Chicken Soup for the Beach Lover's Soul (28 page)

Patrick McDonnell
is a teacher living in Gilbert, Arizona. He received his M.Ed. from Nothern Arizona University and his undergraduate from St. John's (New York). He lives with his wife, Trish, and son, Thomas. He is also a high school football official. He can be reached at [email protected].

Sharon Melnicer
is a writer, artist, and teacher in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She frequently broadcasts the “Slice of Life” pieces that she pens on CBC radio. A retired high-school English teacher, she continues to teach life-story writing to adults and is a recognized artist who shows and sells throughout North America.

George H. Moffett
lives a short distance from the beach. His essays have appeared in newspapers and
Chicken Soup for the Recovering Soul
Daily Inspirations.
George has been a surfer, U.S. Marine, municipal councilman, active church member, and now in his seventies is a writer. E-mail George at [email protected].

Dee Montalbano
is a teacher, a teacher of teachers, a communication consultant, and a writer. She is mom to two grown daughters and grandma to three great kids. When she's not hiking, she cooks great soups, enjoys music and film, and spends as much time as possible in Tuscany. You can reach her at [email protected].

Amy Ammons Mullis
lives with her husband and two teenaged sons in South Carolina in a town the size of a starlet's bikini. She works as a church secretary, but is retired from taking family vacations. Her muses are a pile of wet towels and a sand-filled swimsuit.

Linda O'Connell
, an early childhood educator for thirty years, leaves St. Louis each June and heads to the beach with her husband. She also enjoys camping. Water and the great outdoors inspire her to write. She has been published in numerous anthologies, literary journals, and newspapers. Contact her at [email protected].

Colette O'Connor
is a beach-based travel and lifestyle writer who is either working hard or hardly working around the Monterey Bay, California, area. When working hard she is editor-in-chief of
Flying
Adventures,
a travel and lifestyle magazine for aviators. Her features, interviews, and essays have appeared in newspapers from the
Los
Angeles Times
to the
Washington Post,
in magazines from
France
to
World
Traveling
, and in the nonfiction travel anthologies
Travelers' Tales,
Paris edition (1997),
Sand in My Bra & Other Misadventures: Funny Women Write
from the Road
(2003), and
Best Women's Travel Writing
(2006). She loves receiving e-mail at [email protected].

Maryann Pasqualone
is retired from real estate and serves on the board of the Garden State chapter of the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation. Maryann lives by the Jersey Shore and organizes a fundraiser on the boardwalk each September for myasthenia gravis. Please e-mail her at [email protected].

Diane Payne
teaches creative writing at the University of Arkansas–Monticello. She is the author of the novel
Burning Tulips.
Every summer, Diane and her daughter Ania visit Lake Michigan.

Stephanie Piro
lives in New Hampshire (not too far from the beach!) with her husband, daughter, and three cats. She is one of King Features' team of women cartoonists known as the Six Chix (she is the Saturday chick!). Her single panel, “Fair Game,” appears in newspapers and on her website:
www.stephaniepiro.com
. Her new book,
My Cat Loves Me Naked,
is available at bookstores everywhere. She also designs gift items for her company Strip T's.

Helen Kay Polaski
is a freelance writer and book editor. Her work has appeared in various newspapers, books, and newsletters.

Sharon “Kaye” Rivers
resides with her loving partner, Jackie, and their beautiful daughter, Dominique, in a small town in New Jersey. She's also the mother of two older children, Christopher and Misti, who are both living away in different states but always remain close to her heart. “To be given this chance to tell a story that's so dear to me is truly very exciting. Having experienced those precious moments on the beach through our daughter's eyes is one story I'm proud to share with everyone who chances to read it.” Please e-mail her at [email protected].

Sallie A. Rodman
is a California native and loves the beach any time of the year. She attended Cal State Long Beach and loves writing inspirational stories. Her work has appeared in numerous
Chicken
Soup
anthologies, various magazines, and the
Orange County Register.
Reach her at [email protected].

