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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
Make your reservations |
You are a winner if you entered the contest. You have a manuscript you can submit to a publisher, and quite likely the judge's comments will be helpful to you. (We cannot promise each judge comments on each piece.) The winners announced at noon on October 21 are:
| Articles of General Interest – 23 Entries | ||
| Contest Judge: John Starbuck, Editor, Merkel, Texas | ||
| 1st | Soldier | Elaine Jordan, Prescott, Arizona |
| 2nd | I Just Wanna Pay My Bills | Darla Curry, The Woodlands, Texas |
| 3rd | Those Boys Down There In Texas Could Really Play | Garner Roberts, Abilene |
| Honorable Mention | Stasney’s Cook Ranch, Shackelford County Legacy | Susan Turner, Rochester, Texas |
| Honorable Mention | Butterflies Without Borders | Jan Carrington, Lake Coleman, Texas |
| Honorable Mention | Texas Own: The Cowboy | Ruth Sellers, Lawn, Texas |
Children’s (Readers ages 3 to 8) – 37 Entries | ||
| Contest Judge: Kathryn Lay, Award-Winning Author, Arlington, Texas | ||
| 1st | Busy Day | Sally Clark, Fredericksburg, Texas |
| 2nd | Orilla, The Pajama Queen | Carmen Oliver, Round Rock, Texas |
| 3rd | My Name is Jenna | Laura Rath, Anthony, Iowa |
| Honorable Mention | Shoelace and Pudge in a Jam | Carmen Oliver, Round Rock, Texas |
| Honorable Mention | Taylor Sue and the Mud Room Mystery | Inez Phillips, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma |
| Honorable Mention | What’s That on my Cat? | Jan Sherbin, Cincinnati, Ohio |
| Honorable Mention | Lights in the Deep Dark | Renee Huskey, Hillsboro, Oregon |
Short Fiction for Adults – 43 Entries | ||
| Denise Vitola – Editor/Award-Winning Author, Corpus Christi, Texas | ||
| 1st | Writing Practice | Kay Butzin, Fulton, Texas |
| 2nd | Gawdog It | Debra Gillette, North Richland Hills, Texas |
| 3rd | Center of the Universe | John Devine, Houston, Texas |
| Honorable Mention | An Everlasting Shine | Sandra Boike Cobb, Rockport, Texas |
| Honorable Mention | Winter | Doug Pearson, Richmond, BC, Canada |
| Honorable Mention | Blood Ties | Jacquelyne Sandifer Strange, Bogalusa, Louisiana |
| Honorable Mention | HB451 | Mike Kerby, Caddo, Texas |
Memoirs/ Nostalgia – 64 Entries | ||
| Ross McSwain, Editor/Author/Publisher, San Angelo, Texas | ||
| 1st | Deliver Us from Shame | Michael Morgan, Tennessee Colony, Texas |
| 2nd | Long Live the Texas Tomboy | Jan Carrington, Lake Coleman, Texas |
| 3rd | Redemption | Jacquelyn Sandifer Strange, Bogalusa, Louisiana |
| Honorable Mention | The Great Bed-Switching Caper | Debby Seguin, San Antonio, Texas |
| Honorable Mention | The Iron Age | Judy Lee Green, Murfreesboro, Tennessee |
| Honorable Mention | The Last Olive | Sharon Ellison, Abilene, Texas |
| Honorable Mention | How to Eat Watermelon | Joan Rogers, Socorro, New Mexico |
| Honorable Mention | Lesson Learned at Auschwitz | Laura McBeth Thaxton, Abilene, Texas |
Articles of Inspiration – 20 Entries | ||
| Kathryn Lay, Award Winning Author, Arlington, Texas | ||
| 1st | Let Her Fly | Patricia Sanders, Foristell, Missouri |
| 2nd | The Choice | Audrey Cannady Massingill, Amarillo, Texas |
| 3rd | The Wish | Judith Finkel, Houston, Texas |
| Honorable Mention | Gone With Katrina’s Wind | Jacquelyn Sandifer Strange, Bogalusa, Louisiana |
| Honorable Mention | Married One Hundred Years | Judy Lee Green, Murfreesboro, Tennessee |
| Honorable Mention | The Things He Didn’t Carry | Robin Allen, Canyon Lake, Texas |
| Honorable Mention | Wedding Clothes | Karen Witemeyer, Abilene, Texas |
Novels – Category 9 – Mainstream/Romance/Western – 20 Entries | ||
| Gretchen Craig, Novelist/Kensington Publishers | ||
| 1st | Helena the Muse | Deanna Roy, Austin, Texas |
| 2nd | Sita | Ruth White, Socorro, New Mexico |
| 3rd | Fire By Night | Karen Witemeyer, Abilene, Texas |
| Honorable Mention | Frayed Edges | Betty Pichardo, Houston, Texas |
| Honorable Mention | The Moons of Jinks | Betty Pichardo, Houston, Texas |
| Honorable Mention | Wild Wind in Eden | JoAnne Horn, May, Texas |
| Honorable Mention | West of the Brazos | Lyn Davidson, Abilene, Texas |
Poetry – Rhymed, 54 Entries | ||
| Dr. Sarah Brown, Department of English/University of Mary Hardin Baylor | ||
| 1st | Fate’s Unjust Call | Yvonne Nunn, Snyder, Texas |
| 2nd | The Middle Child | Catherine De Laney, North Andover, Massachusetts |
| 3rd | Burning Hooch | Brandon Davis, Abilene, Texas |
| Honorable Mention | The Last Cowboy | Bob D. Billingsley, Live Oak, Texas |
| Honorable Mention | Night Runners of Danfur | Rita Rasco, Abilene, Texas |
| Honorable Mention | This Lonely Choice Sestina | Barbara Rollins, Abilene, Texas |
| Honorable Mention | Be Vine Tonight | Marie Averitt, Abilene, Texas |
| Honorable Mention | I Take Pen in Hand | Barbara Darnall, Abilene, Texas |
Poetry, Unrhymed – 97 Entries | ||
| Dr. Sarah Brown, Dept. of English/University of Mary Hardin Baylor | ||
| 1st | Grandpa Mac | JoAnne Horn, May, Texas |
| 2nd | Of Wine and Cider Time | Cherie (CJ) Clark, Hardy, Arkansas |
| 3rd | Winter | Barbara Darnall, Abilene, Texas |
| Honorable Mention | The Jester | Yvonne Nunn, Snyder, Texas |
| Honorable Mention | Reading | Ginny Greene, Baird, Texas |
| Honorable Mention | Along Interstate Ten | Loretta Diane Walker, Odessa, Texas |
