introducing the dojo leaders!

NOTE: NiNoCon (ninja novel conference) is TOMORROW! Please go here to read all about it!


When you gain proficiency in your art, it's essential to turn around and a lend a hand to those coming along the path behind you.The same absolutely holds true here at the writer's dojo. This place isn't about me, it's about YOU, the writer, regardless of your place along that path.


I've invited several writers to be leaders; four will be regular contributors,and we'll rotate through the other leaders and narley ninjas.


Tomorrow, I hope you'll come back for NiNoCon and some awesome lessons from our NiNoCon senseis, then return on Monday for your daily lesson in the Art of Writing.


Let's meet your leaders!
Amy McBay

I’m a proud military wife, a devoted mother of a beautiful daughter and adorable son, pack Alpha to two loving dog companions, and servant to an amorous cat. I was raised in a creative family, and excelled in art and graphics until my High School Graduation. Afterwards, I joined the Air force and served for four years until getting out to better care for my children.

I have always been a vivid dreamer and during the pregnancy of my son I started turning my dreams into a book. My world is full of werewolves, pixies, dragons, angels, demons, ghosts, and vampires. I’m a daydreamer, and a bit of a hermit, an artist, a bookworm, and a writer.  I’m opinionated, and honest. People have said I’m silly, odd, weird, a dork, a geek, and even a little crazy. They are right on all accounts. I am all of this and more. 

Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Google+

Carolyn Frank

Carolyn lives in Kaysvile, Utah with husband and teenage daughter Danielle, her other four children having fled the nest, but still live close by (thank heavens).


When she’s not writing, she loves to read, garden, sew, and play with her grandson. In 1994, she incorporated her basement sewing business, eventually moving it into a warehouse, hiring more people, and developing her unique line of puppets and educational curriculums into a full-fledged, international business. She sold the main arm of her business in 2009, retaining a small portion to bring in income while she pursued her writing career.


She has been writing seriously for the past six years and will be self-publishing her first book, Promises this year. Promises is a middle-grade historical fiction about a timid girl growing up in the shadow of Bryce Canyon who learns to stand up for herself.

Blog | Puppetorium | PrestoStage | Facebook

Cassie Cook

YA/MG writer and superhero mommy (at least my kids think so). Books are my life, but that doesn't make me a nerd. Well... maybe a little. :)

Blog | Facebook | Twitter

Lisa Asanuma

Lisa Asanuma is a long-time lover of the written word who graduated with a Literature degree from the College of Creative Studies at UC Santa Barbara, where her focus was on creative writing and poetry. She has worked as a freelance writer and as an editor for Drollerie Press, and she is the co-founder of Type Set, Inc, an editing and formatting service dedicated to helping writers with publication in their sights.

On the writing side of things, she’s currently working on a YA fantasy novel that she hopes to have polished for querying by the end of 2012. In the meanwhile, she publishes a new short story for free every other Friday at Tales From the Hollow Tree, a fiction blog she shares with author Isabelle Santiago.

Lisa’s also a self-taught handmade ninja! When she’s not writing, she’s knitting, crocheting, bookbinding, trying out a new recipe—or trying to learn a whole new craft altogether! After all, creativity is the spice of life, whatever form that creativity takes!

Website | Blog | Hollow Tree | Twitter | Facebook | Tumblr | Etsy

Deana Barnhart | Gina Blechman |  Jenny Moore

Kathleen Doyle |  Mandi Thomson

Mark Koopmans

Melanie Fowler | Miranda Hardy | Tasha Seegmiller