Lake of the Ozarks
Writers' Guild
Writers' Guild Members Author Bios
Elizabeth Simons is an editor by nature and poet by heart. Elizabeth was born in Austria and grew up in a bilingual household in Jefferson City, Missouri. She has a B.S. in English Education from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Hungarian was her first language, but she fell in love with English in the first grade. She has had many occupations, including news reporter, freelance writer, researcher, editor, and teacher. She was a feature writer and editor for This Month at the Lake, the Lake area’s first full color monthly magazine. She has written many poems and short stories, and innumerable letters. Samples of her work can be seen on Words by Heart at www.wordcrafter11.wordpress.com. In 2003 she wrote a correspondence course on creative writing for young adults, “Dancing With Words” (https://muhigh.missouri.edu/exec/data/courses2/8198/8198-Preview.pdf) and currently is editing her novel. Elizabeth has an editing business, Prosecraft Editing Services, where she polishes articles and manuscripts until they shine. For more information see www.prosecraft.wordpress.com.
Christina Kretzschmar Williams is a young adult novelist, children’s picture book writer, and celebrity interviewer. Her teenage paranormal romance novels are unique from many on the market in that, while full of adventure, fantasy, and romance, they are also clean. Her young adult novel, “Destined Love is Immortal,” takes place in Belgium. It’s the story of romance and adventure, fear and courage. The short-story prequel, “Immortal Noblity,” takes place in medieval France.
As a mother of five children, Christina has a lot of experience reading to young kids and has published a series of children’s rhyming picture books that teach life lessons. These are written in the style of Dr. Seuss stories. Her book, “Dragon at the Cabin,” is about stranger safety. “The Dog in the Bog,” is about the importance of listening. Christina has more children’s books being finalized which will be available soon. Christina is also the proud step-mom of a U. S. Navy sailor. Her children’s book, “My Brother is in the Navy” is currently a work in progress. It was initially written for the youngest two of her children who speak often about how much they miss their oldest brother who is currently stationed far away.
Christina has conducted fascinating celebrity interviews with such Hollywood noteables as actor Steve Byers (“Alphas” and “Immortals”) and Jay Hix Jones (Field Producer of “Hoarders” and “Ice Road Truckers.”)
A second degree black belt in the Korean martial art of Han Mu Do, Christina loves to watch well-choreographed fights on screen. She’s also lived in both France and Belgium, and has traveled extensively. When she’s able, Christina loves eating chocolate with a high cocoa content and watching science fiction series on television.
All of Christina’s books are available from Amazon.com and may be found through visting her author page www.amazon.com/author/christinawilliams and you can follow her on Twitter www.twitter.com/immortalswriter . Also visit www.immortalswriter.blogspot.com to read Christina’s blog.
H. Dwight Weaver, a long-time resident of Lake of the Ozarks, is an award-winning author and member of the Missouri Writers Guild, the Ozark Writers League, and the Lake Writers Guild. He has been a professional writer for more than 40 years and is considered an authority on the history of Missouri caves and the Lake of the Ozarks region.
As a nearly life-long member of the National Speleological Society and the Missouri Speleological Survey, he has authored six books on the history of Missouri caves. They include: Missouri, The Cave State (Discovery Enterprises 1980), Wilderness Underground, Caves of the Ozark Plateau (University of Missouri Press 1992), and Missouri Caves in History and Legend (University of Missouri Press 2008).Since retirement from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources in 2000, he has produced seven books on the history of Lake of the Ozarks. They include: Lake of the Ozarks, The Early Years (2000); Lake of the Ozarks, Vintage Vacation Paradise (2002); and Images of America, Osage Beach (2012), published by Arcadia Publishing. His other Lake books include: History & Geography of Lake of the Ozarks, Volume One (2005); History & Geography of Lake of the Ozarks, Volume Two (2008); Historic Bagnell Dam Boulevard, Past and Present (2010); and A Pictorial Guide to Ha Ha Tonka State Park (2011).
To learn more about each Lake book and obtain copies, or learn more about the author’s background see his website: lakeoftheozarksbooks.com. He may be reached at: 573-365-1171 or dwightweaver@charter.net
Toni Lansing, Indie Author and Craft Designer, is passionate about NaNoWriMo, (National Novel Writing Month) and both participates in their writing challenge and supports their Young Writers Program every November. She is a native of Iowa and lived in Madison County (Covered Bridge Country) for twenty years before relocating (eventually) to Missouri. She and her husband Clayton have one child left at home, a little brown Chihuahua named PC. They share four adult sons and two daughters, eleven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren (soon to be six). Toni currently works full time at Lake Regional Hospital's Family Birth Center and still finds time to write and self-publish her fiction and patterns on Amazon for Kindle and on Etsy.com. About her craft patterns, Toni says, "I write patterns for beginner and intermediate knitters and crocheters and try to design my patterns for those people who find shorthand directions difficult to understand. I use common English terms and a lot of pictures in my patterns." She has written four novels with one currently available on Amazon for Kindle, as well as over 75 patterns for knitting, crochet, and tatting. She is active in the Lake of the Ozarks Writer's Guild.
