The Storyteller Squad

I’m honored to be a founding member of the Storyteller Squad, a group of Christian writers who specialize in children, middle grade, and young adult genres. If you’re looking for an online one-stop shop that offers teens a safe place to find motivational tips, writing lessons and reviews on clean books, check out our site.

Since 2016, we have supported each other with chapter critiques, industry news updates, sincere encouragement, and prayer. Each year, we’ve added a new writer or two, and now we’re twelve strong. Members include:

Burton W. Cole
Gretchen Carlson
Julane Fisher
Laurie Germaine
Kristen Johnson
Victoria Kimble
Michelle McCorkle
Tracy Popolizio
Sharon Rene
Michelle Kaderly Welsh
Jill K Willis
Candice Yamnitz

We met through the American Christian Fiction Writers online loop. The first year, our private group, auto-named Scribes 209, critiqued each other’s chapters. I’d send a message out each Wednesday to all the members, who’d let me know if they had a chapter to submit that week. I’d create an Excel spreadsheet with the assigned critiques and distribute it on Fridays. By the following Thursday, each participating member would have critiqued two chapters and received two critiques on his or her chapter.

I sent an entire manuscript through this loop . . . twice. The feedback was invaluable. This effective process has continued, and a different member creates the weekly critique sheets each year. Julane Fisher is our current manager.

In February 2017, we decided to kick it up a notch. Scribes 209 morphed into the Storyteller Squad. Michelle McCorkle and Victoria Kimble developed a logo and a robust website that features three blogs by different writers each week:

Motivation Monday
Writing Tips Wednesday
Fun Reads Friday

Our goals are to provide a forum for readers to get to know us, help develop new writers, and offer reviews of clean middle grade and young adult novels. I recommend you subscribe to our blog. You’ll receive a notification each time one is posted. We’ll do our best to motivate you on Mondays, teach you a little something on Wednesdays, and offer honest book recommendations on Fridays. Author interviews are on our schedule for this fall.

We’ve also expanded to Facebook and Instagram. We’d love for you to follow us.

You’re welcome to email any of us with writing questions or requests for specific blog topics. We’re a pretty responsive bunch. God has blessed us through our writing gifts and with our friendship. We’d love to share our blessings with you.