Claire Ashgrove / Tori St. Claire

Paranormal Romance, Contemporary Romance, Erotic Romantic Suspense

Claire Ashgrove has been writing since her early teens and maintained the hobby for twenty years before deciding to leap into the professional world. Her first contemporary novel, Seduction's Stakes, sold to The Wild Rose Press in 2008, where she continues to write steamy, sexy stories for the Champagne and Black Rose lines. Adding to these critically acclaimed romances, Claire’s paranormal romance series, The Curse of the Templars debuted with Tor in January 2012. For those who prefer the more erotic side of romance, she also writes for Berkley Heat under the pen name Tori St. Claire.

She is an active member of Romance Writers of America, and her local RWA chapters, Heartland Romance Authors, Midwest Romance Writers, North Texas Romance Writers of America, and Celtic Hearts Romance Writers.

Claire lives in Missouri with her two toddler sons, and too-many horses, cats, and dogs. In her “free” time, she enjoys cooking, winning at Rummy, studying Ancient Civilizations, and spending quiet moments with her family, including the critters. She credits her success to her family's constant support and endless patience.

Dyann Love Barr

Contemporary Romance

With the maiden name of Love, how could she not write romance?

Dyann lives in western Missouri with her husband and their cat, Spook, who thinks he actually owns the house. They are just the servants who came with the property.

Dyann is a former chef, and her hobbies include sewing, belly dancing, acting and playing video games with a vengeance.

Gemma Brocato

Published Non Fiction

Gemma’s favorite desk accessory for many years was a circular wooden token, better known as a ‘round tuit’. She always knew that some day, she’d get around to writing the novel trapped in her mind. It took a transfer to the United Kingdom, the lovely English springtime, and a huge dose of homesickness to write her first novel. Once it was completed and sent off with a kiss, even the rejections, addressed to ‘Dear Author’, were gratifying.

After returning to the good ol’ USofA, she spent a number of years as a copywriter, dedicating her skills to making insurance and the agents who sell it sound sexy. Eventually, her full time job as a writer interfered with her desire to be a writer full-time and she left the world of financial products behind to pursue an avocation as a romance author.

She is a PRO member of Romance Writer’s of America and an active member of the Midwest Romance Writers Chapter. She contributes a regular monthly column to MRW Impressions, the chapter newsletter, with a goal of inspiring individuals just starting out on their romance writing careers. She was a 2012 finalist in the Golden Pen, and her non-fiction career includes published articles in trade magazines and business journals in Kansas City and Central Illinois.

“Being a member of a group of authors dedicated to furthering their careers and nurturing fledgling authors, and each other, has been inspiring,” Senesac said. “Any questions I ask, any information I seek, is cheerfully provided. I’m proud to be a member of MRW.”

Elisabeth Burke

Historical Romance

In mid 2008, I jumped ship on a career in marketing to pursue a dream—writing novels that blend the passion of history with the art of a good love story. My journalism background gave me the basic nuts and bolts skills needed for writing, and my experience with marketing brands helps me understand and articulate those deep emotional connections that drive human behavior.

My first novel Broken Road placed first in the 2009 “Show Me the Spark” contest held by the Heartland Romance Authors. A second novel, The Healer, made the finals of the RWA 2010 Golden Heart® Contest. I’ve recently completed The Prodigal and have high hopes for this manuscript.

When I’m not writing, I like to travel to places near and far where there is always a new story waiting to be uncovered.

I’m an active member of the Romance Writers of America® (RWA-PRO), as well as Midwestern Romance Writers (MRW) and Mid-America Romance Authors (MARA).

Sally Berneathyt

Romantic Suspense

I grew up in a small rural town where our favorite entertainment on summer evenings was to sit outside under the stars and tell stories. When I went to bed at night, instead of a lullaby, I got a story. That could be due to the fact that nobody in my family could carry a tune, but they sure could tell stories - ghost stories, funny stories, happy stories, scary stories.

For as long as I can remember I've been a storyteller. Thank goodness for computers so I can write down my stories. It's hard to make listeners sit still for the length of a book! My stories are funny, scary, dramatic, romantic, paranormal and magic.

I have written four cozy mysteries including the Death by Chocolate series in which I share my favorite chocolate recipes. Prior to that I sold fifteen romance novels ranging from comedy to dark suspense under the names Sally Carleen, Sally Steward and Sara Garrett. For these novels, I won several awards including National Readers' Choice, Romantic Times Best Silhouette Romance and two Rita finalist slots. finalist slots.

Bobbie (Sunny) Cole / Lyn Cash / Cash Cole

Romantic Suspense

Bobbie Cole once taught English and music, wrote radio jingles, answered phones for doctors (“Urology, can you hold please?” – I kid you not), and held all manner of other jobs, but now she spends her time listening to the voices in her head and trying to make sense of their tales. She has written dozens of short stories, confessions, magazine articles, and books.

Her Carina Press release, MEMORIES OF YOU, debuted in March, 2011.

Lindy Dierks

An avid reader her entire life, it had never occurred to Lindy to start writing until a short time ago. Directionally impaired and prone to falling, comedy pretty much fills her life on a daily basis. If you add in a practical joker husband, two adorable children, and three pets laughter fills her life. Lindy squeezes in writing contemporary romances with a healthy dose of humor, in between a full time job, her family, and the mountains of laundry.

Gwen Duzenberry

Published Non Fiction

Gwen Duzenberry learned to read at an early age and has had a love affair with books ever since. Her favorite quote is from Erasmus, "When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes."