Bob Mellberg was born and raised in Wisconsin. He joined the Wisconsin National Guard and the U. S. Marine Corps; served in the Far East, returned home and was married before his 21st birthday. He then began working as an architectural draftsman where he became interested in watercolor painting, painters and illustrators.
After starting a family he began college and graduated from Iowa State University with a degree in Business and Architecture. He also had a wife and four children when he graduated. (Bob is now a father of four, grandfather of eight and great-grandfather of eight.) Bob’s career led him to McDonnell Douglas in St. Louis Missouri where, after 34 years, he retired as a Facilities Manager and moved to Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks.
Bob has written, designed the layout and published five books. Missouri Proud, his first book documents good things about Missouri, a state worth bragging about. His second book, A Grandfather’s Dream of Fair Women tells the story of the illustrators that created, in the early twentieth century, the “Ideal American Girl.” Three genealogy based books followed, Seven Orphans, the story of Bob’s grandmother and her family, The Brown Family Chronicles, Bob’s wife Rachel’s family and The Unauthorized Biography of Marion Zimmerman Mellberg Hagenson, a biography of Bob’s mother, published to celebrate her 100th birthday. He is now completing an E-Book, The Life and Works of Charles Twelvetrees, a documentary of an illustrator noted for his mischievous children published on magazine covers, postcards and advertising from 1906 until after his death in 1946.
Although he has lived in other areas, Todd Hanks is a native of, and has spent most of his life at, the Lake of the Ozarks. Since the late 1980's he has been published in over a hundred journals and small press books and magazines all over the United States. He has a degree in Literature from a state university, and has worked as a journalist for local papers and creative writer for an entertainment newspaper in Jefferson City. Todd has been an indie publisher since the early 90's, operating a local press called the Flying Monkey Press, promoting local writers, good causes and putting out his own books. He has had one book of gothic poetry published by a small press in Minnesota called Skullvines Press. The book is titled, "Grave Bits", and is now an ebook and available on amazon (cheap). It was a Bram Stoker Award nominee. His best publications were nine poems in three years in the Kansas City Star newspaper and one poem in Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine. His new pioneer tale, based on a true story about international conterfeiters that operated out of Ha Ha Tonka, "Counterfeiters of Whispering Dell", is available at Stonecrest Book and Toy and the Camden County historical museum in Linn Creek. The book is full of fist fights, gunfights, and romance, and has a colorful cover and nine neat illustrations by Juan McGowen.
Dr Mike Currier, a native of Nebraska and Iowa, most recently retired as the Executive Administrator of Lake West Christian Academy in Sunrise Beach, MO, after serving as Executive Administrator of a Christian academy in Ft Worth, TX. He adds parts of six decades of professional educational experience from preK through secondary school, and college and university teaching and administration to his trainings. He currently teaches English Composition, Psychologies, and Literatures for State Fair Community College, Osage Beach MO campus. He serves as editor to writers in a handful of states across the country, and he currently teaches composition, literatures, and psychology at State Fair Community College at the Osage Beach Campus. He is a member of the Lake of the Ozarks Writers’ Guild and works to enhance the Guild by providing a variety of writing and creativity seminars for the community and the Guild. He has been active in his community in two area Chambers of Commerce, Rotary International, Westlake Ministerial Alliance, Boy Scouts of America, and the Lake of the Ozarks Economic Development Council.
Mike was born at a very early age during the Summer Solstice the only year steel pennies were minted. He was so startled by his birth that he didn't speak for almost two years. His brother was an only child. He earned his BS in Elementary Education in 1965 from the Univ of Omaha, a MS in Reading Specialization in 1968 from the Univ of Omaha, and the PhD in Education and K-12 Curriculum and Instruction, specializing in Child and Developmental Psychology, in 1977 from the Univ of Nebraska. He was recently licensed as a Word of Faith minister through International Convention of Faith Ministries. His recent ministries and work involve: Boy Scouts District Chaplain, Westlake Ministerial Alliance, O.A.S.I.S. Bible Training Institute, Christian school curriculum development and teacher training and consulting, Hospice Compassus volunteer clergy and bereavement support, and LakeTV 90 program personality. His latest accomplishments include a recent BA and MA in Ministry and Theology, and he soon will complete a PhD in Ministry and Theology, all from Life Christian University in Osage Beach MO.
