TOASTED CHEESE
Est. January 18, 2001
Editors
Stephanie "Baker" Lenz*
Theryn "Beaver" Fleming*
Amanda "Bellman" Marlowe*
Erin "Billiard" Bellavia*
Lisa "Boots" Olson*
Ana George
Mollie "Bonnets" Savage
Forum Hosts
J.E. "jenoonan" Noonan
Faith "fmwrites" Watson
*Founding Editor
Contact the Toasted Cheese Editors
Editorial correspondence: 
Addresses for individual editors can be found below their names in their bios (below).
Publishing news, press releases: 
Submissions: 
See the Submission Guidelines for more info.
Contests: Each contest has a unique address.
See the Contest Guidelines for more info.
SECTION EDITORS
Forum Administrators: The Bellman, Beaver & Baker
Sunday Brunch Writing Prompt Chat Host: Ana George
Calendar Editor: Bonnets
Newsletter Editor: Billiard
Absolute Blank & A Pen In Each Hand: Beaver
Mustard & Cress: Boots
Jam & Judicious Advice: Beaver & Baker
Conundrums to Guess: Beaver
Please note: In an effort to reduce the amount of spam we receive, we have replaced all the @ symbols in e-mail addresses on the site with [at]. To contact us, copy & paste the address into your e-mail program and reinstate the @ symbol.
To ensure your e-mail is read, place "TC" in your subject line, followed by a meaningful description, e.g. TC: Submission Question. An e-mail simply titled "Hi!" is likely to be confused with spam and get deleted without being read.
Our primary reason for creating Toasted Cheese is to provide a place where writers can get honest feedback on their work and honest information about issues important to writers.
Do we have an ulterior motive? Sure. We're all writers, and as you know, writing is a solitary profession. We want a place where we can get together with other writers and share information, talk about writing and get feedback on our work.
Just as one genre isn't for everyone, we know that one site isn't for everyone either. While we hope you will be happy with the writing community at Toasted Cheese, if not, we hope that the links at Mustard & Cress will help you find what you are looking for.
Toasted Cheese is committed to being an independent site, where all opinions are free to be expressed, as long as they are expressed in a polite manner. While we don't rule out trying to make TC self-supporting financially in the future, TC will never rely solely on advertising for revenue. You will always be free to post links to other sites and tell each other about useful writing tools.
Toasted Cheese is a site created by writers for writers. We are half-a-dozen struggling writers, not a corporation. We don't claim to have all the answers. While we've each published a short story or two, none of us have hit the big time... yet. TC is not about us teaching you, it's about all of us learning from each other.
We hope you'll join us in our campaign to Hunt The Snark, and polish your writing. Snark, aside from being a mythical beast in a Lewis Carroll poem, is what we call all those things in our writing that make it less than its best. Our mission is to hunt it out and get rid of it, and to help other people do the same. Whether you need to "charm it with smiles and soap" or to "threaten its life with a railway share" we at TC are dedicated to helping you... and we look forward to you helping us.
We hope that TC will help you achieve your definition of success--whether that's making the NY Times bestseller list, appearing on "Oprah" or getting a short story in a print magazine. Welcome to Toasted Cheese and best of luck with your writing aspirations.
The Snarkers
Snarkers Emeritus
Ronda Brink
Suzanne Wiles Chapman (Barrister)*
Teresa Hichens-Olson
Tawny McDonald (Butcher)*
Rhia Perkins (Kittlekatt)
Steve "Macfisto" Simpson
Trina Talma (Banker)
*Founding Editor
Thanks to everyone who has supported us along the way!
Special thanks to our former hosts:
Jo Chandler
Sheila Gallant-Halloran
Jennifer (Peacefrog)
Dee Ann Ruffel
Janet Mullany (Elailah)
Erica Ruedas (Gargoyle)
Kelly (ibroker)
Jennifer Justice (Kyronae)
Scott Langston (scottasaigon)
J. "jaywalke" Walke
Baker, Billiard & Bellman
BAKER
Stephanie 'Eden' Lenz
Founding Editor & Correspondence Coordinator
I engage with the Snark-- every night after dark--
In a dreamy delirious fight:
I serve it with greens in those shadowy scenes,
And I use it for striking a light
~Fit the Third: The Baker's Tale
When Toasted Cheese launched in January 2001, I never imagined that within four years we'd have been featured in Writer's Digest and picked as one of their "Best 101 Websites." I also wouldn't have guessed that I'd publish an erotic short story in one of the top anthologies for the genre, move to Colorado and back and find the love of my life in someone under three feet tall and bald. I think I need to get my Magic 8 Ball fixed.