Linda W. Rooks
is the author of
Broken Heart on Hold, Surviving
Separation
(Cook, 2006) and has been published in several national magazines, including
Focus on the Family, HomeLife,
and
Tapestry.
She is listed in Who's Who and lives with her husband in Florida.

Kelly Salasin
is a three-time contributor to the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. Her work, “The Ring,” is in
Celebrating Mothers and Daughters,
and “The Circle of Life” is in
Chicken Soup to Inspire a Woman's Soul.
Kelly grew up on the Atlantic coast and writes from her current home in Vermont.

Harriet May Savitz
is the award-winning author of twenty-four books, including
Run, Don't Walk,
an ABC Afterschool Special produced by Henry Winkler. Her new novel
Sidney! Sidney! Sidney!
and reissued books by
AuthorsGuild/iUniverse
can be found at
www.iUniverse.com
and
www.harrietmaysavitz.com
, or contact her at hmaysavitz @aol.com or at Essay Books at
www.authorhouse.com
.

Tracey Sherman
received her bachelor's with teaching certification from Angelo State University in 1986. She has traveled the world with her husband, a career military officer, and has raised three wonderful children. She actively pursues her dream of writing for children and young adults. She can be reached at [email protected].

Lee Silber
is the award-winning author of eleven books and an avid surfer. In 1987 Lee and his brothers turned their passion for surfing into a successful business when they founded Waves & Wheels Surfcenters, Inc. The Silber family live in a beach house steps from the sand in San Diego, California. To learn more about Lee and read his beach blog, go to
www.creativelee.com
.

Marsha Brickhouse Smith
attended the College of the Albemarle. She worked with a national television network for over twenty years before retiring to coastal North Carolina. She has been published by Blue Mountain Arts,
Christian Life
magazine, and local newspapers. She enjoys writing poetry and spending time with her grandchildren. She plans to write a women's devotional book.

Pamela Gayle Smith
lives in Mount Vernon, Indiana. She has been married to John for thirty-seven years and has three daughters, Shannon, Jennifer, and Misti. She has eight grandchildren, Nicholas, Tara, Austin, Seth, Averie, Johnathan, Brandon, and Zachery. She enjoys traveling and meeting new people. She can be e-mailed at [email protected].

Ruth Spiro
lives in Illinois with her husband and two daughters, who provide endless inspiration for her writing. Her articles and essays have appeared in
Child, Woman's World,
and
Chicago Parent.
She is also the author of a children's book,
The Bubble Gum Artist.
She can be reached at [email protected].

Joyce Stark
lives in northeast Scotland and has recently retired from local government. She is currently working on a book covering her travels in small-town/big-city USA and a book to teach Spanish to very young children. Her main hobby is socializing with people. E-mail her at [email protected].

Jean Stewart
is an award-winning California writer and editor, married for forty-six years, mother of twin daughters, grandmother of an incredible two, all of whom are fanatic beach lovers. Her stories can be found in
Chicken Soup
books for
Father-Daughter, Horse Lover II,
and
Dieter's Souls,
and other anthologies. She is also a travel writer and working on a parenting book.

Craig A. Strickland
's family beach is “T-Street,” in San Clemente, California. Craig A. Strickland has seen the publication of many short stories in both magazines and anthologies, plus (so far) two nationally distributed books. For more information, visit CraigStrickland.net.

B. J. Taylor
spends time at the water's edge often. It is there that she appreciates the vastness of life. She is an award-winning author whose work has appeared in
Guideposts,
many Chicken Soup books, and numerous magazines and newspapers. She has a wonderful new husband, four children, and two adorable grandsons. You can reach B. J. through her website at
www.clik.to/bjtaylor.

Karen Theis.
Wife, mother, daughter, sister, and friend. A seven-year breast cancer survivor. Contributing author in the book
Chicken Soup
for the Breast Cancer Survivor's Soul.
My stories are my own true experiences, and they are written from my heart.

