Maryel Stone is a native Pittsburgher and retired High School English and Literature teacher. Before she settled on teaching, her work experience was fairly eclectic, from salesperson at a steel company to bank teller to power company credit clerk, which, she claims, led to a lot of life lessons and a cast of unbelievable characters she has sprinkled in her novels.

A prolific writer, Maryel is the author of The Heir of Time Series, a fantasy, YA series with an adult twist. Set in an alt-history Ancient Middle-East, Matthias, Heir of Order, must survive long enough to lead his world onto a path beyond the strict divisions of Order and Chaos.

An avid fan-fiction reader and writer, Maryel can be found on Archive of Our Own (AO3), writing under the penname Marzipan77. Fandom rocks!

Living in Virginia, Maryel spends her time visiting wineries with her husband, cat-sitting for her daughter, and keeping up with fandom while she continues to tell Matthias’ stories.

Sharon has worked as an adjunct professor and Advanced Placement Literature and Composition educator in Virginia and abroad teaching in both Hungary and the Czech Republic. She discovered a love of oral history while living overseas. Her debut novel, Iceman Awakens, was the award-winning Silver Finalist of IBPA Benjamin Franklin’s Best New Voice in Literature. She has an Instagram following of over 6K listed as skrasny9. In 2022, she was featured with sixteen book signings at Barnes and Nobles around the D.C. metro area and this fall she has been asked to speak at a TedTalk.

Alyce Campbell has worked in finance and software as an academic, product innovator, teacher, and writer. Her two finance mystery novels are available from Amazon. Currently she is working on two science fiction series which explore effects of disruptive events on societies. She also writes short stories and limericks, which mostly are not science-fiction. She settled in Virginia, impressed by its history and beauty, after interesting stints in Oregon and California.

Previously a photojournalist, Becks Sosa graduated from the University of Florida with a journalism degree. She switched careers to education and, now that her three children are grown, is an author. She says her strength is the life she has had with her husband and children – their sense of humor, singular drive and quirky personalities inspire her.

Becks is the author of Suburban Tails, a series featuring the Giraffe Family and their quirky neighbors. Her new project is Table Manners for Humans.

Even the smallest, uneventful things can lead to great stories, Sosa believes. Her imagination is especially sparked by the mundane. And, she believes, a good sense of humor helps. As co-secretary, Becks documents meetings, events and board actions. She is part of the larger decision-making process of the WbtR board.

Kimberly Ray began her poetry career under the guidance of WriteOutLoud.net and the open mic sessions at Spilled Ink. She authored the poetry series Coffee Shop Sessions (2018, 2020, 2021). Her poems have been published in 3 Moon Magazine, Teen Belle Magazine, The Daily Drunk, the NoVa Bards 2020 Anthology, Confetti: WbtR Anthology 2021, Poets Anonymous 30th Anniversary Anthology, and Bourgeon Online. Kimberly took first place in the Love Poems category of Loudoun County Library Foundation’s 2020 Rhyme On poetry contest for her piece “In My Pocket.” 

Her focus is on the intricacies of relationships and nature.

She lives in Loudoun County, Virginia with her family. To find her latest work visit: https://coffee-shop-sessions.com

As co-secretary, she maintains the WbtR website and membership enrollment, and is part of the larger decision-making process of the WbtR board.

Andrea Yarbough is an author, teacher, and National Writing Project Teacher-Consultant. Having learned to write only in essay format during her high school career, Andrea’s first book, Artfulness: Formula-Free Creative Writing Explorations for Secondary ELA Classes seeks to reimagine writing instruction in secondary schools by promoting a more creative approach to language arts instruction. When she’s not teaching, she’s busy battling the blank page in her attempt to write her first full-length novel.

John Dutton has taught language arts to middle school students in Prince William County for more years than he can remember. Seeing that the life of a teacher is filled with stacks upon stacks of papers waiting to be graded, he prefers spending his time as a classroom scribe writing alongside his students. He enjoys writing poetry and stories because anything is possible when pencil hits paper! 

In January 2015, John began hosting Spilled Ink. Spilled Ink is an open microphone night celebrating the written word held on the fourth Friday of the month at Jirani Coffeehouse in Old Towne, Manassas. It is open to all writers, authors, poets, or scribblers. All are welcome to read or listen. Please see his website at www.SpilledInkVA.com. John has published two books: Armadillo Lost Her Pillow and Argument at the Airport. His third book, Billy Pug’s Bad Day, is now in its final stages, so look for it soon.