Meet The Nonprofit: Sinkinson Dyslexia Foundation

Written by Jamie McAllister

When you pick up a copy of By the Bay: East Beach Stories and By the Bay 2: More East Beach Stories, you are getting more than two amazing beach reads. You are also helping to support grassroots organizations doing amazing things for people in Hampton Roads. 

A portion of the proceeds from both By the Bay anthologies are donated to nonprofits dedicated to literacy in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia. The anthology authors are proud to support groups that go above and beyond to encourage and promote reading in the communities they call home.

One of the nonprofit groups our anthologies support is Sinkinson Dyslexia Foundation. Located in Virginia Beach, Virginia, SDF is a 501(c)3 that trains volunteers in Orton-Gillingham, an approach used to teach children and adults with dyslexia how to read. Tutoring is offered free of charge to individuals living in low to low-middle income households. The group offers up to 100 hours of free one-on-one tutoring with a volunteer. Many students work with their tutor for more than a year.  

Since 2014, Sinkinson Dyslexia Foundation has 

* received 152 applications for free reading tutoring

* tested the reading levels of 70 students and

* matched 62 students with a tutor

Eighty-six volunteers have received specialized training from SDF, and the group proudly reports that 12 students have fully graduated. (To graduate, participants must meet or exceed average reading scores for their age or grade level.)

All of the By the Bay authors are proud to support Sinkinson in their efforts to bring the joy of reading to those with dyslexia.

To learn more about Sinkinson Dyslexia Foundation, visit their website at www.sinkinsondyslexiafoundation.org. Follow them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/sinkinsondyslexiafoundation.

About the author: Jamie McAllister is the author of “The Mermaid” in the anthology By the Bay 2: More East Beach Stories, published in 2017. She is a freelance writer in Virginia Beach. For more information about Jamie and her work, please visit her website.

Favorite Book of 2016 - Jenny Sparks

Writers read!  And here is one of our By the Bay 2 authors’ favorite books of 2016.

Written by Jenny Sparks

Title: A Prayer For Owen Meany

Author:  John Irving

Genre: Literary Fiction

Setting:  1950’s to 1970’s New Hampshire

Format:  Kindle

Pages:  658

Publication date:  1989 (Kindle 2012)

Publisher:  William Morrow

Opening Line: I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice- not because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother’s death, but because he is the reason I believe in God; I am Christian because of Owen Meany.

Favorite Passage: She was a passionate reader, and she thought that reading was one of the noblest efforts of all; in contrast.

Review: In all honesty, I chose this book because my first grandchild, Owen, was born this year. I thought it would be fun to read a book with his name involved. (As it happened, my daughter-in-law, Owen’s mother, also read the book at the same time and for the same reason.) To my happy surprise I found myself engrossed in a tale about two men and their lifelong friendship. It begins in their youth in a small New England town and follows them as they navigate the pitfalls of growing up- death, school, girls and war. It’s well worth your time.

About the author: Jenny Sparks lives in Virginia Beach with her husband, Mike, and two goldendoodles, Millie and Twyla. "Millie's Missing Key" in By The Bay is her first published work. She considers herself a hobbyist writer and is pleased to be included in the By The Bay anthologies.

Favorite Book of 2016 - Karen Harris

Writers read!  And here is one of our By the Bay 2 authors’ favorite books of 2016.


Written by Karen Harris

Book Title: Telling Secrets

Author:  Frederick Buechner

Genre:  Memoir

Setting:  Family life from the late 1930’s-present mostly in the US

Pages:  106

Publication date:  1991

Publisher:  Harper Collins

Opening Line: “One November morning in 1936 when I was ten years old, my father got up early, put on a pair of gray slacks and a maroon sweater, opened the door to look in briefly on my younger brother and me, who were playing a game in our room, and then went down into the garage where he turned on the engine of the family Chevy and sat down on the running board to wait for the exhaust to kill him.”

