writers helping writers
Vice-President
Can you imagine a thriller author married to a CSI star? I currently live on the Treasure Coast of Florida with my husband Walt, a Miami-Dade Police Department forensic specialist for 21 years who appeared on CSI Miami. I’m the author of “Cocooned in Darkness,” the forthcoming book FEAR THE WHISPERS, and the award-winning thriller SHADOW CAY, the recipient of 4 awards and several illustrated children’s books. Originally from NJ, my career took me from high school English teacher to a biotechnology executive and president of the Greater Miami Society of Human Resource Management before I shifted to writing books. Today, I’m a freelance writer and the winner of 6 national literary awards. For more details, please visit my website: http://www.leonabodie.com/
Secretary - Elaine Senecal
Elaine Senecal graduated from Fisher College, Boston, Massachusetts, with a degree in business science management. Her volunteer experience comprises, 5 Years as Executive Director for a technical group. Elaine also allotted two years to the Middlesex Conservation Commission in Massachusetts, where she organized fund raising programs and acted as liaison between landowners, SCC and State Agencies. Other accomplishments include, a four-panel comic & instructional articles published in Connections Magazine and she has contributed dialogue/editing to the jonnyraygun comic by Richard Woodall. February 2010, Elaine’s submission titled: Unconscious Consciousness won place in the 10th Annual Writer’s Digest Short Short Story competition. Elaine and her writing partner, Margarete Johl, have just heard that their cozy mystery novel submission is accepted for publication the first of 2012. Elaine’s philosophy is, teach what you know to learn what you don’t know.Treasurer - Jill Yamnitz
Jill Yamnitz is a graduate of the Rollins College Hamilton Holt School with a BA in English and a writing minor. She is a originally from Missouri, but has lived in Central Florida for twenty years, raising a family, going to school, and pursuing a career in construction management. She usually writes short stories, but now that the kids are grown, is currently trying her hand at a novel.
Regional Director
Shara Pendragon Smock wrote her one and only play in third grade. Her published work includes the books Living with Big Cats and Hooking the Reader: Opening Lines that Sell, a chapter in the writer’s handbook How I Got the Gig, and fictional stories in anthologies. Prior to writing fun books, she wrote more than thirty technical manuals and numerous print features, (delete for online and) including a column for The Sarasota Herald-Tribune. With Kathryn Taromina, Shara is writing Let’s Talk Dirty about Garbage, a book of America ’s best stories from garbage collectors. She served as FWA Secretary for five years.
Shara's Website
Regional Director - Broward County
Anne Linne' has owned Custom Crafted Software, Inc., since 1992. Her writing career consisted of numerous technical manuals, until 2007 when she wrote her first Christian romance, "Desires of her Heart," which won second place in the 2007 RPLA contest. Her latest achievement has been to complete the FWA Website. She has two daughters, Kaitlin, who also posed for the photo and Lesley who is graduating from college in 2010. She has been blissfully married to Doug, for 29 years.
Regional Director - Northeast Florida
After thirty-five years in public broadcasting working as a producer, director, fundraiser, and producer of the Jacksonville Jazz Festival, Vic DiGenti turned to his first love -- writing. He found inspiration in his household of feline critters and wrote three adventure/fantasies with a feline protagonist. His first two novels, Windrusher and Windrusher and the Cave of Tho-hoth (Ocean Publishing), have won multiple awards and attracted readers of all ages. His third in the series, Windrusher and the Trail of Fire, will be released in June 2008.
Vic DiGenti's Website
Regional Director - Hillsborough County
Holding an MS degree in computer science education, Eugene Orlando teaches computers at an adult high school in Tampa. He studied playwriting under a visiting guest artist at the University of South Florida. In Florida writing associations, he received three first place wins for unpublished novels and short stories, three second place novel acknowledgements, and three third place novel recognitions. He's received three honorable mentions in the Annual Writer's Digest Writing Competitions for short stories.
Regional Director - Central Florida
Andrew J. Robinson is a Civil Engineer by day and a writer/filmmaker by night. He has written three novels -- a murder mystery and two young adult/sci-fi novels. One YA novel, Lexa and the Gordian Maze of Terra, was published by Amira Press. He has written close to a dozen screenplays. His first script, Wiccans Lair, made into a motion picture by PC Productions, is seeking distribution. He’s married with one daughter age 16, which explains his why most of his stories and scripts feature strong female main characters. He met his wife doing community theatre, and they had a theatre-theme wedding.
Member At Large
Chris Hamilton became active in social media during last year's Florida Writers conference. Since dipping his toe in the water, he's become an active blogger and is the FWA Virtual Writer's Group leader, and the conference blogmaster. See his Virtual Writers Group blog (pub-news.blogspot.com) for the latest on Writing in the 21st Century. Chris is also working on getting a series of detective novels published. He's got experience in marketing, public speaking, broadcasting, technical writing, and training.
Member At Large - Frank Ridge
Member At Large - Kaye Coppersmith