THE VOICE OF SOUTHWEST WRITERS Vol. 25, No. 10 October 2009 www.southwestwriters.com Contest Winners and SouthWest Writers Annual Awards Announced Congratulations to the winners of SouthWest Writers an- Mystery/Suspense/Thriller/Adventure Novel ( 36 Entries) nual writing contest. Forty-eight outstanding writers were Judge: Robert Brown, Wylie-Merrick Literary Agency, Kokomo, IN recognized at the awards banquet Saturday September 19. 1. Gary Ponzo, A Touch of Deceit, Chandler, AZ 2. David DeLee, Fatal Destiny, Amherst, NH “Many of the judges were impressed with the quality of the 3. Brinn Colenda, The Cochabamba Conspiracy, Angel Fire, NM entries,” Kathleen Hessler, contest chair, stated. “And the contest attracted entries from throughout the United States Romance Novel (9 Entries) and even from several other countries. The contest show- Judge: Sharene Martin-Brown, Wylie-Merrick Literary Agency, cases SouthWest Writers and gives it a presence nationally Kokomo, IN as well as locally.” 1. Kathleen Cherry, To Love A Viscount, Kitimat, BC, Canada In addition to a critique by the category judge, each winner 2. Leon Linfield, Escape From Empire, Redlands, CA received a cash award: $150 for first place, $100 for second, 3. Lois Cutte Sullivan, Catch a Falling Star, Los Lunas, NM and $50 for third. All first- place winners were eligible for the $1,000 Storyteller Award. Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror Novel (19 Entries) The Storyteller Award winner is Kathleen Cherry, Judge: Brandi Bowles, Agent, Howard Kitamat, BC, Canada, who won first place in the Morhaim Literary Agency, Inc Romance Novel category with To Love a Viscount. 1. Laurie Green, P2PC, Edgewood, NM 2. Kari Haworth, The Lesser Species, Keith Pyeatt received SouthWest Writers’ Parris Atascadero, CA Award, given annually for a pattern of extraordi- 3. Kevin Wolf, Broke Heart, Littleton, CO nary effort in furthering the organization and showing encouragement to other writers. The recipient must have a published body of work. Historical/American Frontier/ SouthWest Writers’ Service Awards were given to Western Novel (19 Entries) Arielle and Devin Windham for their cheerful and Judge: Mike Harris, La Frontera Pub- reliable food service efforts, Wendy Bickel and John lishing, Cheyenne, WY Candelaria for past contributions as conference and contest 1. J.H. Mader, A River’s Tales, Noblesville, IN chairs and continued support beyond their terms, and to Greg- 2. Marriah K. Nissen, The Journey of Hope, Albuquerque, NM ory Lay for his slide shows and general program support. 3. Ethel Forman, A Coin Has Two Faces, Lubbock, TX Kirt Hickman received an Instructor of the Year award for his Middle Grade or Young Adult Novel (45 Entries) Revising Fiction classes, which sell out each time they are of- Judge: Rachel Abrams, HarperCollins Publishers fered. 1. Lisa Y. Potocar, Sweet Glory, Ballston Lake, NY Writing contest winners are: 2. Jacquelyn Bickel, Tracking Ghosts, Albuquerque, NM 3. Jim Van Waggoner, Veils, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Mainstream or Literary Novel (47 Entries) Continued on page 10 Judge: Diana Finch, The Diana Finch Literary Agency, New York, NY 1. Peggi Randolph, Josephine’s Incredible Shoe & Black Pearls, Al- Congratulations to all winners and buquerque, NM thanks to Kathleen Hessler, 2. Daniel A. Smith, Storykeeper, Little Rock, AR 3. David Gelsanliter, Second Rain, Corrales, NM contest chairperson SOUTHWEST SAGE OCTOBER 2 0 0 9 Page 2 President’s Message: Writing Opportunities Abound Online The internet is your best bet for getting published these days. If you’re looking for a publisher or agent, your most efficient search will be online. The quickest submission process is on the internet as well. If you want to sell articles, you’ll find the greatest number of opportunities on the web. As a full-time journalist, I find all of my writing jobs online. Most of my writing work itself also appears online. At this point probably 60 to 65 percent of my writing is for the internet. Online writing takes the form of news stories, blogs, features, webcasts, podcasts, even video interviews. More and more, web stories include links, sometimes to YouTube where a quick click gives you a video. If you want to succeed in the magazine world these days, you have to learn and master these new forms of writing. Recently, I’ve also been submitting fiction and poetry online. The web makes the entire submission process much quicker. I search for agents online. At their websites, I can review what they represent and look at their submission requirements. In many cases, they ask writers to submit the query, synopsis and sample chapters by email. The keypad is the new pencil, email the new envelope. The publishing world was relatively slow to shift correspondence with writers to the internet, but in the past few years, the transition has pretty much