Joy E. Rancatore

Legacy and identity, founded on hope-filled faith, infuse the tales of the soul written from the heart of JOY E. RANCATORE. Her Carolina’s Legacy Collection embraces everyday moments that constitute a lifetime and its heritage. Told around multiple related characters, this collection explores faith, life, death and the demons within through four mediums—novel, novella, short stories and epistolary.

An avid reader, student of human behaviors and unwitting empath, Joy absorbs emotions and spills them onto the pages of her work. Joy’s technical background includes more than two decades of professional writing and editing. Ongoing training in writing, publishing, business and counseling enables her to package soul-filled stories for her readers. An award-winning, multi-genre Indie Author, Joy believes extraordinary things await her characters and their tales.

Despite a fondness for her roles as author, editor, podcaster and speaker, Joy is a hobbit at heart with Bilbo’s zeal for mountains. She enjoys a life of quiet stillness with her husband, two children, dog and cat and more books than she’s willing to count. When daily homeschool lessons are complete, she eagerly prepares for teatime before writing your next favorite story.

Mea Smith

MEA SMITH creates fictional content tinted with hope set in contemporary and/or fantastical places. Her nonfiction focuses on writing craft for authors. Her poetry is based on a true story. Always.

Her debut poetry book, Grief Like A River, includes her own illustrations and highlights her creative diversity. With co-author Joy E. Rancatore, she wrote Finders Keepers: A Practical Approach to Find and Keep Your Writing Critique Partner.

Smith’s background in Speech and Debate and as a college English instructor yields an introspective approach to assessing and embodying creativity.