Abilene Writers Guild Abilene, Texas, U.S.A. "Not failure, but low aim, is crime." (Lowell) P.O. Box 2562—Abilene, Texas 79604 Monthly meetings are the fourth Thursday at 7:00 P.M. Meeting at the Center for Contemporary Arts, 220 Cypress St.

 Us and Ours: News and Stuff 

In Memory of Juanita Zachry

     Juanita Daniel Zachry, founder and first president of Abilene Writers Guild, was born April 6, 1917 in Horn, Texas, and died July 29, 2008 in Abilene. Her granddaughter Tiffany Zachry obviously got her grandmother's gifts for words. She wrote:

She had a good and lengthy run, and I know from conversations with her how proud she was to have been involved with the Writers Guild and to see it flourish over all these years. She has a body of work which will live on long after all of us are gone, but I know that some of her most rewarding times were spent at the Guild teaching emerging writers how to challenge themselves and grow their work. It means a lot to me as her granddaughter that the organization is still going strong and that she is remembered there to this day. I just thought I should let you all know that Juanita Daniel Zachry has finally, and peacefully, laid down her pen.

     Writing was a way of life for Juanita. She grew up with stories of history in the making. Her father, A.M. Daniel, came to Taylor County in 1900 as a young man. Her mother, Exa Green Daniel, came at age three, when Abilene was a tent town. Juanita had ten books of history published: Juanita Daniel Zachry's Classics in 2003, Family History of the Daniel Girls in 2001, A Living History in 1999, Buffalo Gap Historic Village in 1992, Brands of the Southwest in 1988 (with Gladys Gooch Hume, also a Life Member of AWG), Abilene - The Key City in 1986, A History of Rural Taylor County in 1980 and 1985, This Man David in 1971, Potosi - The First One Hundred Years in 1971 and 1995, Katy O'Neil, and Life Stories of J.A. Patterson (ghost written).

      She sold articles to American History Illustrated, Texas Highways, Arizona Highway, America's Civil War, Texas Parks and Wildlife, Early American Life, many western magazines, and general interest magazines.

      Juanita grew up at Horn in Jones County and graduated from Noodle High School. She had courses from Writers Digest, Famous Writers School and the University of Oklahoma. She was a life member of Abilene Writers Guild, which she founded, and a member of Calvary Baptist Church.

      In 2003, Juanita received the Maxine Perini Award and was recognized in the 78th legislature by Representative Bob Hunter, commending Juanita Daniel Zachry of Abilene for her achievements as an author. That same year she was recognized by Congressman Charles Stenholm in our Nation's Capitol and received a flag that was flown over the capitol.

      Her husband B.A. Zachry whom she married in Abilene on December 10, 1934 preceded her in death.

      Juanita is survived by one son, Charles Zachry and wife Katanna, of Midland; two daughters, Barbara Williams and husband Coy, of Abilene, Beth Beasley and husband Jim, of Garland; sister, Mattie Vinson, of Potosi; seven grandchildren, Gene Williams and wife Janice, Danny Williams and wife Sherri, David Pate and wife Sandy, Kristi Calderon and husband Mark, Tiffany Zachry, Charles Zachry Jr. and wife Marisa, and Andrew Zachry, and seven great-grandchildren.

      Her favorite quote that she made up was "Find a way or make one."

Those Hallowed Halls of Honor: Men of the Old South - August 28th Program

      Dr. Robert Pace, historian from McMurry University, will present the August program on "Those Hallowed Halls of Honor, Men of the Old South." This will conclude the four months series "Summer Nights with Southern Knights."

     Robert F. Pace is Professor of History at McMurry University. He earned his BA at Austin College and then went on to Texas Christian University, where he earned both an MA and PhD in History. He then moved to Virginia, where he taught at Longwood College for seven years. He came to McMurry in 1999 to teach in the History Department and serve as one of the directors of the McWhiney Foundation, a non-profit history education foundation.

      Robert's scholarly career has focused on the Old South and local history. He has authored, coauthored, edited, or co-edited several books on the topics including:

• Halls of Honor: College Men in the Old South (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2004),
• Frontier Texas: History of a Borderland to 1880 (Abilene: State House Press, 2004), co-author with Donald S. Frazier.
• Fear God and Walk Humbly: The Agricultural Journal of James Mallory, 1836-1877 (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1997), co-editor with Grady McWhiney and Warner O. Moore.

AWG Annual Contest

Postmark dates for entries begin September 1, 2008 and end October 31, 2008.