She was an Honors Society tutor in high school when she realized how many kids had trouble learning to read. That awareness led her down her first career path and she got a Masters in Reading Education. After more than a decade teaching and establishing remedial reading centers, Gwen moved toward a related passion-writing. She became a freelance writer, writing features and business articles and then moved into a corporate writing position. That led to an MBA and then to a Masters in Project Management and PMP certification. After too many years of working too many hours in the business world for large corporations and entrepreneurial enterprises, Gwen realized that, for all the letters after her name, the ones she most wanted were AUTHOR so she now spends her time pursuing her dream of being a novelist.

Gwen lives in Blue Springs, Missouri and she is an active member of Romance Writers of America and the local RWA chapter, Midwest Romance Writers.

Julie Garwood

Historical Romance, Romantic Suspense

It's no surprise that Julie Garwood became a writer. Growing up in a large family of Irish heritage, she took to storytelling naturally. "The Irish relish getting all the details of every situation," she explains. "Add in the fact that I was the sixth of seven children. Early in life I learned that self-expression had to be forceful, imaginative, and quick."

Creating stories was always a passion for Julie, but she didn't focus on making it a career until the youngest of her three children entered school. After the publications of two young adult books, she turned her interests to historical fiction. Her first novel, GENTLE WARRIOR, was published in 1985, and there has been a steady parade of bestsellers ever since. Today more than 35 million copies of her books are in print, and they are translated in dozens of languages around the world. One of her most popular novels, FOR THE ROSES, was adapted for a HALLMARK HALL OF FAME production on CBS.

Whether the setting be medieval Scotland, Regency England, frontier Montana, or modern-day Louisiana, her themes are consistent: family, loyalty, and honor. Readers claim that it's the humor as well as poignancy of her novels that keep them coming back for more. Julie described her goals this way: "I want my readers to laugh and cry and fall in love. Basically, I want them to escape into another world for a little while and afterwards to feel as though they've been on a great adventure."

Julie lives in Leawood, Kansas, and is currently working on her next novel.

Linda Kage

Contemporary Adult and Young Adult Romance

I grew up on a dairy farm in the Midwest as the youngest of eight children. Now I live in Kansas with my husband, daughter, and our nine cuckoo clocks. My life's been blessed with lots of people to learn from and love. Writing's always been a major part my world, and I'm so happy to finally share some of my stories with other romance lovers.

I'm a member of Romance Writers of America and a local chapter, Midwest Romance Writers, who meets monthly in the Kansas City area. I’ve been through a writing correspondence class in children’s literature from The Institute of Children's Literarture, and then I continued my writing lessons by majoring in English with an emphasis in creative fiction writing from Pittsburg State University.

You can find Linda at http://lindakage.com/, on Facebook and on Twitter

Diane Kratz

Thriller / Crime Fiction

Diane Kratz is a thriller/crime writer who holds two degrees: a bachelor's degree in Sociology, and a master's degree in Social Work. She has worked in domestic violence shelters, Hospice, and in mental health. It was in mental health where she found her passion: helping people understand why they do the things they do. This is what she writes about. Her favorite quote is: “Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.” --by Khalil Gibran

Diane lives on a small farm in Kansas with her husband of 25 years. She is the mother of four grown children, the grandmother of six, and the great- grandmother of one. Diane is a member of Romance Writers of America and her local chapter Midwest Romance Writers. She is also a member of Kiss of Death, Sisters -N- Crime, and the International Thriller Writers Organization.

You can find Diane at her Profiles of Murder Blog, Twitter, and Facebook.

Tessa McDermid

Contemporary Romance

Bio coming soon!

Julie Mulhern

Romance Author

Bio Coming soon!

Nancy J. Parra

Romantic Suspense, Contemporary Romance, Cozy Mysteries

Nancy J. Parra is always writing something and happy to discover people like to read what she writes. Currently published in romantic suspense and sweet western historical romances, she holds an MA in Writing Popular Fiction and a BS in Journalism.

Nancy is currently at work on her next novel and loves to hear from readers. She lives in the Midwest with her little dog.

DeAnn Sicard

Contemporary Romance

DeAnn Sicard may not have learned to read until she was a young mother, but she's made up for all the lost time by devouring any books she could get her hands own. As an addicted reader of romance, thrillers, suspense, cereal boxes and more, she thanks Heaven for the romance writer who gifted her with the love of words. Today, DeAnn is learning to appreciate her skills as a writer and is working hard to gift someone else with her own written words.

Heather Snow

Historical Romance

Heather Snow is a historical romance author with a degree in Chemistry who discovered she much preferred creating chemistry on the page, rather than in the lab. She is forever trying to wrangle her left and right brain to work together (some days with more success than others!), but if her two sides had to duke it out, left would win every time—which can be a creative challenge. Luckily, she loves challenges…she just goes about solving them analytically.

Heather lives in the Midwest with her husband, two rambunctious boys and one very put upon cat. She sincerely hopes you find her stories have just the right chemistry…

You can find Heather at www.HeatherSnowBooks.com, on Facebook and on Twitter

Alfie Thompson / Val Daniels

Contemporary Romance, Nonfiction

With over 5 million books in print, Alfie Thompson's 10 novels have been published under the pseudonym Val Daniels by Harlequin and Silhouette in 29 languages and in 33 countries, They've earned Write Touch Reader's Awards and reached #8 on Ingram's most requested authors list. Alfie has presented writing workshops from New York City to Hawaii, for local, regional and national groups and conferences. She has presented day-long workshops based on her non-fiction book, LIGHTS, CAMERA, FICTION: A MOVIE LOVERS GUIDE TO WRITING A NOVEL to writing groups of all sizes. During Alfie's five years on the Board of Directors of the Romance Writers of America, she initiated the first ever RWA "Readers for Life" Literacy Autographing, which has raised over $700,000 for literacy since its inception. She will soon venture into Indie-publishing world with a traditional romance, BAD BOY OF MADISON COUNTY, the first book in the series, The Bridges of Madison County.