become complete. A good number of agents have quit taking postal submissions altogether. If you want to succeed in the magazine world, study magazine websites and pitch a story (to the editor by email) that fits with the content of the website. If you want to pitch your novel to an agent or submit a proposal to a book editor, going online will be your shortest route. P.S. Finding work with online publishers who pay, and submitting work online is not the same as "publishing" your work online. See Shirl Brainard's article on page 11 about the difficulties of online co-publishing. Rob Spiegel WELCOME NEW MEMBERS IN THIS ISSUE Kathy Claus 1 Annual Writing Contest Winners and Awards Joseph Sean Livingston 3 Officer Elections Jim Powell Brenda Maytum 4 Who Said That? Kirt Hickman Cynthia Boyd 5 Writing the Bullet-Proof Query Rob Spiegel Katrina Rogers 6 Meetings Richard Baty Dianna W. Allen 7,8 Classes and Workshop Alexis Lubchenco 9 Successes and Announcements Tom Wood Marcus McCaskill 10 Contest Winners continued Gregory Saunders 11 Fool’s Paradise Lost Shirl Brainard Ramon V. Kruse Jutta Mayer-Furr 12 Critique Groups Steve Schmidt Jan Schroeder SouthWest Sage Advertising Rates Annual Membership in SouthWest Writers Worldwide Internet Circulation Individual: $60 ($100 for 2 years), Two people $50 each, The SWW website receives hundreds Student over 18: $40, Under 18: $25 of thousands of page requests every month. Requires proof of student status Business card size: $16 1/8 page: $24 Outside U. S.: $65, Lifetime Membership: $750 1/4 page: $36 1/3 page: $45 1/2 page: $75 Download the Sage from www.southwestwriters.com 15% discount for 3 mos. 20% discount for 6 mos. Join us first Saturday: 10 AM-Noon: Third Tuesday: 7-9 PM Deadline: 1st of each month for the following month. New Life Presbyterian Church, 5540 Eubank NE, Payment due with camera-ready ad copy. Albuquerque, New Mexico SOUTHWEST SAGE OCTOBER 2009 Page 3 Vote for SWW Officers on October 3 Be sure to attend the Saturday October 3rd meeting to vote for SouthWest Writers officers. The nominating committee presents the following candidates for officers for 2010: Melody Groves, President; Robert Spiegel, Vice President; Larry Greenly, Sec- retary. Write-in votes will also be accepted at the meeting on October 3. Mail-in votes and email votes will be accepted and must be received at the SWW office by noon on October 2. The position of Treasurer is still open. Interested parties should contact Rob SouthWest Sage Spiegel at [email protected] or Melody Groves at [email protected]. Published monthly by the Board of Directors of SouthWest Writers, a nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization. An SWW member for ten years, Melody Groves has been the Subscription is a benefit of membership. public relations chair for four of those years. A native New Mexi- can, born and raised in Las Cruces, she uses the West as the focus President Rob Spiegel of her two non-fiction books and four novels. She also writes for [email protected] New Mexico Magazine and True West, and critiques and reviews Vice-President Larry Greenly manuscripts and books for UNM Press and individuals. Her [email protected] awards include the SWW 2008 Parris Award, the 2008 New Mex- Secretary/Parliamentarian Keith Pyeatt ico Book Award for Historical Fiction Novel (Arizona War), an [email protected] SWW writing contest first-place win for magazine articles, and a Treasurer Harold Burnett [email protected] first-place win for fiction in a Deming city writing contest. Conference Chair Sandra Toro [email protected] Groves’ vision for SouthWest Writers is one of growth, not only in terms of members, Writers Contest Chair but also in terms of reaching out to other writing organizations. Publishing is a tough Kathleen Hessler [email protected] business, and she firmly believes that writers should help each other whenever pos- Critique Service Edith Greenly sible. She’d like to do this through more joint meetings with local groups, and a con- [email protected] nection with others’ newsletters and/or websites. She’d also encourage additional Speakers Rob Spiegel class offerings with a wider diversity of subjects. Groves sees her role as president as [email protected] Membership Jeanne Shannon the leader of a “team effort” to keep SWW the powerhouse that it has become. [email protected] Public Relations Melody Groves Among other things, Robert Spiegel is a magazine editor and [email protected] book author. He has published thousands of magazine articles, Class Coordinator Dianne Layden scores of poems, dozens of short stories and many books, all [email protected] with national publishers. For 10 years he owned the magazine SWW Sage Editor Ruth Friesen Chile Pepper and a book publishing company. He is the current [email protected] president of SouthWest Writers. Workshop Coordinator Gary Ness [email protected] Larry W.