Three Minus One: Stories of Parents' Love and Loss (39 page)

Lisa Roth-Gulvin
, a retired fashion designer, has been actively writing for eight years. Her work has been published in
Literary Mama
and
PATHS
Literary Journal. She is currently working on a novel and lives in New Jersey with her husband and eight-year-old daughter.

Susan Rukeyser
usually writes fiction and sometimes tells the truth. Her work appears in
Monkeybicycle
,
SmokeLong Quarterly, Necessary Fiction,
and
Hippocampus Magazine,
among other publications. This piece originally appeared in
The Mom Egg
.
www.susanrukeyser.com

Bar Scott
is a singer-songwriter and recording artist.
The Present Giver
is her first book. She lives in Colorado now, with her new husband, Brent Bruser.

J.lynn Sheridan
writes in the Chain O’ Lakes of northern Illinois in a very ordinary house, but she’d rather live in an old hardware store for the aroma, ambiance, and possibilities. She has recently been published in
Beyond the Dark Room
and
Storm Cycle
2012,
Of Sun and Sand, Mouse Tales Press, Four and Twenty Literary Journal
,
The Plum Plum
,
Jellyfish Whispers
, MouseTales Press, and
Enhance
. She is currently working on her first novel. Find her at writingonthesun.
wordpress.com
and @J.lynnSheridan.

Besides being a high school English teacher and college English Adjunct Professor,
Katie Sluiter
has also appeared as an elite blogger for
US BabyHuddle
, a featured writer on Borderless News and Views, and in syndication on BlogHer. She also currently works as a freelance journalist for iAquire. Her writing has appeared in the 2012 poetry anthology by Every Day Poets and the May 2013 issue of
Baby Talk Magazine
. Katie lives with her husband and two sons in West Michigan and blogs about their life at
sluiternation.com
.

Abbie Smith
is the mother of Isaiah, born still July 24, 2008. Passionate about stillbirth awareness, she is a co-founder of Stillborn Still Loved, a Seattle Children’s Hospital guild benefiting the work of the Global Alliance to Prevent Prematurity and Stillbirth. Smith recently earned her master’s degree in International Community Development from Northwest University with a thesis project focused on creating stillbirth awareness through shared narratives.

Kelly Smith
lives in Ohio where she is wife to her college sweetheart James and the homeschooling mother to their four children. Her great love is the written word. She also has a passion for gardening,
running and supporting those suffering through infant loss. Visit Kelly at
www.whaleletters.com
. Her piece is dedicated to her two angel babies, Elijah Mark and Jeremiah David.

Natalie Sullivan
is the grateful mother of two beautiful children. She is a lawyer by training and a writer by heart. Natalie lives in New York City with her husband and their beloved son.

Sarah Elizabeth Troop
writes and recreates historical and cultural recipes for her blog,
Nourishing Death
, which examines the relationship between food and death in rituals, culture, religion, and society. She is a member of The Order of the Good Death and serves as the Social Media Editor for Death Salon.

Lauren Vasil
began writing her blog
OnFecundThought.com
as a way to make sense of the bewildering grief she experienced over her miscarriage. She believes it is important to break the silence surrounding pregnancy loss and is honored that her story has been included in this anthology. The London-born graphic designer lives in San Diego with her husband and dog.

Jessica Null Vealitzek
is the author of
The Rooms Are Filled
. She lives near Chicago with her husband and two children. She can be found online at
www.jessicavealitzek.com
.

Shannon Vest
spent over a decade in the film industry. She loves to travel and often takes off for months at a time to explore new places. She currently lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee and writes full time.

Jessica Watson
is the mom to five, four in her arms and one in her heart. Her daughter Hadley passed away on her third day of life due to complications of prematurity. Jessica has since left the corporate world behind and vowed to soak up every minute with her husband and four surviving children. She blogs with her heart on her sleeve
at
FourPlusAnAngel.com
and writes for sites such as
Still Standing Magazine
,
The Huffington Post
and
Mamalode
.

Monica Wesolowska
is the author of
Holding Silvan: A Brief Life
. With an introduction by Erica Jong,
Holding Silvan
was named a “Best Book” of 2013 by
Library Journal.
She teaches fiction and nonfiction writing at UC Berkeley Extension. Read more at
www.monicawesolowska.com

Mercedes M. Yardley
is a dark fantasist who wears stilettos and red lipstick. She is the author of the short story collection
Beautiful Sorrows,
the novella
Apocalyptic Montessa and Nuclear Lulu: A Tale of Atomic Love
and her debut novel
Nameless.
Her website is
www.mercedesyardley.com
.

