To encourage creative writing of the highest professional standard and serve as a creative and professional resource for one another and the community.

The DWW Board

For the term June 1, 2021 through May 31, 2023

Executive Board
President: Cindy Hampel
Vice President: Michelle Morouse
Secretary: Laura Hedgecock
Treasurer: Michael Kitchen

Board Committee Chairs:
Program Co-Chairs: Theresa Nielsen and Cindy Hampel
Critique Group Co-Chairs: Roberta Brown and Pat Gibson
Newsletter: Cindy Hampel
Website: Cindy Hampel
Social Media Co-Chairs: Terry Hojnacki & Richard Stiennon
Historian: Michelle Morouse
Honorary Director: Kathleen Ripley Leo, Maureen McGerty

Profiles

Cindy Hampel

President

Cindy Hampel is the author of two books: “Acting As If”: Meditations of a Recovering Enabler and It’s Not Personal: Lessons I’ve Learned from Dealing with Difficult Behavior. She has earned awards for investigative reporting and feature writing. Cindy has worked as a newspaper reporter in Michigan and Ohio, served in corporate media relations in Detroit, and consulted on editorial projects for nonprofit and for-profit organizations. In her spare time, Cindy enjoys playing the piano. 

Michelle Morouse

Vice-President

Michelle Morouse is a Detroit area pediatrician. Her flash fiction and poetry have appeared recently, or is forthcoming,  in Litro Online, Ponder Review, Necessary Fiction, Wigleaf, Peregrine, Lullwater Review, Passager, The MacGuffin, Pembroke Magazine, Passages North, and Cease, Cows.

Laura Hedgecock

Secretary

Laura is an author, freelance writer, speaker, and blogger passionate about helping others tell their personal and family stories. Her books (so far) include Memories of Me: A Complete Guide to Telling and Sharing the Stories of Your Life ( Cedar Fort, 2014) and Blogging for Family History. She blogs at TreasureChestofMemories.com and serves as the organizing President of GeneaBloggersTRIBE, a community of over 3,300 family history bloggers. Laura is currently working on a YA fantasy series.

Michael Kitchen

Treasurer

Michael Kitchen is originally from Plymouth, Michigan and currently resides in Chesterfield Township, Michigan. He has been writing since the early 1980s. A complete list of his published work can be found on his website. He is the creator of the Unofficial Detroit City FC Digital History. He hosts a Facebook page titled Peanut Ledge Cafe, which is a collection of photos at the window ledge of his home where he feeds squirrels and raccoons. By day, he practices law as a court-appointed appellate criminal defense attorney in Michigan.

Roberta Brown

Critique Group Chair

Roberta Brown is a writer and musician. Her work has been published in local newspapers, Peninsula Poets, Bundled Wildflowers, and online at the Michigander’s Post.  She also plays oboe, piano, guitar, and bass guitar; her most recent performances have been with the Royal Oak Symphony Orchestra, the Troy Metro Symphony Orchestra, Cliff Bell’s in Detroit, and every Sunday at Woodside Bible Church, either in the orchestra or on the praise team.  She was President of DWW from June 1, 2017, through May 31, 2021.

Pat Gibson

Critique Group Co-Chair

Pat Gibson is a Metro Detroit based writer and poet. He’s an alumnus of Wayne State University, UCLA, and The Writers Studio. His work has been published by Flexible Persona, Medusa’s Laugh, Wraparound South, Dark Ink, Fiction Attic, ARTIFEX, Bear River Review, Potato Soup Journal, EKL Review and HellBound Books. He has been featured on the Ripples in Space podcast. Pat is querying his first novel and beginning a second. When not writing he likes to read and spend time with family.
Website: patrickwgibson.com.

Terry Hojnacki

Social Media Co-Chair

Terry Hojnacki, author of I Can See With My Eyes Shut Tight, is an award-winning flash fiction writer, poet, novelist, and editor. As founder and editor-in-chief of Sterling Script: A Local Author Collection, she works to encourage and promote her local writing community.
Terry is the Creative Writers Workshop facilitator at the Sterling Heights Public Library where she was named 2018 Volunteer of the Year. She currently serves as a member of the Library Board of Trustees.
Her short stories and poetry have appeared in ARTIFEX, Ghostlight: The Magazine of Terror, Pink Panther Magazine, Recurring Nightmares, and Sterling Script.

Richard Stiennon

Social Media Co-Chair

Richard Stiennon writes nonfiction. He has presented on the topic of cybersecurity in 31 countries on six continents.   He is the author of Security Yearbook 2021: A History and Directory of the IT Security Industry. In 2019 he published Secure Cloud Transformation: The CIO’s Journey. He also wrote Surviving Cyberwar (Government Institutes, 2010) and Washington Post Best Seller, There Will Be Cyberwar. He writes for SecurityBoulevard.com, and The Analyst Syndicate.  He has a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering and an MA in War in the Modern World from King’s College, London. Follow @cyberwar on Twitter.

Theresa Nielsen

Program Co-Chair

Theresa Nielsen, a Royal Oak resident, writes across many genres. She is currently working on the sequel to a young adult novel and a memoir about her quilting life.  When she’s not writing, Theresa enjoys spending time in her garden and with her family pets. She has self-published three picture books and a young adult novel.

Kathleen Ripley Leo

Honorary Director

Kathleen Ripley Leo is an awarding winning poet, adjunct professor, novelist. Her credits include 15 volumes of poems, countless literary press publications, and two nominations for Pushcart; Leo’s novel, The Seamless Universe, is a YA fantasy tribute to lost children. She received grant-funded residencies under MCACA Creative Writers in the Schools programs and twice received tributes from Michigan’s legislature. She chaired AWP’s pedagogy conference, providing speakers and compilations of lesson plans for university writing instructors. Kathleen has served often on DWW’s board, including as President. She was awarded the national prize Woman in the Arts Recognition Award for her national reputation and lifetime of achievement.

Maureen McGerty

Honorary Director

Maureen McGerty is a writer and an editor. At her day job, she manages the publishing process of original research in maternal-fetal medicine. Her current personal project is a trilogy of historical novellas set during the aftermath of the First World War. She also tutors students in English language arts. She has worked as a reporter and feature writer and as a public relations specialist in healthcare. In her spare time, she reads mystery novels and is braiding an area rug. Maureen is a past president of DWW (2007-2011).

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