You have found us out!  Like the Wizard of Oz, we’re the ones fooling about behind the curtain, pressing buttons, pulling levers, and generally wreaking havoc.  We wish you’d pay no attention to us, but since you’re on our staff page, we’ll oblige you with our names, pictures, e-mail addresses and a bit of background information.  In no particular order, we are:

• Thornton Sully, Editor-in-Chief / admin@awordwithyoupress.com
• Derek Thompson, Project Development Director / derek@awordwithyoupress.com
• Morgan Sully, Web Designer and Site Engineer / morgan@awordwithyoupress.com
• Teri Rider, Book & Cover Designer and Chief Illustrator / trider@awordwithyoupress.com
• Michelle Buysse, Visual Arts Co-editor / michelle@awordwithyoupress.com
• Monika Spykerman, Content Editor / monika@awordwithyoupress.com
• Ruth Joyce, Personal Assistant to Wuss’n'Boots / ruth@ruthjoyce.co.uk
• Simon Vey, Chief Information Officer / simon@awordwithyourpress.com
• Diana Diehl, Technical Director / diana@awordwithyoupress.com
• Aliyah Marr, Acquisitions Editor / amarr_letter@yahoo.com
• Shawna A Smart, Web Developer / s.smart@kidxpress.us
• Gary L. Clark, Veterans’ Writing Workshop Director / gary@awordwithyoupress.com

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Editor-in-Chief Thornton Sully has Jack Londoned his way across the globe sleeping with whatever country would have him, and picking up stray stories along with way.  A litter of dog-eared passports that have taken up residence in his sock drawer are a constant temptation, but, as the founder of A Word with You Press, dedicated to publishing and purveying fine stories, it’s not likely he will stray too far from our newly established headquarters in Oceanside, California.  He is the author of three novels and is on call to review books for The San Diego Union Tribune.

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Web Designer and Site Engineer Morgan Sully is a non-profit technologist, entrepreneur and avid traveler.  Aside from helping people use technology for the creative good where ever he goes, Morgan builds and maintains websites like the one you are on right now. When not dreaming up new ways to connect and engage audiences online, Morgan can be found composing and performing original electronic music.  Morgan is a graduate of UC Santa Cruz. More about Morgan can be found at this link.

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Book & Cover Designer and Chief Illustrator Teri Rider acquired her love of art at an early age and it evolved into a business she is passionate about. Her career began as a fine artist, selling her work in galleries and taking a few illustration jobs along the way. She discovered her love of publishing when she began illustrating for a well-known publisher of special education material, and authored, illustrated, and collaborated on more than 100 books during her employment there. She now owns her own graphic design studio where she offers services to authors as they self-publish their works. Her primary interests are illustrating children’s and young adult books and book design for all genres.

She lives in Vista, California, with her husband and menagerie of dogs, cats, and exotic birds.

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Content Editor Monika Spykerman grew up on the West Coast and attended college in Texas.  There, between consuming vast quantities of coffee, editing the yearbook, and engaging in various activities strictly prohibited in the student handbook, she earned a BA in English.  After graduating, she loathed a succession of sub-par jobs, then somehow landed a position as a graphic designer for a large, non-profit organization in Pasadena, California, eventually becoming their Publications Coordinator.  This involved a lot of writing, editing, cracking the whip to make sure deadlines were met, and consuming even vaster amounts of coffee.  Monika now lives in Washington State with her husband and daughter, having relocated mainly because the Northwest is noted for its excellent coffee. She’s abandoned her career as a freelance writer, editor and graphic designer, to give her all to A Word with you Press, but damn it, she is HAPPY.

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Director of Project Development Derek Thompson is a freelance writer of many different things, sometimes all in the same afternoon – it’s like trying to lasso raindrops with yarn. He has writing credits for newspaper, magazine, radio, live performance and the internet. His novels, like many of his stories, touch upon the universal themes of truth, death and loss. But he also knows a few knock-knock jokes (as well as stronger material). He enjoys writing (natch), mythology, ambiguity and trees. You can never have too many trees – they’re like socks for the planet. Derek likes his humour dark, his writing devoured and, somewhat rebelliously, his coffee cup filled with peppermint tea.

Derek is the birthing partner of The Coffee Shop Chronicles and future A Word with You Press anthologies, helping to bring them into print and distribution.  Even now he is standing by with plenty of towels and hot water (he doesn’t know why but he saw that in a movie one time). He works with Thorn to create a thriving community beyond our website, to spread the word about our words.  If you’ve got a question about publication dates and book availability, Derek’s your man.  Plus, he’s got extra towels.

