3 May 2005 Happy Birthday, Charlotte Yes, today is Charlotte’s birthday and I’d be happy to give her a spanking. But, I can’t count that high. I will celebrate with her, though, in some quiet way, with lunch at her favorite restaurant. So, it will be a Mexican meal. I’ll wear the serape and sing Feliz Cumpleanos to her, while I accompany myself on the castanets. She will have a long-stemmed rose in her teeth and we’ll dance the tango to a small mariachi band. Or, I may just take out the garbage for a change. APRIL IN ST. PETERS April is not the cruelest month, after all, despite T.S. Eliot’s poetic pronouncement. Charlotte and I attended the annual Missouri Writers Guild convention in St. Peters, where I was one of the speakers. Donna Volkenannt, of the Saturday Writers, put us up in the Holiday Inn Select and managed the entire affair with grace and aplomb, despite the death of her only remaining child, a daughter, recently. I met some interesting people, including Krista Marino, an editor at Random House’s Delacorte. She cares about her writers and goes to bat for them with the publishers. Dusty Richards gave an inspiriting and practical speech on writing to a packed room. I had a good crowd at my session and, later, did something I never did before, sat one-on-one with writers seeking advice about their projects. Bobbi Smith was there, too, and, as always, gave the attendees sure-fire advice on how to write the novel. Highlight of the convention was the Awards Banquet, and outgoing president, Jane Hale, handled it a little differently this time. She had readers for the top winners, who did a good job with the chosen excerpts. Jane also started with the top awards for books, when usually, the order is reversed, with these awards being the last. So, I was out of the room when my name was called. I walked in and people shooed me up to the microphone to accept 2nd place in best fiction category. This was for ABILENE GUN DOWN, published by Pocket Books. I thanked her as I accepted a check and a certificate, went back to my table and sat down. Then, the reader began to read a passage from the number one pick and I recognized the characters and words as my own. So, Jane called my name again, as winner for first place in that same category. She handed me a check, a certificate, and a beautiful plaque for THE PALO DURO TRAIL, a novel that appeared under the Ralph Compton byline in the Trail Drive series for NAL/Signet. I again sat down and then my name was called out for 3rd place in the Major Work award. Again I took the long walk up to the podium where Jane handed me another check and certificate, this time for TEXAS DUST, published by Berkley. Dusty and I shared adjoining tables at the book signing and gossiped about the publishing business, friends, and past Western Writers of America conventions. We sold and signed some books for those few who still read Westerns and shook a lot of hands. This past weekend, we attended the Northeast Texas Writers Organization (www.netwo.org) in Winnsboro. Jim Callen presented an award for service to member Allen Smith and, to my surprise, gave me an award, as well. This was a wooden plaque in the shape of Texas with a handsome metal engraving on it. I was stunned and mumbled my thanks over the microphone. It was great to finally meet Bill Crider, and his beautiful wife, Judy. He gave a terrific talk; held the audience in the palm of his gentle hand, giving good writing advice spiced with self-deprecating humor that endeared him to everyone there. H. J. Halles, Hilary, was a powerhouse who provided inspiration to many. She is a marketing wizard, who writes Young Adult books on the sci-fi side. She has literally created her own industry with a small publisher. She designs her own covers and knows how to promote herself and her books. Another dynamic lady was Deborah LeBlanc who finances her own literacy campaign, travels all over the country at her own expense to speak on the subject. She writes for Leisure, and others. A terrific speaker. Hilary conducted a workshop that had the entire audience involved in brainstorming. One writer there, Wayne Bethard, said he wished his wife had been there to see the people leafing through magazines, cutting out titles and pictures to stimulate the creative process. He says he does the same thing at home, calls it “braindropping”, and his wife thinks he’s two points off the starboard beam. If I go on, about the wonderful supper at the Callans, this will sound like a gossip column, but Saturday was a great day and I’m still glowing from all the knowledge I gained, the people I met and the intellectual gifts they gave me. And, we sold a few books there at the Trails Country Arts Center in Winnsboro. The book table was ably womaned (or manned, if you prefer) by Pat Hamilton and Floy Smith, Allen’s wife. CURRENT PROJECTS Am in the middle of a short story for another Ozarks anthology, this one coming out from Ozarks Writers League, with president Lou Turner gathering the material. I think they plan an August publishing date. And, am working on the 2nd novel in THE VIGILANTE series for Berkley. Am applying for a residency at an artist’s refuge in Montana. Lots of forms to fill out, including a resume’, application and a sample of my writing under 15 pages. Fingers crossed. NETWO will pay one month’s residency, and I would pay for a second month. I would work on a novel (non-western) that has been on the back burner for a number of years. With local poet and playwrite, Skip Huges, am working on a play from an idea of mine which we hope can be mounted in the fall somewhere down here in East Texas. Skip has some great ideas and there will be more about this later. If the play is produced, it will be another dream come true for me. My daughter Gina has put several of my audio dramas into stage play form and these were very successful. I have written a number of radio (audio) dramas, some television plays, but never a stage play. And, that’s something I’ve wanted to do for many years. We’ll be the OWL (Ozarks Writers League) meeting in Branson at College of the Ozarks on May 21st. Dusty Richards will conduct another of his famous auctions. We may have some members of NETWO in attendance for this one. I still don’t know if we can make the next Western Writers of America convention in Spokane. It’s expensive and far away, but I really wanted to see Gary Challender, CEO of Books-In-Motion and look over his operation. He’s published several of my novels on audio and there are several more in the pipeline there. Until next time, delight your Muse and write with passion. Jory