Wyoming Writers, Inc. conference good time for all

About 80 writers attended the annual Wyoming Writers, Inc. conference that took place in Casper at the Ramada Inn.

Manuscript pitches were made to Katie Dublinski of Gray Wolf Press and New York agent Peter Steinberg, and many writers were asked to send something along. That's always great to hear.

Poetry editor Chris Fishbach was there from Coffee House Press.

Keynote speaker at the Saturday night banquet was Lucia St. Clair Robson, historical fiction author, who was witty and entertaining.

There were some great readings at both open mike sessions.

The booksigning room was stocked with authors busily signing their books. Casper's "Run With the Herd" marathon, check-in was based at the Ramada, was also taking place, and a few runners visited the booksigning event.

Tom Empey closed the session on Sunday with a talk about written words and how they spark and give life to the performing arts. He had gathered several moving quotes for his theme, "Someone wrote those words."

Plans are in the works for next year's conference which will again take place in Casper.

A couple of rather new and interesting Wyoming magazines to mention.
The Wyoming Woman Magazine, based in Casper, was conceptualized by four young women -- Nettie H. Francis, Beth Worthen, Alicia Blevins and Amanda Helm. Their mission: "to connect the women of Wyoming through ideas, information, and inspiration." They accept submissions and ideas for articles and pay for the different features in the magazine. One of the nice features is the "Women at Work Directory," a list of women who are advertising their businesses -- anything from catering to travel tours. It's very reasonable to advertise there. Website: http://thewyomingwoman.com/

Wyoming's 307 Magazine, published by Celtic Media, LLC and also based in Casper, features articles and photos of Wyoming's great activities and spaces. Articles in the Winter 2011 issue: The Winter Angler, Detours (about the Continental Divide snowbile trail system), The Wiinter Time Hunting Blues, Saratoga, Cool Gear, Flint What? (about arrowheads), Mush (about the Wyoming International Pedigree Stage Stop Sled Dog Race), an article on Corvettes, Born in New Jersy, Raised in Wyoming, Snowshoeing.
Website: http://www.307magonline.com/

Wyoming Writers, Inc., conference just a week away!

Here are all the links you need for information about the annual conference of Wyoming Writers, Inc., in Casper June 3-5:

2011 Wyoming Writers, Inc. Conference

June 3-5 in Casper, Wyoming

Ramada Plaza Riverside.

Presenters:

Author Lucia St. Clair Robson

Poet Chris Fischbach

Peter McCarthy, Vice President of Marketing

at Random House.

Editor Katie Dublinski, Graywolf Press

Agent Peter Steinberg, The Steinberg Agency

Go to the WWInc web site for conference brochure

JH Weekly interviews Robert Pinsky in lead-up to May 14 Teton County Library event

Robert Pinsky photo by Scott Davidson

Great interview with former U.S. Poet Laureate and "civic poet" Robert Pinsky in the 4/20 JH Weekly. On May 14, the Teton County Library Foundation will present a "Page to the Podium" reading and lecture with Pinsky. Tickets are free and available today at the library. Pinsky now is a professor at Boston University and the poetry editor for the online magazine Slate. He also is founder of the Favorite Poem Project. To read the entire interview, go to Planet News Article -- American music, American voices

New Jackson Hole Review launch party set for April 29

Matthew Irwin sent this:

I'm emailing to inform you about the re-launch of Jackson Hole Review, a biannual literary publication featuring literature and art from all over the country concerned with the American West. We're holding a launch party on April 29. We're in the midst of updating the website and the hard copies will be here a day or two before the party. Here are some of the details:

The party is 6-9 p.m., Friday, April 29, at Factory Studios, 1255 Gregory Lane, Jackson.

The JH Review's inaugural issue, themed "connect/disconnect," features contributions from writers, poets, photographers and visual artists from all over the country. Our featured contributor for this issue is Idaho essayist/poet/fiction writer Kim Barnes, who has generously given us an essay and submitted to an interview.

Sponsored by Teton Artlab and JH Weekly. $10 includes a copy of the Review, refreshments, entertainment and special prizes for attendees. Find out more about connect/disconnect at www.jhreview.com and at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=31218906942

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Sponsored by Teton Artlab and JH Weekly. Special thanks to the Teton Library Foundation, the National Museum of Wildlife Art, Grand Teton Music Festival, Falls Printing, Valley Bookstore, Jackson Hole Writers' Conference and the Jackson Hole Public Art Initiative for making JH Review possible.

