Success Stories

Meredith Z. Avakian launched her Substack, “MZA’s Prism,” where she shares her true-life stories, synchronicities, poetry, and a look into her lifestyle of doing something new every day. She was also a featured storyteller at Generation Women NJ in Red Bank, representing “Team 40.” (Meredith, our instructor and director of community outreach and engagement, also leads Stories on Stage.)

Diane Bier had two pieces published—“Grandfather’s Mountain” in The Nature of Our Times and “Nana’s Christmas Cactus” in The Bluebird Word. (Diane actively participates in Lunchtime Write-In.)

Jennifer Chauhan & Christine DeMarsico had their piece “Healing Through Writing” published in the New Jersey Council of Teachers of English’s latest issue of New Jersey English Journal, “Cultivating Joyful Teaching & Learning in ELA,” featuring practitioner articles, research, personal essays, and poetry related to the theme. (Jennifer, our executive director, and Christine, an English teacher at Asbury Park High School, both participate in the Teacher Writing Collaborative. PWN also provides expressive writing programs with Christine’s classes.)

Jennifer Chauhan was also a featured storyteller in Generation Women NJ, representing “Team 50.”

Sarah Congress had her film, “The Lure of Asbury Park,” selected as a finalist in the 2024 AP’N3 Film Challenge. Also, her comedy, “Melting,” was in the 2024 International Human Rights Festival on Thursday, December 12, in New York. (Sarah teaches Humor Writing.)

Mimi Cross, with student Gloria Barone, has written thirteen songs, and of those thirteen, Mimi has recorded ten—two songs produced locally by musician/producer/songwriter Ron Haney and the remaining eight songs recorded in Woodstock, NY with musician/producer/songwriter Kevin Salem. Six of those songs have been released as singles on streaming platforms, such as Spotify, YouTube Radio, and Apple Music. Stream for free or purchase tracks to help support this ongoing collaboration. The rest of the songs will be released as an EP in early 2025. (Mimi is PWN’s songwriter and songwriting instructor.)

Liz deBeer had five pieces accepted for publication—“Biblical Inspirations” in Bending Genres, issue 42, “Envy Is” in Brevity Blog, “Not Too Old” in Switch microfiction magazine, “Catch and Release: Life Lessons from a Bad Date” in Libre Magazine, and “What Motivates Progressives to Write Postcards” as well as “Frustration Over Stolen Lawn Signs” in InsiderNJ. (Liz is an instructor teaching Flash Fiction and participates in Book Writers Workshop.)

Gay Norton Edelman had her poem, “Girl Running,” published in the October 2024 issue of Friends Journal. (Gay is facilitating our upcoming Get Unstuck Writing Retreat.)

Christian J. Farber had his piece, “On Love,” published in the anthology The Silver Lining of Heartache by Wingless Dreamer on August 12. (Chris has been a writer in our Memoir Intensive class.)

Paula Fitzgibbons had her article “My Mother’s Revenge” published in Human Parts on Medium. (Paula participates in our Memoir Incubator.)

Nancy Francese participated in Generation Women in Red Bank, representing the 70+ generation. One of the things that stood out for her was how the stories for each age so clearly represented the age. “By the time we went from the 20-year-old to the 70-year-old, we had a complete arc of life’s journey.” (Nancy has participated in Memoir Intensive.)

Jennifer Gaites had her piece, “Through the Plexiglass,” published in HerStry on September 26. (Jen facilitates Extraordinary Ordinary Stories.)

Katherine Farrell Ginsbach had her short story, “The Wake of a Romper – Embracing Death and Life After Goodbye,” published in Skeleton Flowers Press on September 24. (Katherine participates in the Memoir Incubator.)

Lisa Gochman had a sold-out, standing room only Q&A/reading of her memoir, At the Altar of the Appellate Gods: Arguing in the US Supreme Court (Indiana University Press 2022) at the Asbury Book Cooperative in October. (Lisa participates in Extraordinary Ordinary Stories.)

Wendy Goodman was a featured reader in October at a reading called “MoCo Underground Writers Showcase,” which takes place four times a year at Sandy Spring Museum in Olney, MD. She also joined a literary organization out of DC called “The InnerLoop” at their winter writing retreat in Berkeley Springs, WV.  (Wendy joins us for as many one-day workshops as she can.)

Lisa Hartsgrove had three more poems accepted for publication—“magic hour,” published in Moonstone Arts Center’s 28th annual Poetry Ink anthology in September, “Naming Fear After Cats,” published in Honeyguide Literary Magazine on November 29, and “Me & the Sky,” published in Moonflake Press’ Astroflakes Volume 3 on December 23. (Lisa, our program coordinator, wrote these pieces in Lunchtime Write-In, a workshop she facilitates.)

Elizabeth Jannuzzi had a flash essay, “Purgatory in Two Parts,” selected as a runner up in WOW-Women on Writing’s Q4 2024 Essay Contest, an excerpt from her memoir published in the January 2025 issues of AA’s Grapevine, and Liz is proud to report she has 217 subscribers to her weekly Substack that she began at the end of last year. (Liz, our operations & communications manager, is a peer artist leader for our Memoir Incubator.)

Jenny Morelli had multiple pieces published since August! In Spillwords, she published “The Difference” in December, she was the Spotlight on Writers in September, and she has a new piece forthcoming on December 21 called “A Heavenly Place.” In Red Rose Thorns, she published “Four Eyes” in September, “Please Understand,” “The Piano Lesson,” “What Makes a Witch a Witch,” and “Dear High School Me” in October. In 101 Words, she published “Toward the End” in October. In CC&D/Scarstv.com, she published “The Lies of Santa” in their December issue, v352. She was also accepted in Friday Night Library: The open hearts edition, The December issue of Mobius Blvd: Stories from the Byway Between Reality and Dream No. 14, and The Writers’ Journal: Live & Learn. And she has another chapbook out through Bottlecap Press—“Rainbows & Unicorns.” (Jenny participates in Book Writers Workshop, Creative Writing, Poetry, Teacher Writing Collaborative, and Lunchtime Write-In.)

Eileen Toomey was nominated by Cleaver Magazine for Best of the Net 2024 with her piece “Immunotherapy.” (Eileen facilitates Hybrid Writing.)

Courtney Zeni got her first response back from an agent asking for more sample pages this December. (Courtney participates in Book Revision Lab.)