Much Ado About Writing was formed when Kate and Valerie thought Why should the fun of a good writer’s conference come to an end? So they decided to bring their expertise in teaching and editing online to you!
Kate Penndorf
Co-Founder of Much Ado About Writing
Kate lives just this side of Imagination Land, where Fall foliage is peaking, a cozy tea is steeping, and an adventure is formulating. Her sweet spot is middle grade fantasy. As the author of two published novels, she aims to give hope, agency, and voice to characters and readers alike.
She served years at the state level as an event coordinator for SCBWI. Currently, Kate is a developmental editor, where she gets to help other writers hone their craft and polish their manuscript. She is also a contributing author for the magazine Children’s Book Insider. She offers school visits and has appeared at regional and national conferences
Kate is an author, whose premise for her first MG book came to her while commuting to work in NYC. As a developmental editor, Kate loves helping other writers hone their craft and polishing their manuscript. Inspired by the edits and workshops she has given, along with coaching writers as they plot their stories, the idea for her new adventure, Much Ado About Writing.com, was born. You can also find Kate serving at the state level as an event coordinator for Wisconsin’s SCBWI chapter.
Valerie Heller
Co-Founder of Much Ado About Writing
Valerie traces her squiggly path to becoming a writer back to Mrs. Hodges’ first and second grade classroom, where she wrote and illustrated her very first books. Two decades later, she rediscovered her passion for children’s literature as a middle and high school English and creative writing teacher. An NCTE member and Teacher-Consultant with the National Writing Project, she transformed her classroom into a reading and writing workshop, where she read and wrote alongside her students.
Since leaving behind full-time teaching to devote more time to writing, Valerie has taught composition at the college level and continues to work in the classroom with pre-service secondary English teachers. As a lead writing coach for the Bloomberg Arts Institute (Baltimore) program, she mentors young artists and writers. A recent graduate of Young Audiences of Maryland’s Teaching Artist Institute, she looks forward to returning to middle and high school classrooms as a writer-in-residence.
A long-time member of SCBWI, Valerie has participated in numerous writing seminars and intensive workshops, learning the craft firsthand from leading kidlit authors, including Meg Medina, Kate Messner, Linda Urban, Gary D. Schmidt, and Linda Sue Park. She was recently selected to participate in the Whole Novel Retreat at the Highlights Foundation, where she worked closely with Crystal Allen and Nora Shalaway Carter on revising and re-vision-ing her current work-in-progress.
When not working on her latest middle grade or young adult novel, she can be found playing violin in a tango orchestra, practicing the energy healing art of chakra balancing, or solving a crossword puzzle. She lives with her husband and their two mischievous cats in Ellicott City, Maryland.
Much Ado About Writing 