Favorite Passage:  It was hard to pick a favorite, so I chose one I loved for its humor and pathos:  “She excoriated the ravages of old age but never accepted them as the consequence of getting old.  ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with me today,’ she must have said a thousand days as she tried once, then again, then a third time, to pull herself out of her chair into her walker.  It never seemed to occur to her that what was wrong with her was that she was on her way to pushing a hundred.  Maybe that was why some part of her remained unravaged.  Some surviving lightness of touch let her stand back from the wreckage and see that among other things it was absurdly funny.  When I told her the last time she was mobile enough to visit us in Vermont that the man who had just passed her window was the gardener, she said, ‘Tell him to come in and take a look at the last rose of summer.” 

Review:  Frederick Buechner manages to weave the difficult memories of his childhood into his unexpected spiritual journey with an ease that holds one’s attention and one’s heart.  His reminiscences are at once poignant and funny, written with a natural, lyrical flair.

About the author: Karen Harris is a writer and editor from San Francisco, now residing in Virginia Beach.   Her story “I Have A Dress” appeared in By the Bay: East Beach Stories.  Her story “Comings and Goings” will appear in Volume II  which will be published in 2017.

Favorite Book of 2016 - Gina Warren Buzby

Writers read!  And here is one of our By the Bay 2 authors’ favorite books of 2016.

Written by Gina Warren Buzby

Book Title: The Nightingale

Author:  Kristin Hannah

Genre: Fiction

Setting:   France. WWII

Format: 

Pages:  448

Publication date:  2/2015

Publisher:   St. Martin's Press

Opening Line:  If I have learned anything in this long life of mine, it is this: in love we find out who we want to be; in war we find out who we are.

Favorite Passage:Men tell stories. Women get on with it. For us it was a shadow war. There were no parades for us when it was over, no medals or mentions in history books. We did what we had to during the war, and when it was over, we picked up the pieces and started our lives over.

Review: Strong women and their stories always draw me in, especially dramatic relationships woven into historical novels.

About the author: Gina Warren Buzby is the author of “Plein Mysterious” in By the Bay: East Beach Stories.  Her next story, “Plein Blackmail” will appear in By The Bay II: More East Beach Stories, to be launched in spring, 2017.  Gina is also one of three writers that collaborated on a story in the upcoming anthology.  The story is titled “The Proposal”.  Gina is (and writes about) a professional fine artist, working out of her Norfolk, VA studio.  Her website is www.GinaWarrenBuzby.com.

Favorite Books of 2016 - Jayne Ormerod

Writers read!  And here is one of our By the Bay 2 authors’ favorite books of 2016.

Written by Jayne Ormerod

Book Title:  THE LAKE HOUSE

Author:  Kate Morton

Genre: Part Historical fiction, part gothic mystery, and part family saga.

Setting:  Cornwall, England

Format:  Hardcover

Pages:  512 

Publication date:  Oct, 2015

Publisher:  Atria Books

Opening Line: Cornwall, August, 1933:  The rain was heavy now, and the hem of her dress was splattered with mud.

Review: Kate Morton has a way with words, and she is an expert in picking the perfect word/s to illustrate an emotion or a setting or an action.  I can’t tell you how many times I stopped to reread something, not because it was confusing, but because it was so perfect.  The story itself is a yo-yo between something that happened in 1933 and today’s detective trying to solve the unsolved disappearance of a child.  The way Kate slowly reveals the details until the entire picture is clear is masterfully done.  I have lent the book to 3 other people, and all have fussed at me for giving them something that has them reading through the night.  This book is too good to put down! 

About the author: Jayne Ormerod is the author of “Secrets” and “The Sniper Sisters” in By the Bay: East Beach Stories. Her story “Write by the Bay” will be in Volume II, to be published in 2017.  For a complete list of Jayne’s other writings, please visit her website.  

Favorite Books of 2016 - Patrick Clark

Writers read!  And here is one of our By the Bay 2 authors’ favorite books of 2016.

Written by Patrick Clark

Book Title:  The One Man

Author:  Andrew Gross

Genre: Thriller

Setting:  World War II

Format:  e-book

Pages:  432

Publication date:  August 23, 2016

Publisher:  St. Martin's Press

Opening Line: (From the Prologue) The private room is on the fourth floor of the geriatric wing at the Edward Hines Jr. Veterans Administration Hospital outside Chicago, bent, old men shuffling down the hall in hospital gowns with nurses guiding them and portable IV's in their arms.