He brings 52 years of professional educational experience to his work in all areas of preK-12 classroom teaching; diagnostic and developmental reading; and consulting educators in cognitive literacy, special education, reading and language arts, early childhood, G/T, ESOL, fine arts, school leadership training, mental health consulting, and parenting and family development. He has served as a university education professor and administrator in several areas of teacher education; national teacher effectiveness training; educational specialist/consultant for educational service/ research centers in three mid-western states; state department agencies in a dozen states, professional organization leader; and, a professional education writer. Dr Mike has served on many corporate, organizational, broadcast, governmental, and educational leadership boards. He has published eight professional education books, dealing with reading games, penmanship, Kindergarten teaching, True Colors personality temperament, drug education curriculum, two on classroom environment, Teaching with M-powerment, as well as published articles on other professional education topics. His newest book in development is The Pedagogy of Christ, a training program designed to reframe Christian teaching into the 52 different models of Christ’s teaching approaches.
Recently married to his beautiful wife, Ann, Dr Mike’s family includes his four children: two teachers in NE and KS, a national technology trainer in northern CA, and a bank system IT director in TX. He enjoys seven grand children, which include two sets of twins. His hobbies are: studying first century Christian history, professional writing, traveling, playing the banjo, bagpipes, and Hammond C-3 organ, collecting 500+ Santas and a myriad of antique childhood toys, and working on his 100+ year old home in Versailles, a small, rural community in central Missouri.
Dr Mike can be reached at:
Home: 601 McNair StVersailles, MO 65084Cell: 573-569-0888
Dr. Larry Elton Fletcher retired from public school teaching and administration in 1997 to devote full time to writing which began in 1984 when he published Moniteau County Schools History 1810-1984. The nonfiction history book is a derivative of Fletcher’s doctoral dissertation at the University of Missouri - Columbia. Dr. Fletcher has since published two novels about his experiences as a combat pilot in the Vietnam War, Shadows of Saigon – Air Commandos in Southeast Asia published in 2001 and its sequel The Shadow Spirit – Flying Stingers and BUFFs in S.E.A. published in 2004. The books tell about little-known Air Force Special Operations covert missions in Cambodia and Laos and overt bombing of North Vietnam during Operation Linebacker II. For four years, Fletcher was history book coordinator for writing and editing the AC-119 Gunships History Book 1968-1973 published by the non-profit AC-119 Gunship Association in 2009. During that time, he also wrote articles for the Air Commando Journal and VIETNAM magazine. In 2013, Hellgate Press published CHARLIE CHASERS, Fletcher’s documented history of USAF AC-119 “Shadow” gunships in the Vietnam War.
Loretta Srch is a writer and artist. Her award-winning one-act play “Bag Lady” has seen four productions in two states. Three more plays, “Take the Lead”, "A Christmas Carol – Family Style", and 2013 contest winner “Running Numbers” have also been staged by theater groups in Illinois, Lake of the Ozarks and Boonville, Missouri.
Besides plays, Loretta writes other genres of fiction and fact. Her feature stories have been published in several local newspapers, magazines and online at The Lake Today, Lake Life Styles, The Focus, Vacation News, The Lake Sun Leader, JC Metro, The Business Journal and Lake Expo. She has also written regular columns for both magazine and newspaper.
Eclectic, her curiosity has led her journey of discovery. Loretta Srch’s resume reflects a writer’s career; a plethora of jobs, experiences and an odd combination of skill sets. This variety includes a degree in art from Northern Illinois University; a stint in the Chicago ad agency world; the life of a hobby farmer’s wife; appearing as Mz Loretta - the Kids’ Night Entertainer; facilitating a workshop for a program she wrote called “AEffecting Change”; writer and illustrator of several personalized children’s stories; and cooker, baker, harvester, canner, fermenter and chicken processor on the farm. Her current project is blogging using “Lore of the Ozarks” as the portal to a virtual world where Lore shares the lore of the folk – stories of people and of the ways things are done. This writing project features interesting characters and how-to’s embedded in tales.
From crochet to felting, hide-tanning to spinning, from caricatures to painting, illustration and repurposing recyclables artistically, of particular pride in her portfolio of art accomplishments is her crochet contributions to the Smithsonian Coral Reef. A part of the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef Project, it was on display at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C. and then at the Putnam Museum in Davenport, Iowa.
Visit Loretta’s current project “Lore of the Ozarks” through her blog loreoftheozarks.com as well as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.
