Ed DeJesus

Ed is a technical writer in Massachusetts. He received a Ph.D. in theoretical physics on a split decision, but enjoyed his courses in Shakespeare more. Besides teaching at Middle Tennessee State University and Boston University, he has coded software for IBM (keeping Navy subs from bumping into things), done research at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory (analyzing Soviet missile tests), and helped edit BYTE Magazine (writing the cover story for BYTE’s final issue, which was NOT cause and effect).

Ed lives in the Boston area with his wife, and has two grown children. He enjoys reading humor (especially P.G. Wodehouse and Terry Pratchett), mysteries (including Agatha Christie and Dick Francis), and classic science fiction (such as Isaac Asimov and Philip K. Dick). Besides writing hundreds of technical articles, he has also published several short stories in magazines including Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine and Leading Edge. He’s written seven novels, including two he self-published. He’s been a member of the Walpole Writers Group since 1999.

Check out Ed's book at http://www.tlofb.com/.

Jennifer Rogala

Jennifer Rogala has worked in the area of healthcare technology for over 20 years. Before becoming a mother, her writing topics were related to how technology can improve patient safety. But when she discovered her daughters loved books, Jennifer was inspired to read her articles to them. While her works on patient safety were effective at sending her twin daughters off to slumber land, for some reason they stopped asking her to read and feigned sleep, sometimes even volunteering to go to bed early to avoid story time. Deciding that a change in subject matter would help, Jennifer shifted tactics. Her subsequent stories about cats of all kinds, runaway noses, and a boy with a love of astronomy wandering a land of mythical creatures and grammatical phenomena, proved to be far more popular with her children. The birds sang, the flowers bloomed, and her twins embraced story time again. They all live happily in the wild lands outside Boston, where Jennifer, her two lovely daughters, and princely husband, live to serve their two cats.

To date, Jennifer has self-published four picture books, and many educators have incorporated her books into their curriculum, especially ESL and special needs educators. She conducts author visits and writer workshops at libraries, Girls Scout conferences, bookstores, and elementary and middle schools in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. She also sponsors an annual Youth Writing Contest for all students from several towns in her area. She's a graduate of the Institute of Children’s Literature and a member of SCBWI and the Massachusetts Reading Association.

Visit Jennifer at www.JenniferRogala.com.

Dave Sahl

Dave started off in Boston’s public schools, and then graduated with an associate degree in Civil and Highway engineering from Wentworth Institute. He worked for Boston’s D.P.W. for a year as a surveyor and then went on to civil and highway design. After two years of this, he realized he despised the very idea of engineering. He returned to school at Boston State College and, for $100.00 a semester, graduated with a degree in education. He then taught high school English for 33 years until he realized that he despised the very idea of education. Thus came retirement.

Over the years, he's worked as a bartender, a short order cook, an answer man in a large box home improvement, a draftsman, a floor associate in an outdoor apparel store, a laborer, a mason’s assistant – never a mason - and other things he doesn't want to talk about.

His writing career includes too many summer writer’s conferences to mention (more than twenty). He’s been published in Boston Literary Magazine, The Lakeview Review, Writer’s Digest, and Solstice Literary Magazine.

He was married for 12 years until he realized that he despised the very idea of marriage. Thus came divorce. Then Mrs. #2 came along; apparently it wasn't the idea of marriage that he despised. He's been happily married to Mrs.#2 for 30 years. He has two kids, all grown up and doing well.

He writes daily.

That is his life, such as it is.

Julie Weil

Julie has been writing stories since she was little. She’s now only 5’3”. She writes short stories, novels, children’s books, and plays. In fact, she met her husband at auditions for a play that she wrote and directed. Now with two young boys, she enjoys writing stories for and with them. She has been writing a monthly column in the Sharon Advocate for the past nine years. She much prefers newspaper columns to Corinthian ones. The latter tend to embellish. She’s a 7th/8th-grade English teacher, so she writes good. She used to edit and write articles for a magazine at Cahners Publishing in Newton. Her articles go beyond “a”, “an”, and “the”. She currently edits high-school students’ papers and college admissions essays. For the past few years, she also has been editing novels. She tried editing hovels but found that their stories were too limited. She loves grammar, and she loves editing. Heck, she has edited this bio ten times already. Her favorite books include: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, Briar Rose by Jane Yolen, In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez, Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume, and Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier.