Summer 2011 Newsletter
I’m getting ready for my annual Labor Day book tour in Yellowstone. It’s always a pleasure to visit the park. I’ve found that after writing four books set in the Jackson Hole/Yellowstone area that things I wrote about have become almost as real as my own memories. I might stand on the Yellowstone Lake shore at Grant Village and remember pulling my first cutthroat trout from crystal waters and frying it up in the Grant campground, back when you could catch and eat them, or I might remember something from Summer of Fire. Perhaps the day Grant was threatened by fire and evacuated, when one of my fictional characters put his helicopter down in the water just offshore. It feels like I lived through that crash, having gone over and over it, both in my mind and in the editing process.
Good news coming in about my 2010 release Jackson Hole Journey. Like Lake of Fire, this audio original book from Books in Motion earned a finalist award in the Spur from Western Writers of America. My husband and I enjoyed a wonderful trip to the WWA Convention in Bismarck in late June. When the plane came in over town, the sight of the Missouri in flood was absolutely amazing. It must have been a couple of miles wide. Thankfully, the town proper was dry and the western writers enjoyed a great meeting. I got to finally meet Lynn Pisar from BIM – see our picture together with the Spur certificate.
Jackson Hole Journey also won the best novel of the year in the New Mexico Press Women’s Communication Contest. This means it was sent on to the national awards, competing with novels from all the other state chapters. Lake of Fire, published in 2007, won third place in the National Federation of Press Women’s Contest.
We spent December in Virginia where it snowed like crazy. Then went back for the early part of the summer, to enjoy the fruits of the garden. In the Shenandoah Valley, the local produce is king. We grew tomatoes, Lemon Boy, Best Boy, and Beefsteak, along with several varieties of basil.
Then back to New Mexico to celebrate Dick’s mother’s 100th birthday. Yes, I said 100! It’s hard to believe. She had a wonderful party with lots of relatives who flew in just for the occasion.
Until next time! |
