Estelle Erasmus

Estelle Erasmus is an award-winning journalist, writing coach, and longtime ASJA member and an adjunct instructor at New York University and for Writer's Digest. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Independent, WIRED, Huffington Post Personal, AARP the Magazine, Vox, Insider, Next Avenue, GH, Marie Claire and more. Estelle's articles for the New York Times and Washington Post have gone globally viral (with more than 500 comments on her NYT piece). She has appeared on Good Morning America, Fox News with Ernie Anastos and has had her articles mentioned on "The View". She is co-host of the Freelance Writing Direct Podcast (found on iTunes and Spotify). 

Her book WRITING THAT GETS NOTICED: How to Find Your Voice, Become a Better Storyteller, and Get Published from New World Library is available online and wherever books are sold. 

Find her on Twitter: @EstelleSErasmus, Instagram: @EstelleSErasmus, TikTok: @EstelleSErasmus and on her website at http://estelleserasmus.com/ and on Substack https://estelleserasmus.substack.com

Terri Valentine

The writing career of romance novelist Terri Valentine is truly a Cinderella story. An avid reader all of her life, she began writing her first historical romance in the summer of 1985 on an old Smith-Corona manual typewriter. Of course it had several keys that stuck, and invariably every time she made even minor changes the entire manuscript had to be completely retyped. In spite of such adversities, she believed in herself and finished that first valiant effort, and then went on to revise her manuscript several times before satisfied.

One year later, Terri submitted Sea Dream to publishers. After several rejections, good ones she was later to learn by the standards of the industry, she went on to sell her book. Since then, she has been under steady contract. To date, she has ten romance novels and a Christmas short story in publication. Sweet Paradise was nominated for Best Romance Adventure by Romantic Times in 1992. Louisiana Caress received a coveted K.I.S.S (Knight in Shining Silver) Award from Romantic Times in 1993. Sands of Time (1993), her first time travel romance, is set in the Middle East. In 1995, Storm Dancer was a single release title from Zebra, followed in 1997 by the release of Paradise Promised. At present she is under contract for two more historicals, and she is currently working on a high-concept romantic novel that her agent anxiously awaits. She has also written a screenplay that is in production rewrites.

Terri Valentine is WDU’s critique editor for children’s picture books. Customers have been extremely pleased with the feedback provided by Terri. Terri said, “Good fiction writing is good fiction writing. Through my experience, I’m able to ‘see’ what works in a novel as well as a picture book.”

“Most valuable to me is the unstinted assistance and shared knowledge given to me by other writers throughout my career. I would never published if it had not been for the help of one such writer who offered support and encouragement from start to finish of that first manuscript.” Following in her mentor footsteps, she has eagerly critiqued manuscripts and helped other beginning novelists learn the taxing craft of writing, many of whom have gone on to publish.