Our Authors

My name is Christy Diane Farr and I am The Unruly Woman. It is my heart’s mission to help women change their lives. What’s “normal” feels too formal and doesn’t capture the most powerful parts of my story. Yes, I have a degree. Yes, I went to school to learn to be a life coach. Yes, I’m a published writer, I belong to relevant professional organizations, and I’ve collaborated with oodles of extraordinary women over the last seven years. And sure, these statistics are important but only in that they represent the experiences that carried me home to the truth of who I am. These are but a handful of the many pieces woven into the fabric of life and frankly, I prefer to collaborate with women who want to know about my unruly bits because that is what makes it possible for me to do this thing I do.

Claudia Sternbach is the author of two previous memoirs, Now Breathe, a very personal journey through breast cancer (Whiteaker Press) and Reading Lips, a memoir of kisses (Unbridled Books). Claudia was a newspaper columnist for many years and has been published often in The San Francisco Chronicle, The San Francisco Examiner, and The Chicago Tribune. She has also been published in several anthologies and is the former editor-in-chief of the literary journal, Memoir. When she isn't writing, Claudia paints. When she isn't writing or painting, she can be found on her daily walk on the beach. And at the end of the day she enjoys a cocktail on her back yard swing while watching the squirrels trapeze branch to branch in the redwoods. Claudia lives on the coast of Northern California with her husband, Michael.

Jory Post was an educator, writer, and artist who lived in Santa Cruz, California. He and his wife, Karen Wallace, created handmade books and art together as JoKa Press. Jory was the co-founder and publisher of phren-z, an online literary quarterly, and founder of the Zoom Forward reading series. His first book of prose poetry, The Extra Year, was published in 2019, and was followed by a second, Of Two Minds, in 2020. His novel, Pious Rebel, also appeared in 2020. His novel, Smith: An Unauthorized Fictography, was published in 2021. His work has been published in Catamaran Literary Reader, Chicago Quarterly Review, Rumble Fish Quarterly, The Sun, and elsewhere. His short stories “Sweet Jesus” and “Hunt and Gather” were nominated for the 2019 Pushcart Prize.

Leah RS Braun is the author of Sex On Fire: Finding Embodied Intimacy After Trauma and Love on Fire: Practicing Embodied Intimacy After Sexual Trauma. Leah’s mission is to help others (and herself) get OUT of the trap of people-pleasing, hyperfunctioning, and relationships that do not give us the space to be who we are. To do this, we must be courageous enough to look deeply inside ourselves, heal our wounds, and lean into what is possible when we stop taking care of others and start taking care of ourselves.

Lisa Jacob started reading tarot cards at twelve, hiding them from her parents for more than 30 years. She was initiated in a Wiccan tradition, but eventually fell out of that "organized" religion, developing a more eclectic, Magical-based belief. She has summoned spirits, predicted the future, and assisted in the present. With over 30 years of magical experience, using cards and candles, symbols and sigils, Lisa would like to pass her knowledge on to people who may not be magically inclined, but who are looking for that extra edge in their lives. Lisa is also the author of Carnival Farm, Real Magic for Writers, and the "Grimaulkin" and "War Mage" fantasy series. You can find out more about Lisa Jacob at her website, lajacob.com.

Logan Jacob has been a photographer since his early teens. Always on the lookout for the perfect picture, he will whip out his phone to take a picture when the time is right. He is self-taught and has a good eye for composition.

Lyn Smirnov was raised in a small town in northeastern Oregon, but navigated her professional life through Silicon Valley. After years of technical writing, teaching, and managing technical teams, she’s finally turning her attention to more rewarding tasks like photography and cycling.

Marlene Anne Bumgarner was born in Bradford, Yorkshire, England. Following World War II she and her parents sailed to New York, then lived on a family-owned poultry farm in Zephyrhills, Florida and in a rural community in Victoria, Australia, before settling permanently in California. Marlene put herself through college working as a technical writer, then felt the draw of the land. In 1973, she moved to a piece of rural property with her husband and daughter. Following a decade teaching elementary and preschool children, Marlene taught Child and Adolescent Development for 30 years at a community college. Her first book, The Book of Whole Grains, grew out of a cultural history curriculum she developed for fourth grade. Organic Cooking for (not-so-organic) Mothers was inspired by letters written to her by readers of the "Naturally Speaking" newspaper column she wrote for the San Jose Mercury News. Working with School Age Children was written for the thousands of young people working in before- and after-school programs around the country, and is used as a textbook in many colleges and universities. In 2001, Marlene was awarded the Educator of the Year award by the Chamber of Commerce of Morgan Hill, California. Since retiring from full time teaching, she volunteers in the Young Writers Program at local schools, and writes a monthly blog addressing topics of interest to parents and grandparents. Find out more about Marlene’s family life, cooking, and gardening at marlenebumgarner.com.

Matthew Legare is what happens when you tell someone they can be anything they want to be — but provide no further guidance. A performer and creator of “stuff” since he was able to stand upright, he can check off the boxes for “actor”, “writer”, “director”, “renter of fishing boats”, “painter of bathrooms”, “wrangler of technology”, and a number of other jobs which look good in an author’s biography. Unable to stop making stuff up (he’s tried; we checked), Matthew is credited (or blamed) with a number of radio plays and spoken-word performances, as well as being “Tobias the Adequate” at fairs, festivals, and themed gatherings.  Since so many people responded to “I’m a magician.” with “Oh? What instrument do you play?”, Mr. Legare has branched into geeky, nerdy, goofy music with his “Troubadork” show, streaming regularly and coming to the aforementioned gatherings. Matthew lives in an undisclosed location in San Antonio, Texas, with his extremely patient and supportive partner, Ami, and somewhere between zero and too many cats.

Paola Bruni is a writer, wife, and doggie mom living on California’s Central Coast. She is a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee, winner of the Morton Marcus Poetry Prize, and winner of the Muriel Craft Bailey Poetry Prize judged by Ellen Bass, as well as a finalist for the Mudfish Poetry Prize. Her poems have appeared in such prestigious journals as The Southern Review, Ploughshares, Five Points Journal, Rattle, Massachusetts Review, and Catamaran Literary Reader, among others. Her short plays have been produced by Actors Theater, Santa Cruz as well as short-listed for play festivals around the globe. You can learn more about the world and works of Paola Bruni at paolabruniwriter.com.

The child of Caldecott Award-winning children’s book authors, Rachel Zemach grew up surrounded by literature, art, and humor. After becoming Deaf suddenly at age ten, she attended a series of schools that had one thing in common—a lack of accessible education—until, four years later, she found herself at a school for the Deaf. Thus began a love for American Sign Language and the richly idiosyncratic, passionate, and innovative culture and community of the Deaf. While raising a family, after completing a degree in education, Rachel Zemach began teaching in the Deaf classroom of a local public school. Shocked at the deprivation she encountered there, she retired with a sense of urgency to write this book. She now lives with her husband in Northern California.

Steven Radecki has been writing stories for as long as he can remember. After earning a degree in Information and Computer Science, he authored several technical papers about computer technology and one non-fiction book about developing multimedia applications, Multimedia with QuickTime. Steven is the author of Building Baby Brother and the story "Aggressive Negotiations" from the Corporate Catharsis anthology. Now, he focuses on writing novels and screenplays. He is a technical writer and a certified project manager, managing projects for several high-tech companies in Silicon Valley. Steven can be found at A Work in Progress.