Crested Butte Writers

CB Writers Members

	Barbara Crawford Cofounder CB Writers Crested Butte, CO Children's author & Nonfiction Barbara, a NJ native who retired to the Colorado mountains one day after Y2K, had owned and operated Jugtown Mountain Preschool in the wilds of the Garden State. Her masters thesis grew into a book on her philosophy of education called The Common Sense Early Childhood Classroom. Barbara's real love is writing for children and she has found her stride in middle grade and YA novels. Nine years ago she founded a conference that began as a Readers in the Rockies authors day and grew into the Crested Butte Writers Conference. As Co-Coordinator and one of the founders of the Crested Butte Writers, she plays a key role in transforming the CBWC into an intimate, interactive, and inspiring weekend for readers, writers, and presenters.
	Theresa Rizzo Cofounder CB Writers Longmont, CO Women's Fiction & Suspense Theresa is a native Michigander, but has lived in Colorado since 2000. She has a BS in nursing and uses that knowledge in both raising her four children and in her women's fiction and suspense books. Theresa belongs to several writers groups, but combines her love of the mountains and writing through her involvement in the Crested Butte Writers. She is the Coordinator of The Sandy writing contest and Co-Cordinator of the CB Writers Conference. She is one of the Five Scribes who blog. Check out her website and at Facebook.
	Richard Allen Crested Butte, CO I am a semi retired lawyer, having practiced for 40 years in the U.S. Government and Washington D.C. My wife Mary and I live half the year in Crested Butte. Mainly for my own enjoyment, I have written short stories, two screenplays and a television miniseries (genre: historical fiction) and the science fiction novel I am submitting in the 2011 Sandy contest.
	Vy Armour Phoenix, AZ Vy Armour is a retired high school English teacher who currently resides in Phoenix, Arizona where she teaches a course on "Writing the Essay" in the Communications Department at the University. Though, beautiful Colorado stole her heart after she lived there for many years—both on the Eastern slope and in Grand Junction. In the 90s, she owned an independent bookstore in Phoenix and loved being surrounded by her books all day. She has been writing for eight years now and enjoys meeting other writers at conferences, one her favorites: that held by the foundation of Highlights for Children's Magazine in Chautauqua, New York. Currently enrolled in a memoir-writing class, she looks forward to sharing her knowledge from it with the Crested Butte Writers. Her blog.
	Donnell Bell CO Springs, CO Romantic Suspense & Mystery Award-winning author whose 2007 manuscript Walk Away Joe has been contracted to Bell Bridge Books to be retitled and published in September 2011. A member of two blogs one for writer Five Scribes and Get Lost in a Story for readers.
	Peter Bridges Crested Butte, CO & Arlington, VA Memoir, Fiction Peter Bridges has been an Army private, oil-field roughneck, American diplomat on four continents, corporate manager in Houston, bank representative in Prague, and writer and lecturer. His first book, Safirka: An American Envoy, recounts his experiences as the ambassador to Somalia; his second, Pen of Fire: John Moncure Daniel, is the first biography of an American diplomat turned Confederate editor. His third book, Donn Piatt: Gadfly in the Gilded Age, will also be published by Kent State. Peter's shorter work has appeared in the California Literary Review, Crested Butte Magazine, Crested Butte Weekly, Los Angeles Times, Michigan Quarterly Review, Notes & Records of the Royal Society of London, Virginia Quarterly Review, and elsewhere. Peter's first short play, "A Pastoral in the Gunnison Country," premiered in Crested Butte in 2009. He has also published privately a chapbook of Elk Mountain Sonnets. Peter is now completing a novel set in America and Italy in 1862.
	Sally Burbank Nashville, TN
	Martha Catt Charlotte, NC Martha Catt earned an honors degree in English Literature from Northwestern University. As a financial advisor, she listens to the stories of her clients' lives everyday. She won second place in the Sandy Contest Mainstream category in 2010 with her novel about love, truth, and redemption discovered on a reality TV show entitled SWITCH-A-ROO. Since 2008, she has written a semi-monthly community column for THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER Neighbors of the City section.