| Honorable Mention | The Rinse Cycle | Loretta Diane Walker, Odessa, Texas |
| Honorable Mention | Photograph, 1990 | Benjamin Vogt, Lincoln Nebraska |
| Honorable Mention | The Baker Hotel | Evanell Channel, Abilene, Texas |
| Honorable Mention | Guadalajara! | Evanell Channel, Abilene, Texas |
| Honorable Mention | A Child on a New Orleans Bridge | John Devine, Houston, Texas |
Novels – Category 8 – SciFi/Horror/Fantasy – 20 Entries | ||
| Mitchel Whitington – Author/Editor – Jefferson, Texas | ||
| 1st | Barbara Rollins | The Devil’s Right Hand, Abilene, Texas |
| 2nd | The Sack | Gwen Peterson Choate, Nacogdoches, Texas |
| 3rd | Competition Killer | Virginia Green and Starley Thompson, Albuquerque, New Mexico |
| Honorable Mention | Blood Dancer | Jo Anne Horn, May, Texas |
| Honorable Mention | Not My People | Shaila Abdullah, Austin, Texas |
| Honorable Mention | Murder on the Menu | Carol Z. Howell, Lexington, Massachusetts |
| Honorable Mention | Wild Horses | David Hilton, Austin, Texas |
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Dusty Richards is On His Way!Saturday, October 21, the Abilene Writers Guild is proud to present Dusty Richards as our speaker for the AWG Annual Workshop, followed by lunch and the announcement of contest winners. Mark your calendar and send in your AWG Workshop now. The workshop and luncheon are $35. The workshop alone is $25, and if spouses or others want to come for only the luncheon those tickets are $15. The location is Briarstone Manor, 101 Eplens Court, Abilene, Texas. Registration starts at 8:30 with the program from 9 through noon, followed by luncheon shortly after. Dusty Richards, our speaker, has 65 published books. After graduating from Arizona State University in 1960, he moved to northwest Arkansas, ranched, auctioneered, announced rodeo, worked 32 years for Tyson Food in management, anchored TV news and struggled to get a book sold. In 1992, his first novel, Noble's Way was published. In 2003, his novel The Natural won the Oklahoma Writer's Federation Fiction Book of the Year Award. In 2004, The Abilene Trail won the same award. Dusty invests a lot of his time helping others who want to learn how to write by speaking at seminars and conferences all over the United States. There is no difference in writing any kind of fiction. In Dusty's words, "You simply change the sets, costumes and dialect." He serves on the board of Ozark Creative Writers Conference held annually in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, as well as on the boards of the Ozarks Writers League in Branson, Missouri, and the Oklahoma Writers Federation. He also serves on the board of his local electric co-op, and of the Springdale, Arkansas PRCA rodeo. He is a past board member of the Western Writers of America. In 2004 he was inducted into the Arkansas Writers Hall of Fame. Dusty and his wife, Pat, reside next to Beaver Lake east of Springdale, Arkansas, that is whenever they aren't off at speaking engagements or writing conferences, announcing rodeos or chuckwagon racing, or researching for western novels. For more, see www.DustyRichards.com. BYOP (Bring Your Own Pencil and Paper or laptop). The luncheon is Briarstone's famous full buffet and there's no charge for parking your horse. Briarstone Manor is located at 101 Eplen's Court, Abilene, Texas. For more information contact Nancy Robinson Masters 325-672-3087. |
The AWG Contest is closed and the entries have been sent to judges. We had participation from all over the Western Hemisphere, a total of 377 eligible entries. By category the number of entries are:
Winners will be announced October 21 at the Workshop and Luncheon. Those present may pick up entries with judges' comments. Those who included a SASE will receive theirs by return post after that luncheon. A list of winners will be posted on this web site before Sunday noon Central Time Zone, October 22.
We will not meet the Thursday following the Workshop. Instead, we'll see you November 13th for a regular meeting at the Center for Contemporary Arts. Watch this space for more information about that meeting.
You read. You write. Your children and grandchildren probably have followed in your steps. Millions of children around, thousands in Abilene, survive without reading parents. Like yours, they follow in parental footsteps. Like their parents, they will never pick up a book for leisure reading, read the newspaper only for help wanted ads, if then, and be deprived of the wisdom of their fellow world populace, current and in centuries past.
You have the ability to make readers of these children this November. Again, we will bring new gifts for families involved with Child Protective Services to the November meeting. These gifts won’t provide mind-numbing repetitions of favorite cartoons. Instead, they will encourage literacy and creativity.
You’re a creative person. What would you buy to make your youngsters innovative? Bring those for CPS kids from the cradle to high school. Books, diaries, pens, pencils, colors, paint, word games, puzzles, paper…. You know. You’re creative. Now buy that and bring it to the November meeting.
The world will be a better place for your thoughtfulness. More important, a child will blossom with your nurturing donation.
For them, thank you very much!
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