When I first began Storybites.com in 2002, it was a vehicle for commentaries on all the short stories I loved. Hawthorne, Faulkner, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Flannery O’Connor. And then, a disastrous but ultimately miraculous computer glitch happened; all those posts disappeared overnight. At first I was devastated. But then I realized I had another use for the site – one that would serve me better in the long run. 

My name is Karen Bernardo, and I’m a freelance writer and editor, and a former library director in Owego, NY. Prior to my stint at the library, I worked as an editor for Vestal Press and wrote countless articles, short stories, and poems for small magazines, newspapers, and websites. One story, “Warren Lee,” appeared in an anthology called The Favorites, published by the Institute of Children’s Literature for use by its students. As a freelancer, I have edited hundreds of manuscripts and ghostwritten or co-written seven full-length books -- in addition to the books I’ve published through Storybites Press. Many decades ago, literally when disco was hot, I graduated from Binghamton University (then the State University of New York at Binghamton) with a degree in Literature and Creative Writing. Today I live with my very patient husband Dave in a small sage-colored house in upstate New York. I am the mom of two grown children (one lives in Heaven now) and the grandma of four. Last but not least, we have two cats – a grumpy Maine Coon who will not groom himself and a tabby who sleeps on our heads.