Nancy Curtis featured in spring issue of The Wyoming Woman Magazine

The spring issue of The Wyoming Woman Magazine is out and it features a profile of publisher Nancy Curtis, recipient of a 2010 Governor's Arts Award. It was written by Saratoga writer Lori Van Pelt, winner of a 2010 creative writing fellowship in poetry from the Wyoming Arts Council. One astonishing fact from the article: Nancy was a founding member of Wyoming Writers, Inc., and WyoPoets, both of Wyoming's statewide writing groups (WyoPoets holds its annual meeting this weekend in Casper). She's also published three of Lori's books, and books by many other state and regional writers. Get more info at www.highplainspress.com

Online article: "How to Publish Your Own Kindle Book: Part I"

This looks like an easy tutorial for those writers in Wyoming interested in publishing a Kindle book. Go to How to Publish Your Own Kindle Book: Part I

Publishers Weekly Select explores the world of self-publishing

PW Select December 2010

B.J. Buckley poems in HoboEye journal

Cheyenne native and Wyoming Arts Council creative writing fellowship recipient B.J,. Buckley has three poems featured on the online journal HoboEye. B.J. now lives in Lolo, Mont.


Read "Bitter," "Shakespeare's Monkeys" and "Cold Prairie" here.


Excerpt from "Bitter:"


Call it snow
but this dust from the moon’s basement
coats the windows of the
sky
until nobody can see out.

Rocky Mountain Land Library praises a classic book -- "Sheepwagon: Home on the Range"

The Rocky Mountain Land Library blog waxed eloquently about two Wyomingites in an 11/28 post: 

In 2001, a wonderful Wyoming publisher, High Plains Press, published one of the Land Library’s favorite books, Sheepwagon: Home on the Range. Author Nancy Weidel offered one crisp, concise reason for our admiration: “The sheepwagon is a marvel of practicality and efficiency.”

But there’s more reasons to love this book, with its stories, photographs, and sensitive appreciation for hard lives lived in a starkly beautiful land. This book makes clear that the sheepwagon provided both a bit of warmth, and a touch of home. Weidel: “Designed to provide shelter and heat, mobility, and storage, the sheepwagon was the ideal home for the herder….It could easily be moved by two horses, a most important feature.”

Yes, as you can see, every inch counted, but space also needed to be found for the unexpected. Some sheepwagons had side boxes that “came in handy during lambing, when a weak newborn might be placed there overnight to be revived by the heat of the wagon stove.”

Nancy Weidel is wyomingarts' colleague within the Wyoming Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources. She is senior historic preservation specialist at SHPO. Nancy Curtis runs High Plains Press out of her ranch near Glendo. Nancy is a long-time supporter of the state's writers and the statewide writers organization, Wyoming Writers, Inc.

W.C. Jameson to sign books and sing songs this weekend in Wheatland and Glendo

News from Nancy Curtis at High Plains Press:

Remember if you are going to be in the Wheatland area today (Saturday, noon-3 p.m., Book Nook) or the Glendo area tomorrow (Sunday, 3-5 p.m., Micke's), that W.C. Jameson will be signing his new book and performing live music. Jameson has sung with Willie and Waylon as well as being a nationally renowned treasure hunter. Ya'll come!

Pronghorn Press asks: Heard any good books lately?

Heard any good books lately?

We have!

Wyoming's Pronghorn Press has announced that some of its best-selling titles are available now as downloadable unabridged audiobook files. Also, if you check out the site, you can get a free download of one of Annette Chaudet's stories. Go to http://pronghornpressaudio.com/

Annette is Pronghorn's publisher and editor. She says that the press's newest title is Tom Ringley¹s Wranglin' Notes, A Chronicle of Eatons' Ranch 1879-2010. Tom Rea's book about the Hole in the Wall Ranch will be out next month.

She adds that the press will be converting a number of titles into multi-format ebooks after the first of the year. So stay tuned, Kindle users.

Author Diana Kouris earns laurels for her High Plains Press book

This comes from Nancy Curtis at High Plains Press in Glendo: Diana Kouris (left), author of Riding the Edge of an Era, has been doing High Plains Press proud. She was a finalist for both the Zonta Best Woman Writer Award at the Billings Book Festival and the Willa Award which was presented in Wickenburg, Arizona. Diana and I went to both events and had a great time. My friend and former co-editor Linda Hasselstrom (right) traveled with us and came home with the top award at both events. Here we are.

"The Imprint of Alan Swallow" by Laramie's W. Dale Nelson just published by Syracuse University Press

WyoWriter, the newsletter published by Wyoming Writers, Inc., is always filled with info on its members. WWInc member and WAC creative writing fellowship winner W. Dale Nelson has written a new book about the late Wyoming publisher Alan Swallow:

W. Dale Nelson's latest book The Imprint of Alan Swallow: Quality Publishing in the West is now out on the shelves, and proves to be a story in a story.

Published by Syracuse University Press, this project was taken over by Nelson after the tragic death of Colorado writer Thomas M. Auer, who had spent years researching Swallow's life.

The book tells of Swallow's experiences growing up on a homestead outside Powell, and how he became a fan of Little Blue Books, literary classics in prose and verse published in small volumes. Seeds were planted in Swallow's life, and he formed two convictions: he would be a poet and a publisher.

The Imprint of Alan Swallow: Quality Publishing in the West tells the story of how he succeeded at both, struggled with marital, health, and financial problems among others - troubles that brought him to death at the age of fifty-one.