Since I've had to put my writing on the back burner, I've noticed that I've filled the space with other creative pursuits (knitting, baking, etc.). For me, making something and having a finished product is secondary to what my creative process is and what it yields. In my mind, I write all the time. I create characters. I note bits of dialogue I overhear. I think about the stories languishing in my "writing" files, where the plot stands and what happens next. These days, I read much more than I used to and I satisfy my writing craving with blog entries and watch TC's forums for yummy stories.
My likes include tortured souls, many forms of chocolate and big dogs. My dislikes are cheese food product, Thomas Kincaide paintings and selective ignorance.
Personal Website: PiggyHawk
Weblog: so anyway...
Baker & Billiard
BEAVER
Theryn Fleming
Founding Editor & Webmaster
The Beaver brought paper, portfolio, pens,
And ink in unfailing supplies:
While strange creepy creatures came out of their dens,
And watched them with wondering eyes.
~Fit the Fifth: The Beaver's Lesson
As I write this, I am in the midst of working on yet another degree (that'll be 4, for those who are counting). I'm writing my thesis on intertextuality in blog narratives, which means that reading blogs is not procrastination, it's research. Diabolical, I know. As you may have surmised from that, I'm interested in life writing (journals, diaries, memoir), as well as literary and young adult fiction. When I'm not reading or writing, I'm probably taking photos, cooking, or running. Sometimes I blog about these things. I like starting (but apparently not finishing) novels and running in the rain (it makes me feel hardcore). I dislike writing autobiographical blurbs and having my picture taken.
Baker & Bellman
BELLMAN
Amanda Marlowe
Founding Editor, Technical Advisor & Forum Designer
Friends, Romans and countrymen, lend me your ears!
(They were all of them fond of quotations:
So they drank to his health, and they gave him three cheers,
While he served out additional rations).
~Fit the Second: The Bellman's Speech
Me? Well, my mild-mannered alter ego is a working hard as a science editor for a middle school textbook publisher. (Having boasted that I could design better textbooks than the stuff I was looking at, I am learning the joys of putting my money where my mouth is!) SuperBellman, on the other hand, is busy staring at the laptop during the commute, and trying to write something up without turning into a parody, and wondering if the laptop is laced with kryptonite. My primary writing focus at the moment is children's literature, which is my favorite reading material. I'm a member of the Society of Children's Books Writers and Illustrators. I also like to dabble in Fantasy/Sci Fi and Mystery. My love of writing, crushed during a lengthy term of indentured servitude masquerading as graduate school, was reborn on reading some of Lois McMaster Bujold's writing essays in Dreamweaver's Dilemma, which I would highly recommend to anyone at all interested in writing SF/F.
Barrister & Bellman
BILLIARD
Erin Bellavia
Founding Editor & Newsletter Coordinator
The maker of Bonnets ferociously planned
A novel arrangement of bows:
While the Billiard-marker with quivering hand
Was chalking the tip of his nose.
~Fit the Fourth: The Hunting
Who am I?
I've been working on the answer to that question for 30+ years. I'll let you know if I ever come up with a satisfactory answer. ;)
I grew up in western PA and now live in Buffalo, NY where I am a substitute teacher and adjunct college instructor, teaching freshman composition.
I've spent most of my professional life writing in one way or another, writing for a newspaper, writing press releases (and various miscellany) for a non-profit organization, and now teaching writing. I've been a "writer" for as long as I can remember, though. In grade school, I used to carry around a notebook and make up stories about my friends. I've had short stories published in Woman's World, Journal of the Blue Planet, No Noun Sense, and of course here at Toasted Cheese. I've also had one nonfiction essay published in a collection called Inspiration for Greeks. I won NaNoWriMo for the first time last November. I'm currently thinking about revising my novel, and playing around with a nonfiction proposal. You can read my day-to-day musings and ramblings at erin-go-blog!
Billiard & Bellman
BONNETS
Mollie Savage
Editor & Promotions Coordinator
The maker of Bonnets ferociously planned
A novel arrangement of bows:
While the Billiard-marker with quivering hand
Was chalking the tip of his nose.
~Fit the Fourth: The Hunting
Creativity. It's everywhere, and something I revere. Whether it's the written word, a flower arrangement, a tasty meal or a homemade tool, I find joy in its creativity and its creator. One of the joys of an on-line community like Toasted Cheese is how we share and support our creativity. I'm delighted to host the non-fiction forum, because I both enjoy reading and writing non-fiction. Some of my work can be found in the print publications AB Bookman's Weekly, Cyclops, and The Ozark Organic Grower. Some of the ways I celebrate my creativity are organic market gardening, whimsical yard art, whole foods cooking, historic museum work and, of course, writing.