After the death of her second daughter,
Angie M. Yingst
began writing about grief, art, religion, and parenting at her blog
still life with circles
, chosen in 2010, as one of the top Fifty Must-Read Mom Blogs by
Parenting Magazine
and
Blogher
. Angie’s essay, “Mothering Grief”, appears in a collection of essays about stillbirth called
They Were Still Born
(Rowman and Littlefield 2010). She has a poetry chap-book called
of this, we will not speak
. Her poetry will be included in the upcoming collection called
To Linger On Hot Coals
(Spring, 2014). Angie holds a B.A. in Religion from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA.

Kristin Camitta Zimet
is the Editor of
The Sow’s Ear Poetry Review
and the author of a collection of poems,
Take in My Arms the Dark
. Her poetry is in countless journals including
Poet Lore
,
Salt Hill
, and
Lullwater Review
. She volunteers with patients in the hospital and in hospice.

S
ean Hanish
is the writer, director and producer of the first feature film ever made on the subject of stillbirth, “Return to Zero”, starring Minnie Driver, Paul Adelstein and Alfred Molina.

An award-winning filmmaker and commercial director, Sean works in a variety of mediums. While his passion is storytelling, he has created, directed and produced commercial campaigns for top international celebrities and brands such as Cindy Crawford, Oscar De La Renta, Liz Claiborne, the NFL and Disney.

His first play “Acts of Contrition” played to sold-out runs in both New York and Los Angeles and his short films “Sales Tribe Grashecki” and “Real Men” won film festivals in the US and internationally.

Sean Hanish is a member of both the Writers Guild of America and the Directors Guild of America, and lives in Pasadena, California with his wife, two children and two cats that he is allergic to but loves too much to give away.

B
rooke Warner
is founder of Warner Coaching Inc., publisher of She Writes Press, and author of
What’s Your Book? A Step-by-Step Guide to Get You from Inspiration to Published Author
and
How to Sell Your Memoir: 12 Steps to a Perfect Book Proposal
. Brooke’s expertise is in traditional and new publishing, and she is an equal advocate for publishing with a traditional house and self-publishing. Her book was a finalist for the Foreword Reviews Book of the Year Award for 2012 and her website was selected by the Association of Independent Authors as a winner of “Best Websites for Independent Authors.” She lives and works in Berkeley, California.

She Writes Press is an independent publishing company
founded to serve women writers everywhere.
Visit us at
www.shewritespress.com
.

Four Funerals and a Wedding: Resiliance in a Time of Grief
by Jill Smolowe

$16.95, 978-1-938314-72-8

When journalist Jill Smolowe lost four family members in less than two years, she turned to modern bereavement research for answers—and made some surprising discoveries.

Breathe: A Memoir of Motherhood, Death, and Family Conflict
by Kelly Kittel

$16.95, 978-1-938314-78-0

A mother’s heartbreaking account of losing two sons in the span of nine months—and learning, despite all the obstacles in her way, to find joy in life again.

Warrior Mother: A Memoir of Fierce Love, Unbearable Loss, and Rituals that Heal
by Sheila K. Collins, PhD

$16.95, 978-1-938314-46-9

The story of the lengths one mother goes to when two of her three adult children are diagnosed with potentially terminal diseases.

Splitting the Difference: A Heart-Shaped Memoir
by Tré Miller-Rodríguez

$19.95, 978-1-938314-20-9

When 34-year-old Tré Miller-Rodríguez’s husband dies suddenly from a heart attack, her grief sends her on an unexpected journey that culminates in a reunion with the biological daughter she gave up at 18.

Americashire: A Field Guide to a Marriage
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$15.95, 978-1-938314-30-8

A couple’s decision about whether or not to have a child plays out against the backdrop of their new home in the English countryside.

Loveyoubye: Hanging On, Letting Go, And Then There’s The Dog
by Rossandra White

$16.95, 978-1-938314-50-6

A soul-searching memoir detailing the painful, but ultimately liberating, disintegration of a twenty-five-year marriage.