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Steve Lindahl has recently joined WGOT. He is the author of Motherless Soul, a novel published by All Things That Matter Press. The story is about Emily Vinson, a woman whose entire life has been impacted by the loss of her mother when she was 2 years old. At age 82 Emily contacts a hypnotist hoping to draw out hidden memories and discover as much as possible about her mother. Motherless Soul is a mystery, but a unique one. It is a “who will do it” rather than a “who done it” mystery. It is about discovering the events of past lives and using that knowledge to deal with the future. Ultimately, it is about love: romantic love, but also friendship and family love. Steve has also published short fiction in Space and Time, The Alaska Quarterly, The Wisconsin Review, Eclipse, Ellipsis, and Red Wheelbarrow. He served for five years as an associate editor on the staff of The Crescent Review, a literary magazine he co-founded. Steve’s Theater Arts background has helped nurture a love for intricate characters in complex situations that is evident in his writing. Steve and his wife Toni live and work together in McLeansville. They have two adult children: Nicole and Erik. Motherless Soul is Steve Lindahl’s debut novel.

Sharon Logan, member of the WGOT Nonfiction genre, is a former Vice President of WGOT. One of our nonfiction groups meets monthly at her residence. She is almost like a motivational speaker to those of us who are not handicapped and in good health. She believes that wallowing in self-pity gets in the way of doing something constructive with your life. Sharon realized her life’s dream a couple of years ago when she boldly tackled the sidewalks of New York in her wheelchair. Sharon has always loved to write. She has articles published in The Annals of Saint Anne de Beaupre, poetry in the Rape Crisis Intervention Program Advocate at New York’s Mount Sinai Medical Center, humor in Disabilities Digest, regular columns in a company newsletter, and articles and letters to the editor published in the News & Record. Her short story, “Then the Day Changed,” is included in the Truthsayers section of the Wordworks anthology (2003), and she is currently working on a 16-chapter memoir of her life.

Elizabeth Lustig, facilitator of WGOT’s Short Fiction genre, finds brevity challenging. She prefers writing short stories over book length manuscripts. Her list of published articles is impressive, and one should not be surprised to find the bizarre, the fantastic or the surreal in them, as in the Song of Cthulhu, Midnight Zoo and Indigenous Fiction. Liz has a multitude of talents. She has written news stories, features and book reviews for the News and Record, is a former editor of the UNC-G literary magazine, Corraddi, and has been an entrepreneur, owning Northstate Graphics and publishing the Northstate Reader. “The most important thing to do, to get better,” she advises, “is to read. So, when I can’t write, I read. I read mostly short fiction — all genres.”

Rus McCarter, Ph.D., a member of WGOT Nonfiction Writers group, is a professional speaker, trainer, facilitator and consultant, the author of numerous training materials and three participants’ workbooks: Teamwork Styles Participants’ Workbook; Team-Based Performance Coaching; and The Shared-Vision Organization, as well as four audiocassette programs. Dr. McCarter specializes in enabling organizations to move from a top-down to a team-based approach. Internationally recognized for his application of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and workstyles in organizations, he is Past President and Chair of the NC Voters for Clean Elections, a statewide coalition of over 40 organizations working for campaign finance reform. (See www.Excelsources.net) Rus is now doing booksignings for his book, Be the Leader People Love to Follow, a distillation of tools and practical information about leadership, motivation and information. He has a wife, two adult sons and four tennis rackets. His hobbies are tennis, classical music, sailing, camping and hiking.

Karen McCullough, a former editor for two different trade publishing companies, has had more than a dozen novels published variously by Avalon Books, ImaJinn Books, Cerridwen Press, Five Star/Cengage and Harlequin Worldwide Mysteries. A four-time Eppie finalist, and winner of the 2000 Eppie Award for Fantasy, she has also finaled in the Writers of the Future, the Prism, Dream Realm, Lories, Vixen, and On the Far Side contests. Her novels range in genre from traditional mystery to romantic suspense to fantasy and paranormal. Karen also has an extraordinary web page that introduces you to all of her books: www.kmccullough.com.

Margaret Norton has always pushed the envelope – never totally accepting the status quo. A people person, her greatest joy comes from helping others. Abuse is her passion. Writing helped her uncover and deal with her deepest hurts. She believes that by sharing her story with others she can break the cycle of abuse – one person at a time. As a Personal Life Coach, Margaret founded Life Transitions to help individuals deal with change. In addition, she is a trained Stephen Minister and a Dale Carnegie Coach. This training, along with her personal life experiences, makes her a much sought after coach. Her stories have appeared in A Light Along the Way, The Upper Room, various local newspapers, and on- line. Margaret is a member of the North Carolina Writers’ Network, the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance, Women on Writing, Story Circle Network, The Guilford Nonprofit Consortium, the Editorial Freelance Association, the National Association of Professional Women, and The UNC-W Alumni Association. Order her book here.

Dorothy P. O’Neill, a member of the Mystery subgroup, has just sold her first mystery, Double Deception, published by Avalon. This is Dorothy’s fourth published novel with Avalon. The first three were romances.: “Heart’s Choice,” “Beyond Endearment,” and “L is for Love.” In “The Rock and the Rhododendrons,” a short mystery story in WGOT’s mystery anthology, “Deadly Plots,”, a beautiful, young aquatic performer takes a fatal plunge at a lakeside resort, but guest, Leigh Cutler, doesn’t believe it was an accident. Dorothy P. O’Neill is now working on two mystery sequels for Avalon, Fatal Purchase and one tentatively titled Ultimate Doom. Her poetry and light verse have appeard in Good Housekeeping, Ladies’ Home Journal, and other national magazines. Her weekly humor column was a feature in the Staten Island Register for eight years.

Fran Ostasiewski is a former treasurer and a member of the board of the Writers’ Group of the Triad. He is a native of Connecticut with a degree in economics. He became a regular participant in the poetry group of WGOT during the past year. He won first place in the Haiku/Senryu category and honorable mention in the Arizona State Poetry Society’s 36th annual contest. His own childhood provided both interest and material for children’s poetry, which remains his favorite. However, through the writers’ group, and instruction at Guilford College, his writing focus has expanded from the writing of children’s poetry to include haiku and free verse forms. Other interests include scuba diving, golf, symphony, theater, and his granddaughter Ashlyn.