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Ruth Joyce, Personal Assistant to Wuss’n'Boots (a regular cartoon feature starting June 27th was discovered by Wuss and Boots in 1998.  Realizing they lacked any sort of aesthetic appeal (the boys are honest:  they were a bit of a mess back then), they thought they’d hire this clearly-awesome-frizzy-haired-gap-toothed-drama-queen of a child. The fact that she was only 10 years old made it tricky; as Ruth says, “I was still, pretty much, an idiot.” Thankfully, Wuss’n'Boots have put up with her through the intervening 12 years, rolling their eyes frequently during a period of teenage angst when her hair turned red and she rebelled by…doing consistently well at school.

With quite a lot of art exhibitions under Ruth’s belt – including a recent showing in Melbourne, Australia – she’s made a name for herself with streetwise and free-spirited works spilling over with motion and emotion.  She confesses, however, that Wuss and Boots are the only boys she’ll ever truly love.  Want to know more?  Visit Ruth at www.ruthjoyce.co.uk.  Visit Wuss’n'Boots every week on our site, and ask them everything you ever wanted to know about your kitties, but were afraid to ask.  They will dispense sound advice.

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Chief Information Officer Simon Vey is passionate about technology, music, sailing, and all things William Shatner.  A recent graduate of San Diego State University, where he studied information systems, he specializes in improving business processes using automation and data management.  Simon is proficient in a number of programming languages, building web apps, and providing technical support.

While at SDSU, Simon served as executive vice president of the Association of Information Technology Professionals, SDSU student chapter.  He enlarged its membership, planned events, and gained recognition for AITP as one of the most “green” organizations on campus.

Aside from his professional roles, Simon can be found sailing in Mission Bay or jamming in his recording studio.  As a talented singer, drummer, and guitarist, he loves the performing arts.  William Shatner is Simon’s hero due to his genius in acting, music, and writing.

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Technical Director Diana Diehl keeps our site running smoothly, and single-handedly prevents all the technical stuff from going completely wack-a-doo. (Scratch that–she actually uses both her hands.)  She believes it’s a good idea to reinvent yourself frequently. Although physics was her first love in college, she worked on a breeding program for giant endangered toads, created Rent-a-Fish, an aquarium leasing program for college students, practiced veterinary medicine on anything that would hold still long enough (removing tumors from piranhas and rehabilitating paralyzed eels). Later paths sent her off installing networking and hard drives, providing computer and database training and support, designing graphics and Web sites, and writing documentation for supercomputers.

Somewhere in between, she edited children’s books, played Lara Croft look-alike, learned to weld, sang in an a cappella choir, and dabbled in community theater.  And she loves to write. Through all the twists and turns of time, a deep and compelling love of words and their ability to reveal, entertain, and elevate the human spirit has endured and found a cozy haven here at A Word with You Press.

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Acquisitions Editor Aliyah (“ah LEE ah”) Marr has had a long love affair with books. By the age of 10 she was a book-aholic. By the age of 14 she was reading 3 books a day and realized she had to break her habit, so she started writing and painting, eventually graduating with a degree in art from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

Her book, Parallel Mind, The Art of Creativity, is about “the life-changing power of the creative spirit,” as well as a practical guide for creative people. As a creative director and long-time teacher of design, she has a real knack for understanding what makes something work, whether it is a website or an essay. Now that she is the acquisitions editor for AWWYP, she has come full circle and finally has a good excuse for her reading habit.

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Don't forget to ask about Grandma

Veterans Writers Workshop Director Gary L. Clark lives by the motto “Write like no one will ever read it.” Gary is a member of the Writer’s League of Texas and San Gabriel Writer’s League. He has a B.A. in Psychology and a couple of degrees in some other stuff too. His first two novels, For Rose and Dance of the Bull Rider received rave rejections from agents coast to coast. His new novel-in-progress is The Last Mesquite Twig. His chapbook, Whose Problem is it Anyway, was written as a companion to his Stress Management Seminars. A wise, empathetic cat is the thread that weaves the stories together and each story represents one of the cat’s nine lives. He’s been known to tell a wild tale or two, so if you’re ever down in central Texas, stop by and he’ll give y’all a ride in his ol’ truck, Sparky. Don’t forget to inquire into Grandma’s well-bein’.

