Laura Ewald
Laura Anne Ewald, President of the Picayune Writers Group, is a former university librarian turned freelance writer, editor, and public speaker. She wrote her first plays in the late 1980s, her first novel in 1990, and has been writing and publishing her own work—scholarly, professional, and fictional—since 1999. Laura continues to pursue her love of drama by writing, creating, directing, and puppeteering for her Everyman Puppet Theatre, with creative partner Mary Beth Magee.
An eclectic scholar of many years, Laura brings a diverse background and love of reading to her equally eclectic writing. Her fiction titles include science fiction, romance, paranormal, mysteries, and children’s titles; her current nonfiction focuses on storytelling, research, and public speaking.
A 2014 happy transplant to the “Deep South,” Laura shares her southern Mississippi home with her elderly parents and an ever-changing assortment of adopted stray cats. To learn more, please visit www.LauraAnneEwald.com.
ANN MARIE JAMESON
Ann Marie Jameson is a Louisiana native and a retired special education teacher. She became an avid reader at a young age and began writing poems and short stories in high school. Her first work to be published was a poem she wrote as a tribute to her father when she was a teenager. The first book Ann Marie published was a children’s book which was released in 2003 but is no longer in print.
In 2016, after taking several years off from writing to care for her elderly parents, Ann Marie released her first fictional novel titled “A Bed of Roses." Spurred on by fan support, Ann Marie developed her “Willow Rose” series anchored by “A Bed of Roses.” She released the second book in the series, “Belle Rose,” in 2017, the third, “Petite Rose,” in 2019, and the fourth, “Coming Up Roses,” in 2020. After spending two years focusing her attention on promoting her series, Ann Marie finally returned to doing what she loves best. Her latest book, “Lilly’s Redemption,” which is a spin-off to her series, will be released this August. All of Ann Marie’s Willow Rose books are centered on a very lovable female character, who owns a B&B in a charming southern town, but "Lilly's Redemption," has a new main character, and the storyline takes a hard right turn as it delves into the supernatural. The storylines in all of Ann Marie's books deal with sensitive family issues in unique ways that pull at readers heartstrings, but at the same time, they are lighthearted, funny, and engaging.
Jerry Laiche
Jon (aka Jerry) Laiche retired from teaching History, Religious Studies
and Computer Studies in 2010. Since then, he has been reading and writing history.
After self-publishing a prelude through Amazon, and then working with IngramSpark to publish and print Madame Langlois’ Legacy, through at least a half dozen revisions to text and book cover, in 2021, he finally published his culinary history of colonial New Orleans, providing a historical insight into the origins of Creole Cuisine. Since then, Amazon, IngramSpark, and Adobe have made significant strides and improvements in the self-publishing process. The author, researcher, book designer, primary editor, and finally the marketer (aka YOU) still has to come up with essential product.
A native of New Orleans, he currently lives with his wife at Beltane Cottage surrounded by 1 plus acres of gardens, groves, kennels, and lawns 30 miles north of New Orleans’ Lake Ponchartrain.
Mary Beth Magee
Mary Beth Magee is an award winning author who has been writing for as long as she can remember: news, reviews and feature articles for print and online publications; cozy Christian fiction, poetry, and devotions, as well as recollections in several anthologies such as Chicken Soup for the Soul™. She is a member of several writing organizations, including Creative Minds Writers Group of Ponchatoula, Picayune Writers Group, Mississippi Poetry Society and Sisters in Crime. Visit her website at www.LOL4.net.
Steve Patrick
I told my friends, “Someday, I’ll write a novel.”
After Arvilla said, “Stop yammering and do it,” the gauntlet was down.
I sat my backside on a computer chair and let my fingers do the typing.
Once the pages were ready, I had to find a proofreader.
I asked on Craigslist, received a reply, and once edited, asked, “Can you connect me with a publisher?” I was connected. Silver Knight Publishing LLC picked up my opus. In the stellar year of 2012, The Mysteries of Jack the Ripper found its way onto the shelves of bookstores.
Three Brownstone Murder Mysteries followed – The Murder of Wednesday’s Children, Fools Parsley, and Death is not Forever. Book four is now grist for the writing mill soon to be a polished work of fiction.
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Nyle Steven Patrick II [nom de plume] N S PATRICK was born and raised in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and is known as a Yooper. A Yooper regards all Lower Peninsula natives as trolls. Why, you ask? The Lower Peninsula is below The Straits of Mackinac Bridge. Trolls live under bridges.
He graduated from Albion College a small Liberal Arts school with a BA in Business Administration, and known for the hymn The Old Rugged Cross and the fraternity song The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi.
He served as an Officer in the U S Navy from 1962 to 1969, starting his tour of duty off
the coast of Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis and finishing his enlistment off
the coast of Viet Nam. A quote from Lieutenant Patrick, “I realized when a mine exploded beside theship giving me a refreshing salt-water shower, the environment was not healthy. It was now time to say so long.”
He considers his Corporate America life well-rounded, working in the screen-printing field, teaching business administration on computers, owning two neighborhood bars, and three travel agencies.
He called “sweat equity” life quits in 2001 and moved from Austin, TX, to Kenner, LA.
A quote: “I’m 83-years-old, I’ve moved enough, and I ain’t leaving this house until they come with the pine box.”
Joy E. Rancatore
Legacy and identity, founded on hope-filled faith, infuse the tales of the soul written from the heart of JOY E. RANCATORE. Her Carolina’s Legacy Collection embraces everyday moments that constitute a lifetime and its heritage. Any Good Thing, the first of the four-book collection won the 2022 Louisiana Indie Author Project Award. A multi-genre Indie Author, Joy believes extraordinary things await her characters and their tales. Her technical background includes more than two decades of professional writing and editing experience, which undergird her roles as a writing teacher and an editor for Indie Authors.
Despite a fondness for her roles as author, editor, podcaster and speaker, Joy remains a hobbit at heart with Bilbo’s zeal for mountains. She enjoys a life of quiet stillness with her husband, two children, dog and cat and more books than she’s willing to count. When daily homeschool lessons are complete, she eagerly prepares for teatime before writing your next favorite story.
Elizabeth Laiche
Editor, Technical Support Services (TSSI) -
Elizabeth is a past president of Southern Chapter of Romance Writers of America, an experienced Department of Energy technical writer, a retired Environmental, Safety and Health Manager, and an award-winning fiction writer. She lives in Franklinton, LA with her husband, Jerry Laiche (also and editor with TSSI) and a multitude of fur babies. She enjoys the art of editing and helping people to become better writers on their path to becoming published authors, and assisting currently published authors to publish the best manuscript possible.