Review: Parachute into Nazi occupied Poland, sneak inside the Auschwitz camp, pose as a camp prisoner and find a brilliant physicist with vital knowledge that could change the outcome of the war or, perhaps the course of human history, then sneak him out of the camp and escape back to the United States.  That was the incredible task assigned to Lieutenant Nathan Blum.  More incredible is the fact that much of this fictional story is loosely based on real events.

Andrew Gross's new novel, The One Man, is an exceptional story that I could not put down.  It is a dramatic thriller set against the backdrop of World War II and the horror of the Nazi concentration camp.  It's the story of a physicist with technical knowledge critical in the development of the first atomic bomb and the Allies desperate effort to rescue him from the camp.  Gross weaves the fictional story largely from true events and many of the characters are drawn from stories handed down from Holocaust survivors.

The book is emotional, the characters are vivid and the story pits good versus evil from page one to the end. It's suspenseful, riveting and it will make you think about those dark days

About the author: Patrick Clark is the author of “Boneyard” and "The Town Hall Incident" in By the Bay: East Beach Stories.  His story “Dead Drop” will be in Volume II, to be published in 2017.  For more information on Patrick and his other writings, please visit his website: www.patrick-clark.com.

Favorite Books of 2016 - Mike Owens

Writers read!  And here is one of our By the Bay 2 authors’ favorite books of 2016.


Written by Mike Owens

Cathcart and Klein, Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar. These two authors discuss various philosophies from Aristotle on down, and illustrate with jokes. 

If philosophy had been this much fun when I was an undergraduate, I'd have majored in it. And as that worldly philosopher, Groucho Marx said, "These are my principles. If you don't like them, I have others."

About the author: Mike Owens has written two medical textbooks on end of life care as well as two novels, The Threshold and The End of Free Will. His story, Herbie Meets his Match appeared in East Beach Stories, Vol 1, and The Prodigal will appear in Volume II.

A Children's Gift In Progress

Written by Gina Warren Buzby

I try to attend art fairs whenever possible.  Taking along a few friends and tying in lunch make for a fun day of art awareness and shopping.  Being a Fine Artist myself, I can also consider it "professional development" as I like to see how various peers set up their wares and displays.  During one of my more recent outings I discovered a local Alpaca Farm had a tent that was selling some of the most beautiful wraps, scarves, and sweaters.  The Alpaca wool is buttery soft and warm.  Off to the side of the collection of colorful scarves was a box of small knitted items made to look like animals, characters and insects.  They were finger puppets.

Meeting Moments

Written by Jayne Ormerod  
Photos by Gina Warren Buzby

The East Beach Writers' Guild hosted Dr. William (Bill) Ruehlmann at their October meeting. 

Tucked in amongst the long list of Bill's life accomplishments is that of current Book Reviewer for the Virginian-Pilot. In front of an audience of about 15 Guild members, East Beach residents and invited guests, he offered inspiration and advice to writers. 

Chesapeake Bay Living: Slover Library

Did you know thate we had a talk on June 28th at Slover Library?  We did!

We were also fortunate enough to get a tour of the library from our very own Will Hopkins.  We really appreciated the time he took to tell us the history and show us around.  It was fantastic!

I know what you're thinking.  What's so great about a dark, cramped library?  Well for one it isn't dark.  Two, it isn't cramped.  This place is huge!  I could honestly get lost in it.  It's very open and bright.  

Karen Harris, Gina Warren Buzby,
Will Hopkins & Jayne Ormerod

And it quite modern.  I was blown away when I found out you can look up books at the special kiosks.  I'm from a time when you had to search through card catalogs.  I may have just dated myself there, but that's okay.

Plus it's not just books.  They have computers and offer different classes.  I won't tell all, you'll just have to go check it out for yourself.  This place is fabulous and offers a lot!

And I absolutely love that they incorporated the old building with the new structure.  There's so much beautiful architecture downtown that I was glad they blended instead of just tearing a building down.

So if you are in the downtown Norfolk Area, I highly recommend stopping by.  And if you haven't already, get yourself a library card.

Books, Books, Books

We will be at 116 East Little Creek Rd. Norfolk, VA 23505 from 12 to 2.  Join us!

By the Bay + Chocolate: Life Doesn't Get Any Better!