	Janet McCormick-Church Oshkosh, WI Janet McCormick-Church resides in Oshkosh, Wisconsin with roots to Colorado. Formerly in law enforcement and education, she's now fulfilling her lifelong passion to write. Her background as a holistic medicine woman, horse/dog whisperer, organic foodie/gardener, and political activist makes her see conspiracies everywhere, which she works into her thrillers. Animals are central to all of her plots, including those for her children's stories. She's currently weaving fiction around her experience as an equine volunteer after Hurricane Katrina when she encountered a horse and dog theft ring. With training in public speaking and stage, she hosts workshops on using screenwriting skills to improve novel writing. She's a reviewer for Suspense Magazine and a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, Wisconsin Writers, and a local group.
	Jaycee Clark Lampasas, TX Romantic Suspense, Paranormal Romance Jaycee Clark has always loved reading and writing. Even at an early age, she penned stories and poems. Now she taps on a keyboard whenever she gets the chance creating villains with heroes and heroines to beat them. She traded her imaginary playmates for entire families that only exist within her mind until the keyboard brings them to life.
	Sally Clark Centennial, CO Sally H. Clark was born and raised in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile. She retired from the Cherry Creek Schools in Centennial, Colorado where she now lives. She is the mother of four grown children, wife of a retired accountant, and author of several published short stories, including La negra noche and The Solitary Cueca. Her other short stories, 'Atacama' and 'Jilly and the Ghost' were published in the first and second anthologies respectively of the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. A collection of fourteen Chilean tales and a magical realism novel about the Pinochet dictatorship spawned from Sally's passion to write about her country of birth. Currently, she is developing her fifth novel alongside a second collection of short stories—all set in the U.S.
	Sandra Cortner Crested Butte, CO Non-fiction, Photo Journalism Sandra Cortner's 40-year Gunnison County journalism career culminated in the publication of her award-winning book: Crested Butte Stories...Through My Lens. Her memoir of mountain characters and traditions is illustrated by her black-and-white portraits of the town's old-timers. These days, Sandy is working on stories about more recent Crested Butte history, and is getting a kick out of digging up her old photos to go with these tales. A former presenter at Readers in the Rockies, she contributes to the Mountain Gazette and other publications, and takes on proofing and editing projects. She and her husband Greg Payne also produce the "Extreme Limits Guide," a photographic map of the Crested Butte Ski Area's double black diamond terrain. Order by calling 970-641-1654, or at crestedbuttestories.com.
	Sandra Crowley CO Fiction, Romantic Suspense Sandra Crowley resides in Colorado's mountains after living too many places to list. She loves animals, prefers fast cars, and believes cooking should only be done by restaurants. Blessed with her own hero husband and supportive family and friends, she’s like many whose passion for reading carries them into writing. Her need to send characters along paths she thought essential to the story propelled her to take a course in fiction writing. She quickly discovered her imagination suited romantic suspense stories best. Writing workshops, online classes, and conferences help her hone her craft and create characters driven to danger. She hopes her stories of murder, betrayal and redemption produce that Ahhh factor readers desire. Sandra can be reached at her website, blog, facebook page, or twitter.
	Victoria Dixon Kansas City, KS Victoria Dixon enjoys writing Historical Fantasies and Young Adult literature. She is addicted to Historical Fantasies and particularly loves unusual settings. This led to writing Mourn Their Courage, a fantasy based on The Romance of the Three Kingdoms which is a Ming Dynasty-era work. Mourn Their Courage won second place in the 2010 Sandy Writers Contest. To help support herself and other writers with similar interest, Dixon also began the Yahoo Group, Authors of Asian Novels. The group is dedicated to providing encouragement and information to those writers interested in Asian settings and/or characters. Membership is free. Previous publication credits include Millenium Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazine (1998), Eternity Online (1998) and Demons, Knights and Angels (a.k.a. Mindflights in 2007).
