Tish Dobson

As a high school English teacher and college writing tutor, Tish has been guiding students to be master communicators for over ten years. A resident of beautiful, historic Savannah, Georgia, she finds the only other endeavor more satisfying than crafting short stories and novels is guiding her students to mastery of the written word. She savors the successes of her pupils who have passed the Georgia Regents’ writing exam. She revels in her charges’ finely wrought sentences that have been revised and crafted to perfection.

She’s currently at work on her first fantasy young adult series, Through a Glass Darkly.

Lisa Earl

Lisa Earl is a technical and freelance writer based in suburban Pittsburgh. She began her career as a teaching assistant in Geneva College's Bible department. She then wrote for a Pittsburgh news station and freelanced for several local newspapers. For the past six years, Lisa has combined her love for writing and teaching as a technical writer and trainer for a healthcare technology company.

She earned her bachelor's degree from Geneva College with a double major in communication and writing and minors in English and biblical studies. She also holds a Master of Science in Leadership and Business Ethics from Duquesne University.

Lisa enjoys figure skating and spending time with her husband and their kitten named Coral.

Cheryl Epp

Cheryl has enjoyed reading and literature her whole life, and went to university with the intention of teaching high school English. She graduated with a Bachelor of Education from the University of Lethbridge in Lethbridge, Alberta, and embarked on her teaching career. She has taught junior high and elementary school, worked as a substitute teacher, and completed a Master's Degree in Theological Studies. Additionally, she has had the opportunity to live and work overseas, teaching English as a Second Language to students of various ages in St. Petersburg, Russia, and Mexico City, Mexico.

This fall, Cheryl is teaching kindergarten three days a week, and working in her 'other' career, providing services to developmentally disabled individuals.

Debi Faulkner

Award winning author Debi Faulkner was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. A teacher once said that her nickel-and-dime vocabulary would get her nowhere in life. Despite that statement, she went on to earn a B.A. in Creative Writing from Wayne State University.

Debi’s poetry and creative nonfiction have been published in print and online and are widely recognized. Her chapter book, Kissy Frog, was awarded an honorable mention distinction in the W.I.N. Manuscript Content. Additionally, her work has won several awards and a short compilation was recently short-listed in the Listowel Writer’s Poetry Competition in Ireland.

After living in the Detroit area her whole life, Debi found herself and her family moving first to the Netherlands and then to Ireland and then back to the Netherlands. She lives with her husband, Mark, and their three wonderful children, Ian, McKenna and Fallon and is in the process of re-learning to speak Dutch. Her writing resume includes poetry, creative non-fiction, children’s picture books and her most recent addition to the list, a novel for young adults.

As a Writing Coach, Debi passes on her love of words (even the nickel-and-dime variety) helps young writers see the potential lurking just below the surface in everyone.

John Fike

John began writing poetry and fiction stories in the third grade and continued writing poetry, fiction and non-fiction through college, at which time he earned a bachelor's degree in Creative Writing from Adrian College. He won awards for his writing along the way, was published several times in a literary magazine, and was asked to help one of his professors in writing a text book on writing. Professionally, he spent seven years writing for newspapers and today is a freelance writer helping businesses and non-profit organizations communicate better with their clients and prospects. His goal as a writing coach is to help young people learn to communicate their ideas, opinions and stories through writing that interests and engages their readers.