Bernetta Thorne-Williams
was born and raised in Washington, D.C. She received a bachelor's in criminal justice and a bachelor's in English from Wesleyan College. Bernetta currently resides in North Carolina with her husband and two sons. She was a contibuting author to
Chicken Soup for the African American Woman's Soul.
E-mail her at [email protected].

Terri Tiffany
has a bachelor's in psychology and has counseled adults for almost twenty years. She co-owned a Christian bookstore before relocating to Florida. Terri enjoys meeting new people, spending time with her family, and traveling. She is currently writing an inspirational romance novel. Please e-mail her at [email protected].

Stefanie Wass
lives in Hudson, Ohio, with her husband and two girls. A former elementary school teacher, Stefanie now enjoys being a stay-at-home mom, Sunday school teacher, and school volunteer. Her essays can be found in the archives at
www.Heartwarmers.com
.

June Williams
lives in Brush Prairie, Washington, where she enjoys spending time with her children and grandchildren—and writing stories about them.

Ernie Witham
writes the humor column “Ernie's World,” which appears in the
Montecito
and
Santa Ynez Valley Journals
and is syndicated nationally. His column “Just For Fun” appears in each issue of
Chicken
Soup Magazine
. His stories have also appeared in eight
Chicken Soup for
the Soul
anthologies. He is on the faculty of the Santa Barbara Writers Conference and has led humor workshops in other parts of the country as well. Visit him at
www.erniesworld.com
.

Maggie Wolff Peterson
has been a professional writer for twenty-five years. She lives in Virginia with her husband and dog.

Permissions

We would like to acknowledge the many publishers and individuals for permission to reprint the following material. (Note: The stories that were written by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Patty Aubery, and Peter Vegso are not included in this listing.)

Sand Prints.
Reprinted by permission of Pamela Smith. © 2006 Pamela Smith.

Connections.
Reprinted by permission of Tracey Lynn Sherman. © 2006 Tracey Lynn Sherman.

Be Like the Ocean.
Reprinted by permission of Arthur Wilson Bowler. © 2006 Arthur Wilson Bowler.

A Love Affair Never Forgotten.
Reprinted by permission of Betty Ann King. © 2006 Betty Ann King.

My Two Loves.
Reprinted by permission of Sallie A. Rodman. © 2006 Sallie A. Rodman.

Did You Turn on the Water?
Reprinted by permission of Jean H. Stewart. © 2006 Jean H. Stewart.

Mr. Crescenti's Beach.
Reprinted by permission of Anne Elizabeth Carter. © 2006 Anne Elizabeth Carter.

Life's a Beach . . . and Then You Drive.
Reprinted by permission of Audrey D. Mark. © 2006 Audrey D. Mark.

Five Minutes to Fear.
Reprinted by permission of Terri Ellen Tiffany. © 2006 Terri Ellen Tiffany.

Day Trippin'.
Reprinted by permission of Amy Ammons Mullis. © 2002 Amy Ammons Mullis.

Cycle of (Beach) Life.
Reprinted by permission of Craig Allan Strickland. © 2006 Craig Allan Strickland.

Family Time.
Reprinted by permission of Stefanie Marie Wass. © 2006 Stefanie Marie Wass.

One More Wave.
Reprinted by permission of George H. Moffett. © 2006 George H. Moffett.

A Wave of Joy.
Reprinted by permission of Lee Silber. © 2006 Lee Silber.

The Treasure.
Reprinted by permission of Paula F. Blevins. © 2006 Paula F. Blevins.

Only at the Beach.
Reprinted by permission of Harriet May Savitz. © 2006 Harriet May Savitz.

My Father's Oldsmobile.
Reprinted by permission of Avis Drucker. © 2003 Avis Drucker.

The Shiny Half-Dollar.
Reprinted by permission of Dolores Kozielski. © 2006 Dolores Kozielski.