	Sandy Fails Crested Butte, CO
	Kerri-Leigh Grady Monterey, CA Urban Fantasy KL Grady hates writing bios. She's prayed to (and bribed) her fairy godmother for bio-writing skills, but alas the old biddy hasn't come through. KL bides her time following her Navy husband around the world, writing, homeschooling, working on her master's degree, and plotting revenge on her fairy godmother. She's also one of the Five Scribes and maintains a slightly spooky website.
	Jolene Gutierrez Thornton, CO Children's & Young Adult Jolene Ballard Gutierrez was born in Sterling, Colorado in 1974. She grew up on a farm in northeastern Colorado and has mostly fond memories of that life: riding horses and hunting arrowheads. Her nasty memories include falling in pig poop and eating Rocky Mountain Oysters before she learned that they aren't really oysters. She married her soul mate from high school; they have two amazing children—a girl and a boy. As a school librarian for the past seventeen years, she loves helping students find their perfect book. Her dream is that her books are someone's favorite. Visit her website, Facebook page, and Goodreads site.
	Laura Haley-McNeil Littleton, CO I have published several short pieces in women's confessional magazines. I have written finance articles for the web. I write, edit and publish my company's newsletter.
	Ron Heimbecher Thorton, CO Ron Heimbecher, owner of ChaliceMedia, is an award-winning innovative technologist, with a diverse background in large corporations, very small businesses, government, music, film and television. His current focus is the design and development of infrastructure and content for Expanded Experience eBooks^TM --- He also has a book available in Lulu.com's "biggest library of bad poetry in history. . ."; but not ALL of his poems are bad. B^) --- Ron presents frequently and has well over 50 active websites and blogs --- the starting place is ChaliceMedia.
	Tes Hilaire Charlotte, NC Romance Daphne Award-winning author Tes Hilaire started creating whole new worlds to escape upstate New York's harsh winters before finally fleeing to sultry North Carolina. Her stories are edgy, exciting, and bring a hint of dark fantasy to paranormal romance. And no one ever has to shovel snow. For more, visit her website.
	Darrell James Pasadena, CA & Tuscon, AZ Darrell James is a fiction writer with residence in both Pasadena, CA, and Tuscon, AZ. His short stories have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies and have garnered awards, including finalist in the 2009 Derringer Awards. His personal odyssey to publication appears in the Writer's Digest book, How I Got Published, along with J.A.Dance, David Morrell, Clive Cussler, and many other notable authors. His latest short story will appear in the Lee Child anthology, Vengeance, to be released by Little Brown in the spring of 2012. Nazareth Child, his first novel in the Del Shannon series, was released in September 2011 by Midnight Ink/Llewellyn Worldwide. Book two, Sonora Crossing, will be available in September 2012. Visit his website.
	Terri Karsten Winona, MN After writing children's short stories for over 30 years I have branched out recently to try my hand at adult historical fiction/mystery. I also recently started a small publishing company and wrote our first release: From Brick to Bread-Building a backyard oven.
	Mike Keith Crested Butte, CO
	Sandra Kerns Loveland, CO Originally from upstate New York, Sandra now lives in upstate Colorado, but enjoys meeting up with her writing friends in Crested Butte once a year when possible. She writes primarily romantic suspense. Now and then she dabbles in futuristic romance just to mix things up. She has won several writing awards including the Sandy's Suspense/Thriller. Not one to rest on laurels, while she awaits 'the call,' she keeps writing new stories. If she doesn't, her sister sends her a loud email asking what she’s doing and why she hasn't sent pages for critique. Feel free to stop by her website and say hi.
	Marne Ann Kirk Delta, CO Fantasy and Paranormal Romance Marne Ann Kirk grew up wild, running and exploring the vast high deserts and mountains of Colorado as a child. She loved making up stories and, well, lied about just about everything. Thankfully, she grew out of the lying stage...now she calls it story-telling. She signed a contract with Crescent Moon Press in March 2011, to publish "The Fae Dragon Chronicles: Love Chosen." Marne Ann has a wonderful husband (her own strong, sexy hero) who keeps her laughing, six amazing kids and now two fantabulous grandsons to rock her world and keep her on her toes. She has a Shih-Tzu, Socrates, who keeps her lap warm when she writes, and two other dogs (her kids' dogs, actually) to drive her nutty. And a cat with one tooth who keeps the mice at bay outside. She loves to write. She loves the mountains, but in a perfect world she would spend a few months a year on the beach. Preferably in Mexico or Jamaica.
