Becky Mushko

Becky Mushko: After retiring from Roanoke City Schools, Becky Mushko taught English at Ferrum College from 1999-2006 and was Writer in Residence for Roanoke County Schools in 2006-2007. Her short stories have been published in THEMA, Virginia Adversaria, and other magazines, and her columns in Blue Ridge Traditions and the Smith Mountain Eagle. Among her accomplishments are winning the Sherwood Anderson Short Story Contest three times and the Lonesome Pine Short Story Contest five times and being a Pushcart Prize nominee. She was a Bulwer-Lytton category winner in 1996 ("Worst Western") and 2008 ("Vile Pun"). Her novel, Patches on the Same Quilt, won the Smith Mountain Arts Council Fiction Contest and was self-published with a grant from SMAC. Her work appears in a Cup of Comfort for Writers, It Was a Dark and Stormy Night, and Anthology of Appalachian Writers, Vol. 2. Ferradiddledumday, her Appalachian version of Rumpelstiltskin, was published by Cedar Creek in 2010. Her middle grade novel, Stuck, will be published in 2011. Her website is www.beckymushko.com and her blog is peevishpen.blogspot.com. She is prepared to discuss the craft of writing and blogging, provide advice about the pros and cons of self-publishing, discuss the importance of social media for writers, and read from her work. She can be reached at 8 Listening Hill Road, Penhook, VA 24137, 540-576-3339, mushko@embarqmail.com.