Hi, everyone.
I'm writing this in New Mexico in the unrelenting summer heat. But
it's cooler here than it was June 10-15 in Scottsdale, AZ,
where I attended the Western Writers of America convention. The
occasion was that my Yellowstone Series historical novel Lake of
Fire, released October, 2007, finaled in the
Spur Awards in the mass market novel category. The convention
was fantastic, the people in the organization are welcoming,
no matter if they have published fifty books or are working
on their first – the Spurs also recognize films and songwriting
so it was a wonderfully eclectic mix. Having three novels
of the West in print also earned the honor of becoming an Active
Member in WWA.
Lake of Fire has
been doing very well on the awards circuit. It won best
novel of 2008 in the New Mexico Press Women's Excellence in
Communications contest early in the spring. I attended
the state awards banquet in Albuquerque on April 11. Each
winner from each state is then advanced to the National Press
Women's competition – Lake of Fire took
Third Place among the fifty state novel winners from all over
the nation. In addition, it placed as a finalist in
the 2008 Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence Contest from Southern
Magic Writers – RWA Chapter 178.
The 2nd annual Literacy Alive event in Silver City, New Mexico,
on April 5, 2008, went very well. The historic Silco
Theater made an excellent venue – fellow Spur finalist,
author Michael McGarrity delivered an entertaining and inspiring
keynote. Thanks to the Silver City Friends of the Library,
especially Karen Dunn and Sharleen Daugherty.
My signing at the annual convention of the American Association
of Petroleum Geologists in San Antonio on April 21 was also
great. I got to see a lot of old friends from the oil
patch and thanks to Gerald Buckley, AAPG Sales and Marketing
Manager, for setting it up.
On the way east to the farm in Virginia, my husband and I
also stopped to workshop with bestselling author Robert Vaughan
and his wife Ruth at their beach house known as "Just
Write," in Gulf Shores, Alabama.
My agent Susan Schulman has sent out the completed manuscript
of Jackson Hole Journey, along with
a proposal for Land of Smoke and Thunder. Jackson
Hole Journey takes place on a dude ranch, spanning
the time between the earthquake-activated Gros Ventre Landslide
on June 23, 1925 and May 17, 1927, when the dammed-up waters
behind the slide break free. This natural disaster destroyed
the town of Kelly, Wyoming.
Land of Smoke and Thunder, will
follow the early explorers on the Washburn-Doane expedition
to Yellowstone in 1870, ending with the establishment in
1872 of the world's first national park.
For fans of romance, The Senator's Daughter, writing
as Christine Carroll came out January 1, 2008. I'm still
working to complete Sins of the Fathers,
the third story set in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The new Christine Carroll book The Senator's Daughter is
the spin off to Children of Dynasty,
by Christine Carroll - the story of two secondary characters
- Sylvia Chatsworth and Lyle Thomas. To see more on Children
of Dynasty and the The Senator's
Daughter please see www.readchristinecarroll.com.
Thanks for stopping by! |