Macfisto & Bonnets
BOOTS
Lisa 'Deoris' Olson
Founding Editor & Graphic Designer
The Boots and the Broker were sharpening a spade--
Each working the grindstone in turn:
But the Beaver went on making lace, and displayed
No interest in the concern:
~Fit the Fourth: The Hunting
Once again, we've been asked to explain who we are and what we do around here. I'm still at a loss as to what exactly to say and not sound like a complete boob, but I'll give it a shot. When I'm not writing stories about nekkid cooks or guns in my attic, I'm thinking up new ways to torture the writers around Toasted Cheese. You can find me at Maxim Tremendous and Perpetual Passion, creating exercises and speed story ideas. Sometimes I'm starting a new thread or two at Locusts and Tape. And every once in a while, the FUM questions are all my idea. I've written articles for Toasted Cheese and dabbled in personal essays and humor writing for Journal of the Blue Planet. When I'm not writing, I'm creating web site graphics (look around, I made this!) and Toasted Cheese awards, or just off playing games. And no. I'm NOT a lesbian nudist with a gun. I just write them for TC. ~Deoris, Das Boots. More...
Boots and Beaver (behind the camera)
ANA
Ana George
Editor
Ana George is a pseudonym who cohabits with a distinctly middle-aged scientist in the Boston 'burbs. The fiction they write is published in her name; the science they write is not. This cozy relationship is, as you might imagine, the occasion for much oddity, some of which finds its way into the aforementioned fiction. Several Ana stories have been published by Toasted-Cheese.com (thanks!). There are a few sonnets and a half-finished novel also waiting to have something done with them.
Besides writing and science, making vocal music (especially polyphony from the Spanish Renaissance) helps pass the time. As does fixing stuff around the house, playing with the computer, and, of course, reading, often with three books in progress at a time.
Ana loves getting e-mail related to writing.
JENOONAN
J.E. Noonan
Forum Host
I spend most of my "real" time working as a network administrator for a major controls manufacturing company. Born and bred in upstate New York, have lived there happily all my life. I read voraciously (history—Civil War, WWII; thrillers; horror; actually just about anything on the printed page), write when possible.
Married for 25+ years to my lovely wife Linda, stepfather to John and Bryan, recently a father-in-law to Cheryl and grandpa to Jordan and Carissa. In addition to reading, I enjoy computer strategy games, painting in oils, walking and eating (not necessarily in that order).
I tend to write "straight" stories with the injection of a single fantastic element, so I guess the result would be termed fantasy. Currently working on my first full-length novel, presently 35000+, COLUMBUS.
Thanks for reading, everyone!
FMWRITES
Faith Watson
Forum Host
Everyone can feel comfortable posting in my midst; there's nothing to worry about when it comes to me. I have Zen freckles, and am happy to try to help everyone whose path crosses mine.
I have a primordial fear of things without eyelids, and/or with small bones. So, I humbly withdraw in advance from any critique involving vivid images of birds, fish, snakes, baby mice or tree frogs. Plus owl pellets, for related reasons.
I am usually barefoot but have a closet full of heels. And I'm not afraid to use them.
MACFISTO
Steve Simpson
Editor
Twenty-two years ago, J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis yanked me away from the TV and showed me what the written word could do. A year later, I wrote a vampire story for seventh grade English class and the teacher told me, "Keep this up and you'll write a novel someday." I liked the sound of that, even if she was a crackpot prone to nicotine fits. I pursued journalism in high school and college until Someone gave me the idea of becoming a shrink. So I became a psychologist and even married another one. We while away our days speaking psychobabble and spoiling our dog in Sierra Madre, California, a nice little town in the only mountains around Los Angeles that haven't burned to the ground. I have a private practice and teach Clinical Psychology, but the words of my crazy English teacher haunted me. So I wrote a novel. Now I spend my nights rewriting the thing and chewing holes in the carpet as stress relief from writing 10,000 drafts of a query letter. I like running, college basketball, rock and roll, and video games. But I love writing.
JAYWALKE
J. Walke
Forum Host
J. Walke is a writer and actor who lives in the mountains of Virginia. This is hopefully the last stop on a tour that has covered twelve states over fifteen years. He writes travel stories, some serious literature that his characters insist on turning into sci-fi/fantasy, and clangs around in the various drama forms. In his spare time he backpacks on the Appalachian Trail, collects ghost stories and volunteers for the local search-and-rescue team.
