At the awards banquet for the Ozark Creative Writers, Inc., conference on Saturday, October 11, I won 3rd place for NAVAJO ROSE, a romantic suspense novel that takes place in the south/southwestern United States ranging from Arkansas to California. Perhaps not-so-coincidentally, an agent has also requested to see the full manuscript for that.

From September 21 to October 4, I was in residence at the Writers Colony at Dairy Hollow in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.

I've delayed posting this until I found my digital camera.

May 2-3, 2008, was the Oklahoma Writers' Federation, Inc., conference in Oklahoma City.

I won 3rd Honorable Mention for a rhymed poem and 1st place for a technical/how-to article.  (The certificate I'm holding is for the 1st place.)

I wil be a writer-in-residence at the Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow in Eureka Springs again this fall.  I will be there from September 21 to October 4.

Again with late news.

I received two honorable mentions at the Ozark Creative Writers, Inc., conference earlier this month.  "Kiernan's Curse" and "Devon's Wish" both earned 1st Honorable Mention in their categories.

A literary agent is currently looking at the first 50 pages of "Kiernan's Curse."

I'm a little bit late with this news update but now you get a three-for-one deal instead of just one thing.

I am currently a writer-in-residence at the Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.  Last Thursday (September 20) was Poetluck, a poltluck dinner/public reading hosted by the Writers' Colony where a featured writer, writers-in-residence, and visitors read some of their work.  I was one of the writers-in-residence reading.  Today was an outreach workshop where I went to a senior citizen center in Bentonville, Arkansas, to present The Idea Pocket, an introduction to creative tinking.

"Childless," a five-line poem, is in the current issue of The Verse Marauder.  It's near the bottom of the page above the acknowledgements.

The annual Oklahoma Writers' Federation, Inc., conference was this weekend.  I received 2nd Honorable Mention in the Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror Short Story category for a fantasy short story titled "This Is Your Karma."  The picture is of me and Dusty Richards.

I applied for the Eureka Fellowship in short stories at the Writers Colony at Dairy Hollow in Eureka Springs, AR. I have been watching the mailbox like a hawk, waiting for news, wanting news.

I didn't think to be watching my e-mail box for it, too.

I got the news earlier this afternoon. I was NOT accepted for the fellowship.

However, I was accepted for a general residency, starting at a minimum of $35 a week. That is certainly workable and it is most certainly an improvement over the last time applied. My writing doesn't suck! :) (True, I knew that, but it's nice to have other sources of outside validation sometimes.)

Now I need to know:  Is it too soon to start counting down the days until June 3?

Sunday, October 16, 2006

I just got home from the Ozark Creative Writers' conference in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.  (I could definitely live there, but that's neither here nor there.)  At the awards banquet last night for their associated contest, I won two honorable mentions for poems I submitted.  The "Credits" page has been updated to show this.

My blog, Creatif, is featured on Creativity Portal.

We got pictures developed.  Here is the one of me after I received the Honorable Mention for the column award.

This weekend was the Oklahoma Writers' Federation conference.  Here is the news from there.

• I am the 2006-2007 Secretary for OWFI.
• I won 1st Honorable Mention in the Mazie Cox Reid Column Award for my columns under the title of "Through My Eyes."
• I won Honorable Mention for a short-short story titled "Low Budget" in the Write-to-Win contest sponsored by Michele Bardsley.