CATEGORIES AND MAXIMUM LENGTHS $5.00 each short entry $10.00 each novel entry

All New Members-Only Contests for 2008

Members-Only Contest!!
New Rules -- Big Changes
Big Choices -- Money More Often!

     Abilene Writers Guild has great contests, attractive to people around the world. Our own membership, though, often passes up the chance to enter and thereby to win and to learn. The AWG Board considered ending contests in that they seem not to be benefiting the membership. Instead, the Board chose to address problems and concerns with the contests, both monthly and annual.

     Major changes in the monthly contests are:

• Compete apples to apples, oranges to oranges--Categories in members contest will match those of the annual contest.
• Three prizes in each of three categories will be awarded each month.
• The monthly contests begin in January and continue through August, then entries for the annual contest are accepted in September and October.

We Need Your Participation!

Members-Only Contest Rules

1. Only Abilene Writers Guild members in good standing may enter the contests.
2. Work must be the member's original work, unpublished at the entry deadline.
3. There's no entry fee.
4. Any piece of writing can be entered that has not won a money prize in any other AWG contest. These entries may be submitted in the annual contest, even those winning money.
5. Word count: 1000 words maximum for prose categories, 50 lines for poetry.
6. Works must be postmarked by the 10th day of the month of the competition and mailed to AWG Contest, month (Jan, etc.), Karen Witemeyer, 58 Augusta Drive, Abilene TX 79606. Note: Karen will accept entries at any time for any contest. You must clearly mark the topic and month for judging. Only members outside the United States may enter by email.
7. Prose format: Manuscripts must be double-spaced, typed/printed on one side of paper, with at least one-inch margins. Author's name appears only on the cover sheet. Number pages.
8. Poetry format: Manuscripts may be single-spaced. Author's name appears only on the cover sheet.
9. Cover sheet: Each entry must have a cover sheet with name, address, telephone, and email information on top left, word or line count on top right, and title of work centered in middle of page.
10. Judging will not be by members of the Abilene Writers Guild and will be based on reader reactions. Some may write comments; others will not.
11. First, second, third, and honorable mention will be designated.
12. Manuscripts sent with a self-addressed stamped envelope will be returned. Others, if not claimed at the next monthly meeting, will be discarded.
13. The topic/theme/idea is:
• January - Winter Wonderland
• February - Flights of Fancy / Love
• March - In Like a Lion
• April - Music Makes the World Go Round
• May - Remembrance
• June - Nature's Majesty
• July - The United States
• August - Writing
14. The categories are:
• January - Rhymed Poetry, For Children (state age), Inspiration
• February - Unrhymed Poetry, Adult Fiction, Memoir/Nostalgia
• March - Rhymed Poetry, Flash Fiction (200 word limit), Article General Interest
• April - Unrhymed Poetry, For Children, Inspiration
• May - Rhymed Poetry, Adult Fiction, Memoir/Nostalgia
• June - Unrhymed Poetry, Flash Fiction (200 word limit), Article General Interest
• July - Rhymed Poetry, For Children (state age), Inspiration
• August - Unrhymed Poetry, Adult Fiction, Memoir/Nostalgia
15. For example, in January you may enter as many times as you wish. If you enter three times, one may be a rhymed poem, the second a child's story, the third a piece of inspirational writing, all on the subject of Winter Wonderland.
16. Prizes in each category will be: $15 first prize, $10 second prize, $5 third prize. We are awarding $90 in prizes each month. Please participate!
17. If fewer than five entries are received for any of the three monthly categories, no money will be awarded for 2nd or 3rd prize. If fewer than three entries are received for any category, no money will be awarded for 1st prize. The judges, at their sole discretion, may find no entry in a category merits an award.
18. You must enter to win!

What? You want to participate and you're not a member? JOIN! Membership is a bargain at $25 a year!

Operation Paperbacks for Patriots

     We have learned that the airlift troops, particularly those living in extremely remote airfields in conditions much like we see on M*A*S*H, are in need of good paperback book reading material for the times when they get to relax.

     Abilene Writers Guild's new project--to continue as long as necessary--is "OPERATION PAPERBACKS FOR PATRIOTS." We ask our members to go through their shelves and collections and donate any good paperbacks--adventure, thriller, western, inspirational, science fiction, nonfiction--to send to our Dyess troops. (No porn, no slime, no political propoganda.) Bring them to the meetings or drop them by Nancy Masters' house and they'll be packed and delivered to the Squadron to go out with the re-supply flights. These flights go out about every two weeks, so there's no deadline or cut off. Of course, we'll take books from non-members as well! We'll keep count and make a report ever so often of how many paperbacks AWG members and friends have sent.

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