ACFW-IN Member Roster

If you are a member of the ACFW-Indiana Chapter, and would like your info listed, you can email your bio and photo to Linda at acfwindianachapter@gmail.com


BOARD OF DIRECTORS

CHAPTER PRESIDENT
Rebecca Reed 

Rebecca Reed is a lover of Jesus, wife, mother, teacher, and track coach. She is an active member of ACFW and Novel.Academy. She lives in rural Indiana and writes Chain Breaking Fiction: fantasy stories with characters who journey to find themselves and where they fit. She enjoys traveling, listening to audiobooks, and sampling the world’s varieties of ice cream. 2020 ACFW First Impressions Winner.

Connect with Rebecca on her website: rebeccareedwrites.com. Sign up for her newsletter and follow her blog.

Or on social media: Twitter: @rebeccareed22, Facebook: rebeccareedwrites, Instagram: rebeccareedwrites

 
CHAPTER VICE PRESIDENT
Melissa LaShure

Melissa LaShure is an author, content creator, podcaster, entrepreneur, and director of curriculum. While she enjoys her role as a curriculum director for a small-town school district, her passion lies in reaching young women through faith-based content.

 

Currently she hosts the LiteraryScape Book Club podcast. This group reads and discusses books in the historical Christian romance genre with a focus on America in the 1800’s. Through her podcast she has been able to interview and connect with authors such as Karen Witemeyer, Julie Lessman, Margaret Brownley, Melissa Jagears, Amanda Cabot, and Indiana’s very own Abbey Downey!

 

Melissa currently offers author services and hopes to soon launch book club kits and devotionals for the books discussed on her podcast. Then somehow in her spare time write her seven book bounty hunter series.

 

While not working, writing, or podcasting she enjoys adventures with her husband of seventeen years. Although they do not have children of their own, they enjoy spoiling their fourteen nieces and nephews every chance they get!

 

Melissa's website is www.literarycape.com.


 





CHAPTER SECRETARY
Kim Autrey  After thirteen years guiding students through the process of strengthening their communication skills, Kim has taken her grammar that never shuts off, packed up her red pens, and moved out into the book world to help authors.

Now as a copyeditor and publisher, she works with manuscripts that have endearing characters, engaging plots, and she offers hope to readers. What she enjoys most about a manuscript is the vivid storytelling and fascinating characters that invite her to stay up way too late reading.

She works with clean content, and works mostly with fiction and children’s genres, including fantasy, science fiction, and mystery. She believes your voice has a place in this world.




CHAPTER TREASURER 

Mary Allen lives with her husband and, unfortunately, no dogs. Instead, the high jinks in her life are supplied by her grandchildren. She’s currently recovering from a second bout of cancer which will no doubt supply her with characters and growth situations for future books. She enjoys encouraging readers to trust in God’s faithfulness and His ability to redeem them and horrible situations.

Since being a Genesis finalist in 2009, Mary was named La Porte County Poet Laureate, accepted a commission to write a poem for Lincoln Highway Assn. which is displayed at the La Porte Chamber of Commerce, published three books of devotional poetry, two works of fiction, and one non-fiction. This year she expects to publish her third Christian women’s fiction, “Buried Truths and Treasure” about a town held hostage by secrets surrounding a missing child named Treasure.

Connect with Mary at www.marymarieallen.com or marymarieallen2015@gmail.com or her personal email of wordgirl_mary.allen@yahoo.com.






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MEMBERS
 

Joe Allison served as a writer and editor for various Christian publishers for nearly five decades. The author of eight nonfiction books, Joe became a member of ACFW in 2010 to develop his fiction writing skills. He and his wife, Maribeth, live in Anderson, IN.

Joe’s first nonfiction book, The Bible Study Resource Guide, was published by Thomas Nelson in 1982. His other books include the Devotional Resource Guide (Nelson: 1984), Setting Goals that Count (Chosen: 1986), and Concerned Parents, co-authored with Linden Boggs (Standard: 1986). He is also the ghostwriter for six nonfiction books, some of which have remained in print for more than twenty years. The Wrong Side of the Mountain is Joe’s first historical novel, set in Depression-Era Appalachia, and the first in a trilogy tentatively called “Stories of the Highlands.”
 
 
 
Formerly an executive managing editor with Zondervan, Jean Kavich Bloom is a freelance writer and editor living once again in Anderson, Indiana. Her favorite editing assignments are novels, and she enjoys helping authors make their books the best they can be for their readers. Jean is the author of two published devotional books for children and is working on finding her own voice in writing fiction. She also writes about writing on her blog.

 


Terri Butler
 
 

Julie Costakis writes historical romance fiction, having earned a B.A. in Public Relations and Communication from Purdue University. A career in marketing transitioned into launching a home business, allowing more time to raise her three sons, care for her mother, and volunteer. In addition to serving small businesses and not-for-profit organizations, her work has been published by Midwest Parenting Publications for whom she was an award-winning blogger.



Darlene Clem
 
Sharon Cowen  Facebook: http://Sharoncowen, author

 
Mary Beth Dolmanet

Gloria Doty

 Abbey Downey
 
 
Jennifer Filka

Mary Gardner

 
 
Jerry Land 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
Linda Samaritoni writes realistic fiction under the pen name of Linda Sammaritan. Her World Without Sound YA series was published in 2023.

Linda always figured she’d teach teens and tweens until school authorities presented her with a retirement wheelchair and rolled her out the door. However, God changed those plans when He gave her a growing passion for writing fiction. In May of 2016, she blew goodbye kisses to her students and dedicated her work hours to becoming an author.

A wife, mother of three, and grandmother to eight, Linda regales the youngest grandchildren with “Nona Stories,” tales of her childhood. Maybe one day those stories will be in picture books!

Where Linda can be found on the web:

www.lindasammaritan.com

www.facebook.com/lindasammaritan

www.twitter.com/LindaSammaritan

www.instagram.com/lindasammaritan

 
Brian Shotton   Twitter: http://@ShottonBrian

Marissa Shrock is language arts teacher who enjoys working with her seventh grade students. She graduated from Taylor University in Upland, Indiana, with a degree in elementary education and a middle school endorsement in English. She has completed the Jerry B. Jenkins Christian Writers Guild Apprentice, Journeyman, and Craftsman courses and is a member of ACFW.

Marissa’s debut young adult novel The First Principle was released in January 2015 from Kregel Publications. She loves shopping for cute clothes, baking for family and friends, traveling to new places, and playing golf.
 
 
 
Beth Steury connects with the YA crowd via substitute teaching and through her “back booth” office at the local fast food joint, and by reading YA fiction. 

She's a "cheerleader" for saving sex for marriage and for "renewed waiting" because it's never too late to make wiser choices. She writes and speaks about her experiences as a "foundling" who located her birth parents and is making up for lost time with her biological family. Connect with her on her website and on Facebook.
 


 

Ronda Wells

Ronda Wells has volunteered as a hostess for workshops and late night chats at the ACFW national conference, and thinks that joining ACFW in 2003 was one of the best things she ever did. She writes medical suspense--and by day, is a physician, by night, a daring doctor saving the world from the newest medical threat. She is married, with two children and a brand-new daughter-in-law, and enjoyed the opportunity to serve Indiana ACFW as treasurer. She served as Treasurer in 2010, 2011, and 2012.
 

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