Because Mom Asked: The power of a cup half full

Commander R.W. Herman, winner of 2021 and 2023 the Florida Authors and Publishers Association Presidents Book Award GOLD Medals, was born in Minnesota and graduated from Minneapolis Edison High School in 1964. While attending the University of Minnesota in 1965, he received his draft notice and chose to enlist in the U.S. Navy beginning his Naval career which would span over 30 years. Following ten years enlisted service, he was selected through the Limited Duty Officer program and commissioned an Ensign in April 1979 specializing in a submarine communication. In the 1980's he was the forerunner and leading expert for battle group communications interoperability involving surface, submarine and air forces, not only for the U.S. but many nations of the world. In 1997 he chaired the steering committee of senior staff officers of the submarine force leading them into the future of C4I (Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence), laying the foundation for and assuring continued information processing superiority into the twenty-first century. Highly respected, he was an exceptional leader and was known as the guru, oracle and Jedi master of submarine communications. All senior commanders when picking their staffs asked that their communication department be headed by someone who was "Herman Trained." During his career he served on four ships', had overseas tours in Italy and Sardinia, visited four continents, 15 countries and sailed in three oceans and over a dozen seas. He is entitled to wear the Legion of Merit, the Meritorious Service Medal with two stars, the Navy Commendation Medal with one star and the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal with two stars. At retirement, he was the senior submarine communications officer in the Navy. A sports enthusiast, CDR Herman was a high school wrestling champion and an exceptional bowler. He has always been involved in activities whether playing himself or coaching his sons in little league. As an avid softball player and manager, he participating in numerous all-navy events leading the Naples All-Stars to the 1977 All Navy Europe Championship finals. CDR Herman is an active member of the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) and a strong supporter of the St. Mary's Submarine Museum. He is co-founder of R.O.A.R. (Reach Out and Respond) which was created in 2012 as a philanthropic source to help those who need immediate and short-term assistance during unexpected financial loss. CDR Herman now resides in Fernandina Beach, Florida, with his wife Kathy and their two Boston Terriers Roxy and Stella and Olde English Bulldog Sissy. Between them, they have five sons, ten grandchildren and one great-grandchild. When not writing, he most likely is reading a book, enjoying TV or watching the grandchildren participate in sports.

My career has included reporting, writing and copyediting for newspapers, producing magazines and newsletters, and editing for publishers and authors. I find the greatest satisfaction in working with writers and editing manuscripts. I edit all kinds of books, from nonfiction to historical novels, action-suspense, mystery and mainstream fiction. Words have fascinated me as long as I can remember. From my first well-worn copy of Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses, I was hooked. I devoured Joel Chandler Harris stories, Nancy Drew and everything else I could find. In time, I was captivated by the wonderful words of Twain, Austen, Christie, Doyle, Michener, P.G. Wodehouse, Dorothy Sayers, Rex Stout, Helen MacInnes, Steven Saylor, Mary Stewart, Tony Hillerman, Jack McDevitt and hundreds more. A wise teacher once told me that the best training for good writing is to read, read and read some more. The same is true for good editing. It takes more than just knowing the rules of grammar or catching typos and redundancy. It requires an innate awareness of what works and what doesn't, when a phrase is out of kilter or jarring, wording is stilted or a character lacks life-and whether a story is being told well or not. Because I appreciate the tremendous effort that writing takes, my editing goes beyond fixing or critiquing; I work with individuals to help them attain the results they want. I identify mistakes or problems and recommend revisions. You may review, accept-or reconsider-comments and changes, or discuss if you like. But always, it is your book. You, the author, have the ultimate say in your creation-as well as the credit and success.

Roseanna White isn't just a designer-she's an author too. That means she knows how important it is for a cover to match a story...and the anxious joy that comes with waiting for and then finally glimpsing the face of your book! Because of this, she will always go out of her way to make sure the covers she designs fully capture the look you as the author are going for. Roseanna has always loved to play with covers-she started hand-drawing them to go along with her stories when she was in grade school. Once she learned how to use Photoshop, it was only a matter of time before "playing" turned serious. She's been designing covers for White Fire Publishing since 2012 and went freelance shortly thereafter. In the years since she's been running RWD, she's designed hundreds of covers across all genres and absolutely loves having a creative outlet that she can indulge when she's not writing. What makes her especially giddy lately is that she's been getting to design covers for some of her favorite authors, as they release their backlist (aka the books she grew up on, that inspired her to be an author).