Stephanie Ward

Stephanie Marshall Ward was born and raised in Greenville, N.C. She wrote her first “novel” around age 4; it was series of pictures, along with a few words, scribbled on the back of old syllabi from her father’s university classes. Her parents encouraged her love of reading, drawing, and writing. After graduating from the University of N.C. at Chapel Hill with a B.A. in political science and secondary concentration in English, she did a brief stint as political reporter and staff writer for a small local newspaper. She became convinced she was meant to play a role in helping people change their lives, rather than just observing and reporting on them. Therefore, she returned to school in her hometown and completed a degree in counseling. While working her way through graduate school as a departmental research assistant, she was discovered to have editing skills. Her professors frequently used her to edit papers they had written for publication in professional journals. Thus, thanks to the “publish or perish” system, Stephanie discovered a love of editing. She also – much to her own surprise - placed second in a national writing contest sponsored by a professional journal.

Stephanie finished her MS in 1992, and moved to the beautiful Shenandoah Valley of Virginia with her husband, John. She landed her first counseling job, as a substance abuse prevention specialist with the local mental health agency. This position involved teaching and counseling youth; she discovered her real passion was for working with children. She has had what she likes to call an eclectic professional experience over the past ten years: raising children, developing prevention programs for “at-risk” kids, counseling youth and families, helping library patrons with literary selections, running a home-based day care business, and publishing a non-profit on-line newsletter. In her spare time Stephanie enjoys reading, fiction writing, drawing, scrapbooking, and creating computer web sites.

Brian Wasko

Brian Wasko started WriteAtHome in 2001 after 13 years of high school teaching in public, private, and homeschool support education, and launched Accelawriter in 2009. He earned an English degree and a secondary English teaching certificate from the University of Virginia in 1988. Mr. Wasko has also published several articles as a free lance writer and editor. He lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia with his wife Melanie and four daughters. He is the owner and president of WriteAtHome, and is solely responsible for all typos on the lessons and assignments. Mr. Wasko enjoys visiting conferences and support groups to present workshops on student writing and writing instruction. To schedule a speaking engagement, contact him.

Linda Whitlock

Linda Whitlock has had a love for reading and writing for almost as long as she can remember. Being a writing coach for Accelawriter gives her a chance to combine these interests.

After 17 years in banking, Linda completed an MA in English and made a career change to education. Since then, she’s taught in adult education helping adults and teens acquire literacy skills and/or the academic skills necessary to pass the GED exam. For the past five years, Linda has been an adjunct instructor at her local community college teaching developmental writing, composition, and early American literature. She’s also taught writing workshops for a local bank.

In addition to teaching, Linda is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in a variety of publications including, among others, Country Woman, Clubhouse Jr., HomeLife, Mature Living, War Cry, and PrimeLiving. She currently writes a bi-weekly opinion column for The Roanoke Times.

Linda is mom to two adult children and has three grandchildren. Linda and her husband, Mike, live in a valley in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of Southwest Virginia with their two Shih Tzus, Chloe and Canyon. They enjoy visiting national parks in the Southwestern U.S. and in 2007 concluded a recent trip to Grand Canyon National Park with a mule ride into the Canyon.

Michael Wilson

Michael is a Texas native who moved frequently. He received his undergraduate degree in English from the University of Nevada, Reno, and earned his master's degree in Irish Studies at the National University of Ireland, Galway, where he met his wife. She is Irish and was crazy enough to move with him to Texas. Currently he teaches at St. Edward’s University in Austin and tutors online so that he can spend more time with his children, a 3-year-old girl and a 2-year-old boy.

Amanda Wingate

Mandy has always enjoyed books from the time she was a little girl and made her mom read her favorites over and over to her - correcting her mom if she skipped a page! After receiving her Bachelor's Degree from Loyola College in Elementary Education, Mandy pursued her teaching career in the Montessori community and spent eight years teaching 3-6-year-olds in the classroom. She has earned a Masters in Montessori Studies from the Maryland Center for Montessori Studies and Goucher College and now teaches adults training to be Montessori educators. Her husband and siblings tease her all the time for her penchant to use "big words" and her attention to grammatical detail. She now stays at home in Maryland to be with her son.

Bonny Yokeley

Bonny gave up teaching high school English to be at home with her first son. Since then she has tutored English students both online and at home and has taught preschool. Her passion is watching children develop as writers while they increase their self esteem and develop a love for learning. She earned her BS and secondary education certification from Texas Christian University in 1995 as a cum laude graduate. She decided to pursue a Master of Education degree at the University of Houston and graduated in 1997. She now shares her passion for teaching and writing as a coach for Accelawriter.

Susan Zelie

Sue Zelie graduated with distinction in English from Dartmouth College where she earned a teaching degree in secondary English and worked in the college’s composition center, tutoring undergrads as well as engineering grad students. She also enjoyed working as a technical writer for a software company majoring in products for students in the throes of college and career decisions.

For the past twelve years, Sue has designed and taught both writing and literature classes for homeschooled high school students, and has produced a dozen full-length Shakespeare plays as a way to infect students with a love for great language. She is also engaged in free-lance writing and public speaking. For her, combining the tasks of working with words and encouraging students at Accelawriter is a joy.