	Vicki Law Montrose, CO I'm a mother of six, a wife of fourteen years, a law office manager and a romance writer. Not necessarily in that order.
	Christian Lyons Lafayette, CO Christian Marcus Lyons is an award-winning writer and author of numerous screenplays, novels, and short stories. Christian writes in several genres: mainstream, creative non-fiction, supernatural thriller, paranormal suspense, historical fantasy, horror, and historical fiction. His writing and author interviews have been featured in local, national, and various web publications. Christian presents creative writing workshops throughout the western U.S., is adjunct faculty for Front Range Community College's English department, and former faculty, board member, and fiction judge for Pikes Peak Writers in Colorado Springs, and current fiction judge for the Crested Butte Writers "The Sandy." Christian is a creativity coach, canine behavioral coach, and private investigator. His ongoing work with animals and humans provides great meaning in his life. You can learn more here.
	Molly Murfee Crested Butte, CO Molly Murfee's roots lie in the murky swamps of Louisiana and magnolia trees of Arkansas. She studied lofty literature at Tulane University in between jaunts to the back alley blues bars of New Orleans. Finally, the big breasted heart of the Southern Rockies called her back. Molly wandered the hills teaching for outdoor and environmental field programs, before settling into the uncertainty of becoming a writer. A resident of Colorado for over 20 years, and Crested Butte for nine, Molly has published over 400 articles in rags from Powder Magazine to the Mountain Gazette. Her passion is writing of the wild places and their inherent metaphor, and the extraordinary commonality of the human experience. She is a writer of creative non-fiction, poetry, and essay with some substantial dabblings in journalism for professionalism and a quasi-consistent paycheck. She can be reached at mmurfee.aei@usa.net.
	Polly Oberosler Gunnison, CO I grew up in Almont, Colorado and have lived both in Gunnison and Crested Butte where I have written for nearly all the local publications, most notably for the Crested Butte Weekly and The Crested Butte Magazine. My Husband and I own a small ranch on Tomichi Creek where we train horses for trail riding and packing. I write of ranch life, local history, wilderness travel and growing up in the Gunnison Valley.
	Patricia Olson Butler, TN
	Lisa Potocar Ballston Lake, NY Lisa Potocar lives in Upstate New York with her husband and two cuddly keeshonds. Her passion for writing and research stems from her former work in health care administration and as a professor. When not tracking some morsel of history to shape into a story, she's a tomboy at heart who loves to hike and bike and has traveled the world to do it. The waning days of 2011 finds Lisa gleefully marketing her debut novel, Sweet Glory—about sixteen-year-old tomboy Jana Brady who trims her tresses and rides off as Union Cavalryman Johnnie to fight in the American Civil War—and writing her next YA historical novel. For those who desire more than just a peek at its cover shown here, Sweet Glory can be found here.
	Mike Ruchhoeft Montrose, CO I'm an old married guy with six kids, three grandkids. I live with my wife, Vicki, one of the kids, three dogs, four cats, three snakes, and one spider (probably more, more spiders, but there is only one we feed and house). I have a job that I spend too much time at and there is too much work around the house to write as much as I should. But, I love to write and so do it when I can. I've got a couple of completed manuscripts, a couple of screen plays and a short story or two. Some day I will put more time and effort into get some of it published.
	Leslie Ann Sartor Boulder, CO Romantic Suspense novels, Screenplays Leslie Ann Sartor began telling stories around the age of 4 when her mother, at Leslie's insistence, wrote them down and Leslie illustrated them. As an adult she writes romantic suspense novels, and screenplays--her very first a contracted adaptation! She lives in Colorado with her attorney husband, loves to travel and thinks life is an adventure and we should embrace the journey. She is also one of the Five Scribes. Check out her website.