First book in series from Wyoming Writers, Inc., member Reid Rosenthal

Reid's first book, An American Saga/Threads West, is out today and orders are being accepted. Here's the link to the website that's promoting the book: http://www.threadswestamericansaga.com/

From the author's e-mail:

This first tale of the six novel Threads West, An American Saga series has been termed the Gone with the Wind of the West, has received national acclaim and has been compared to Lonesome Dove by readers, reviewers and best-selling authors alike, even before its official release tomorrow. This book will whisk you away to a magic time not so long ago, to lives and passions of strong men and women from uncommon origin drawn to the promise of America and the West.

Congrats, Reid.

Wyoming Writers, Inc., announces full slate of presenters for its 2011 conference in Casper

Laramie's Julianne Couch, board secretary for Wyoming Writers, Inc., sends this finalized list of presenters for the 2011 WWInc conference in Casper June 3-5. Start planning now:

Lucia St. Clair Robson, historical novelist

Chris Fischbach, poet (and poetry editor at Coffee House Press)

Peter McCarthy, VP of marketing for Random House Press

Editor, Katie Dublinsky, Graywolf Press

Agent, Peter Steinberg, Steinberg agency

Sunday morning inspiration -- Tom Empey, recently retired head of the Casper College Theatre Program.


FMI: See the updated website at www.wyowriters.org.

A very good question: "Why is Indie OK for Musicians and Filmmakers But Not for Writers?"

Why is Indie OK for Musicians and Filmmakers, But Not for Writers?

Writers "speed-date" Wyoming librarians, talk e-books

The Wyoming Library Association meets this week. During one of yesterday's sessions, an assortment of Wyoming writers "speed-dated" librarians, talking about their favorite writerly topics. Writers included Cat Urbigkit, Pinedale; John Nesbitt, Torrington; Mike and Kathy Gear, Thermopolis; and Mary Gillgannon, Cheyenne. Mary is writer and librarian and sees these topics from several angles. Here's the beginning of a post on her blog:

I spent last evening “speed dating” with Wyoming librarians. Six other authors and I went around the room and spoke to small groups of librarians about writing and publishing.  Since I don’t have a current book to promote, I mostly discussed e-books and changes in the market.

Read the entire post at http://marygillgannon.blogspot.com/2010/09/e-books-and-future-of-publishing.html

Deadline Oct. 15 for publishing seminar in NYC

The Center for Book Arts in New York City is now inviting applications for its upcoming Letterpress Printing & Fine Press Publishing Seminar for Emerging Writers (November 10-14). Deadline is Oct. 15.

Participants will attend lectures from printers, fine press publishers, book artists, and dealers to get a practical overview of letterpress printing and fine press publishing. They will learn the basics of letterpress printing, both traditional typesetting and options with new technology, by collaboratively printing a small edition of broadsides or other projects. This free workshop is most suitable for those with little or no previous letterpress experience.

Those selected must attend the entire five-day workshop. For further details and an application, click here.

Tough new world that has such publishers in it

Writers are having a tough time figuring out the new world of publishing. It includes print-on-demand, e-books, z-books, Kindles, social networking and all kinds of wild e-stuff. Michael and Kathleen O'Neal Gear of Thermopolis, authors (together and separately) of more than 40 books, are discovering another byproduct of this electronic age.

This comes from their blog:

Yeah, it’s a tough new world. We heard from a couple of you that COMING OF THE STORM didn’t show up in your local news stand rack. For reasons that we still haven’t been able to ferret out, Simon & Schuster shipped fewer copies than normal of COMING OF THE STORM in paperback. Lots fewer. So please note: If you have been waiting to read the adventures of Black Shell and Pearl Hand as they hunt the foul de Soto, you’ve got order on line, or hit your local bookstore. Wal Mart still has copies, but they will be pulled within the next week or two.

So why is it a “tough new world?”

Bookselling is changing by the moment. In February ebooks made up 2% of the market. In July, they made up 11%. We haven’t heard today’s numbers, but they are growing. Prognosticators expect ebooks to top out at around 35% of the market. So, how many print copies does a publisher print? Not just of a Gear title, but of all the other paperbacks they are releasing that month?

COMING OF THE STORM fell into that chasm of uncertainty.

So, here it is: If you want it, you’d better scramble.

... If you’re a book person, a true bibliophile, welcome to the Tough New World!

Megan Oteri poem in Old Mountain Press anthology

A poem by Megan Oteri, "Thirds," will be publishing in a travel anthology by Old Mountain Press. Megan is a talented writer and photographer who grew up in Cheyenne and now lives and teaches in North Carolina. Read "Thirds" at http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/note.php?note_id=442552092457&comments&ref=notif&notif_t=note_reply

Hey Megan: Why don't you come to Casper in June 2011 and read the poem at the Wyoming Writers, Inc., conference open mike? We'd love to see you -- and hear your poem in person.