local personality and several fiction pieces. He writes a monthly column in his church’s newsletter and has had one column published in a national church newsletter.

Marianne Wiesing lives in Lake Wales with her husband, Gary. She spent most of her life as a mother and homemaker. She spent several years directing a high school band color guard and was later elected to the school board. She operated her own craft and gift shop with many of her own creations and for 11 years ran a gift shop at a tourist railroad in upstate New York. Marianne is currently writing memoirs for her grandchildren and working on a family cookbook with family stories in it. She is also compiling a cookbook for the church where she and her husband are members.

The Mid-Florida Scribes