WOW Welcomes New Muffin Bloggers! Sioux Roslawski, Mary Horner, and Beth Harar

Earlier this month we put a call out for bloggers to join The Muffin’s team, and the response was incredible. So many talented writers applied for the position, but we could only choose three this round. We are pleased to welcome Sioux Roslawski, Mary Horner, and Beth Harar to the WOW! family and to The Muffin’s blogging team! We know they’ll provide fellow writers with unique insight into their specific areas of writing. Let me tell you a bit about them.

Sioux Roslawski has been contributing to The Muffin for years and is almost always the first one to comment on posts—which as a blogger, you know is paramount! She’s written several excellent posts for our Friday Speak Out program, and we can’t wait to see what she’ll write next. She says, “To be able to contribute something... to be able to reach out to fellow writers... well, that would be quite satisfying. It would also be a way of paying back what I've gotten from the blog over the years.”

Sioux belongs to two writing critique groups, is shopping around a children’s picture book, and just finished another manuscript. While working on larger projects, she continues to submit to Chicken Soup for the Soul (she’s published in sixteen volumes!), and Sasee magazine. Her blog is Sioux’s Page, and she posts twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Sioux’s a retired third grade teacher who got rehired as a middle-school teacher because, she says, “I wasn't done teaching... not by a long shot.” Sioux also teaches a 6-graduate credit hour class each summer on writing to teachers, via the National Writing Project. “To be able to work with children during the school year and then adults during the summer is heaven, in my opinion,” she says, and adds, “I do dog rescue work all year-long, and I savor get-togethers with my kids and my granddaughter, and dream of living in France full-time (so I can stalk Johnny Depp and fill up on the best bread in the world).” (We hear that! Everyone needs a goal to strive for.)

Mary Horner has been a writer for many years; in fact, she wrote a helpful article for WOW in 2009 called, How to Research for the Non-Researcher. Currently, she teaches communications at St. Louis and St. Charles Community College, and works as a freelance writer. Over the summer, she wrote test questions for a textbook publisher, published an article on interpersonal communications for The Credit Professional magazine; and last year, she edited a podiatrist’s book on foot care and diabetes. She has a master’s degree in communications a certificate in writing from the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and a writing and editing certification from the American Medical Writers Association. Her book, Strengthen Your Nonfiction Writing, was published in 2011 by High Hill Press.

Mary is currently working on a novel and says she’s “trying to connect more effectively with the writing community at large.” We think she’ll accomplish that here at The Muffin! She also writes for her own blog, writRteachR.

We first met Beth Harar when she toured with WOW! Women On Writing for her novel, Voices of the Sea (WiDo Publishing, July 2014). Having gone through the publishing process, we feel she has a unique perspective to share with The Muffin’s audience. “It was a defining moment for my writing career,” she says, “which quickly fizzled into nothing more than a novelty. I realized that if I want to truly pursue a career in writing, I need to write more than just books. Blogging for The Muffin will keep me on task—it will serve both as a way to help my fellow writers through their (let’s face it) often tumultuous relationships with writing and authorship, and it will also work as a creative outlet for me. I’m allowed to be a little selfish, right?” (Yes, Beth! It’s a win-win!) Beth is currently working on another novel and plans to share her “in the trenches” experiences with Muffin readers.

Beth studied English at James Madison University, and eventually studied at Virginia Commonwealth University to acquire a Masters in Secondary English Education. She currently teaches high school English at her alma mater, doing her best to turn reluctant readers into voracious, book-reading nerds. She lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband and two children who are her biggest cheerleaders. Her website is www.bethanymasoneharar.com and she blogs at Beth’s Bemusings.

Now that you know a little bit about these ladies, we hope you’re as excited as we are to hear more from them. Let’s continue to inspire and learn from one another!