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Visual Arts Co-Editor Michelle Buysse (pronounced by-sea, as in my-shell-by-the-sea) is a writer and reader of life. Born in Oceanside, California to a family of language teachers, aeronautical engineers, masons, and artists, she was destined to design her own future and embrace her inherited artistry. She left home at the young age of 13 to attend The Webb Schools in Claremont, CA, where she first fell in love with reading and writing argumentative and literary papers. She traveled across the Pacific Ocean to study Post-Colonial Literature and Spanish at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 2001, jumped on a Ship to travel the world on Semester at Sea (with an emphasis on world literature) for 6 months in 2003, and then decided to hibernate in the Rocky Mountains while obtaining her Master’s Degree in English Literature in 2006 at Colorado State University.

Along the way she has been recognized for speech writing and delivery, studied philosophy and yoga with passion, worked as a copy-editor for the Colorado Review, been a national conference organizer and office manager, and is currently exploring her hand at creative non-fiction and visual arts. She helps organize art events for TayloredARTS Inc. (the business endeavors of Taylor Gallegos) and teaches Vinyasa Yoga in Encinitas, CA. Visit the Artist Alcove for her artist ramblings and updates on how to bring your life into balance with color and context.

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Erstwhile Staff

These are friends who have worked with us in the past but who have now moved on to other projects and places.

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Visual Arts Co-Editor Kristy Webster is a writer of short fiction, poetry, and memoirs, as well as a gifted painter. Her short stories have been featured in two anthologies by Girl Child Press. Her fiction has appeared in online publications such as The Abacot Journal, The Molotov Cocktail and Connotation Press. Kristy’s art is an exploration of the feminine, focusing especially on distinct awakenings in the lives of women. Kristy earned a Bachelor of Arts from The Evergreen State College where she studied sculpture, poetry, bookmaking, creative writing, human development and women’s studies. She recently earned an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington. She lives near Seattle, Washington with her two well behaved sons, and two ill mannered cats.

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Artist Alcove Co-editor M. H. Draper is a mid-career, fine/commercial artist, photographer, and writer. He has been a creative professional since 1988, in which he formed a successful graphic arts business shortly following high school. To date, his largest client is Southern Star Brewing in which he enjoys designing packaging for their various beers. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from NHMCCD-Montgomery in 2006 with an Associates of Liberal Arts and spent a year studying painting, film-based photography, and Italian Renaissance art history at University of Houston in pursuit of a B.F.A. in Painting. He has had poems and prose published in several UK and US literary journals.

His studio is located at Winter Street Studios, which is within Houston’s celebrated First Ward Arts District. In October 2010, he founded Houston Artists’ Collective, a closed group on Facebook limited to Houston-area artists. Since its inception, it has grown to over 350 members and serves as a vital resource to Houston-area artists, allowing a place for exhibition opportunities as well as industry grievances. He currently lives in a suburb north of Houston, cohabitating with an Applehead Burmese called “Muir,” affectionately named after John Muir.

9/3/11

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Content Editor C.J. Williams is capable of being misunderstood in Russian, Italian, Spanish, Latin (presumably speaking to the dead) and English, which even the Brits purport to speak. She is an inveterate meddler in the meandering muddle of words, has been a storyteller since old enough to talk, and was a writer and reader maybe even before that. Meddling has led her to editing THE WALL, Saddleback College’s literary journal. She launched her own literary magazine, “Shiki’s Strings,” only to find that a launch doesn’t mean the chump change for lunch, and ended up starving enough times to have to shelve “Shiki” and go for sushi. She made the cash for sushi by teaching creative writing to impish primary school children. Why? Because they were a captive audience—like piranhas in a tank.

CJ also studied (like, seriously, dude) literature at Catholic U. of D.C., as well as Russian and Italian, and was fenced in (and out of the world of pen and ink) for a season while fencing her way to Summer Nationals in Atlanta. With such a sworded past she is a perfect fit in the duel role of content editor and flippant (and if you know what a flippante is, you know more than any self-respecting double-entendre in the narrow lanes of France).

5/11/11

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Web Developer Shawna Smart is our camera shy, sometime web developer, and all around internet gopher. Her behind-the-scenes dedication keeps both A Word with You Press and Kid Expressions sites in fine fettle. She is a published author, digital artist, aficionado of cats and curiosities, and an autodidact who prefers small dark office rooms with glowing monitors to bright and crowded rooms.