	Mary Stafford Liberty Hill, TX Mary (Lynn) Bryan Stafford, wannabe famous author and cowgirl, grew up in South Texas. Sixth generation Texan and daughter of the Texas Republic, she wandered away for a while and graduated from The College of William and Mary in Virginia with degrees in English and Spanish. Her yet to be published novel, A Wasp in the Fig Tree (once upon a time winner of the Sandys, PNWA, and Texas Writers' League Contest), is currently in the throes of agent-search. Excerpts can be found in Women Write about the Southwest and Noble Generation III. As well as fiction, she coins a few poems, most of which are published in the Texas Poetry Calendars. At home now in Central Texas Hill Country, she writes, and trains Iberian horses.
	Linnea Tanner Windsor, CO Linnea Tanner earned her bachelor's and master's degree in Chemistry from the University of Colorado. After twenty years in the pharmaceutical industry, she decided to pursue her passion for writing historical fiction for adults. Tanner's first unpublished novel, APOLLO'S RAVEN, is the result of extensive research regarding the history and mythology of Ancient Britain and Rome in the 1st Century, and research expeditions to the United Kingdom and France. Tanner studies creative writing with the Lighthouse Writers Workshop in Denver, and has attended the Pikes Peak Writers Conference and the Historical Novel Society Conference. She is a member of Pikes Peak Writers, the Historical Novel Society, Crested Butte Writers and two writer critique groups.
	Marcie Telander Crested Butte, CO Marcie Telander, MA, LPC, REAT is a Registered Expressive Arts Therapist, with 30 years experience as a professional psychotherapist and international presenter, with numerous awards for screen-writing, fiction, journalism and blog-writing. Marcie is the author of ACTING UP! (Dramatic Publishing-London), numerous creative writing texts (Urban Gateways-Chicago), former newspaper Features Editor-Chicago, and Crested Butte and Editor-in-Chief, TOUTS Magazine--New Orleans. You may visit her at website.
	Lori Tuttle Grand Junction, CO Young Adult Fiction I'm currently an evidence technician at the local sheriff's office. Most of my writing has been for business and church devotionals. However, I've completed work on my first book (young adult fiction), which I hope will be published at some point.
	Kaki Warner Carlton, WA Historical Romance Kaki Warner is an award-winning author and resident of the Pacific Northwest. Although now living in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State, she grew up in the Southwest where she worked as a commercial artist, a high school teacher, a reluctant collection agent and a surly secretary. Her years spent camping and riding horses in the wide-open spaces of Texas and New Mexico gave her the inspiration for Pieces of Sky, Book I of her Blood Rose Trilogy. Now retired, Kaki spends her time writing, reading, gardening, hiking, and soaking in the view from the deck of their hilltop cabin with her husband and floppy-eared hound dog. Pieces of Sky will be released January 5, 2010, followed by Open Country in June 2010, and Chasing the Sun in January 2011. The first book in her new Colorado brides trilogy, Heartbreak Creek, (about a mail order bride who gets more than she bargained for) will be released in July 2011. Kaki's Website, Blog, and Fanpage.
	Kevin Wolf Littleton, CO Western Like so many, Kevin Wolf always believed he could write a novel that millions would want to read. Six years ago he decided to prove that was true. Vocation finds him travelling the Rocky Mountain States. Avocation finds him working on the next manuscript. Werewolves stalk the saloons and brothels of a western town in BROKE HEART, his 2009 Sandy winning entry. He is currently represented by Gina Panettieri of Talcott Notch Literary. Kevin lives in Littleton, Colorado with his wife of 35 years and two beagles.
	Merrie Wycoff Boulder, CO Growing up in San Jose, CA, I unearthed my passion for Egypt at The Rosicrucian Museum. After college, I worked for The Nevada State Journal/Reno Evening Gazette writing feature stories for the Entertainment Section. Los Angeles and the beach called to me. I landed my dream job at Entertainment Tonight as a lead story Segment Producer where I also wrote, directed and edited. Later my husband and I formed an infomercial company, and I wrote and produced several direct response spots and marketed products for retail. Later, I traveled extensively throughout Egypt, and studied with an ancient wisdom keeper to uncover an entirely unique perspective of this culture. Visit her website,