Howdy pardners. Did you ever see time ride the paint pony so fast? Here it is August already and we wonder where July took off to. As you will find out.....we have some real interesting items in our newsletter. Just turn on the cool air, sip something refreshing and enjoy the read.

The Western Writers of America are looking forward to the November 27, 1999, NATIONAL WESTERN WRITERS BOOKSIGNING MONTH.

The booksigning can be hosted wherever we can round up enough folks/champions to host the event. This event will be held every year on the first Saturday after Thanksgiving, which is the best time to gather a lot of holiday shoppers looking for gifts. A time also to get your book out in front of the public. For more information please E mail: BOBWISEMAN@aol.com or Stev.Donev@reporters.net

I want to thank all WWA members who have sent in names and addresses of "western friendly" book stores, including Rita Cleary, Phyliss de la Garza, David Laird, John Duncklee, Tammy Ryan and G. Sam Carr. We now have the beginnings of a list, but frankly, we need more member participation to come up with more complete list. Please take the time to mail or E mail names, addresses and phone numbers of just one "western friendly" bookstore in your area. Send the information to me: mblakely@tstar.net

Thanks very much,
Mike

Writers take note. Just when you thought you had to travel the road alone, we've got the help you need! Join us at Women Writing the West's 5th annual and BEST congference and the 1st ever WILLA Literary Awards, offering everything from the latest on mysteries to the urban myths of writing. Meet authors, agents, interviwers and more. Time: October 22-October 24. Place: Denver's Brown Palace Hotel, 321 17th Street. Registration fee (including all meals) is $140 for members; $155 for non-members. If you wish a brochure, please send a note with your address to WWW, POB 2199, Evergreen, CO 80437.

Thanks,
Sybil Downing, conference chair

I just returned from a press trip to the most heavenly part of Colorado: Gunnison County where the wildflowers are at their densest anywhere, the cattle ranches are abundant and the lakes and rivers full.

The towns of Gunnison and Crested Butte (unspoiled, beautiful historic) an hour past Aspen, and accessible by air, would like to know if I can rustle up some writers to think about attending a Western Lifestyle Writer's Workshop.

We'd have writing workshops with the legends in the morning on style, subject matter, etc. and real outdoor experiences in the afternoon to reinforce our stories, like horsebackrides, kayaking, chuckwagon cooking, mounatin hiking, overnight cattle moving, etc...closing with the cattlemen's Days Rodeo on the last day. (3rd weekend in july)

They are doing a feasibility study to give us the lowest package deal on room rates and outfitters. The workshop panel and content would be up to us. This is not official yet: not under WWA's umbrella. I'm just testing the water to see if we don't want to try it. Then another year, we could go western Desert-style, or Texas style, or High Sierra's. You get the idea. And maybe only run it every other year.

If anyone out there would like to attend such a thing, a grown-up writers camp experience please let me hear from ya!

Thanks,
Corinne
Corinnejb@aol.com

Well, this is one for the books that I thought I might share.

My book, THE WHITE HORSES (Pinnacle), sold out its entire print run in the three and a half weeks it was out prior to its "official" publication date!

Pinnacle is reprinting the book and it will be available shortly. Yipee!

Many thanks to all my Western Writer pals who helped make this possible~
C.A. (Carolyn) Bauer

Too often I’ve heard fellow writers bemoan editors or “the market” for their failure to publish. “Do you belong to a critique group?” I ask. Too often, the answer is no.

From my experience, there are few writers who are so gifted that they can write in a vacuum. While it’s fine to get feedback from lay readers, or even family members, there is no substitute for baring your work to the scrutiny of other seasoned writers. Is it sometimes painful? You bet. But it can also be exhilarating. There’s no better compliment than one from another writer you respect. The greatest advantage of sharing your work with other writers is gaining new ideas, new insights into your work you never considered. Not to mention free line editing.

There are different types of critique groups. Some are eclectic: short stories, poetry novels. Others may focus on one genre only, such as non-fiction or children’s literature or romance. Find the one that best suits your needs and interests. Here are eight tips to consider when shopping critique groups:

1. Group size can vary from three or four to twenty. A small group can work well if the members are seasoned writers. A large group can also work well since you will find a wide array of talent and genres to learn from, but it can mean a large amount of take-home work. Try various sized groups until you find the right one for you.

2. Do they welcome newcomer’s to the fold or do they seem a bit frosty? Some groups operate “by invitation only.” It’s best to find that out before showing up on meeting night.

3. Do they meet often enough to meet your writing needs? Some groups meet weekly, some bi-weekly, some monthly. You may feel weekly is a bit much or that monthly is too long between work sessions.

4. How does the group work? Some groups do a lot of “reading.” That is, members read their work aloud to each other and then critique. There is a major flaw in this process. Some of us are good at public speaking and could make a comic book sound like a best seller. Others are nervous or read in a monotone that could make Steinbeck sound like a piker. Also, reading aloud takes up a great deal of group time, severely limiting the number of manuscripts that can be critiqued in an evening. In non-read-aloud groups, members hand out copies of their manuscripts. Everyone reads and marks them up at home, then brings them to the next session for an oral presentation. These oral critiques (usually limited to 5-10 minutes each) tend to hit the high points and verbalize general impressions and concerns about your work. After each critique, the critiquer hands back your marked-up manuscript so you can study it at home.

5. Though we try not to be thin-skinned, submitting work to a critique group can be ego-jarring. But it can also be inspiring when you receive boffo reviews. In any case, be prepared to discover you are not always the literary genius (at least not yet) you thought you were. Some critiquers are more gracious, more adept at putting things in a positive light than others. Gracious or not, critique group etiquette requires that you listen to each critique in its entirety before asking questions. Debating or interrupting the critiquer only eats up someone else’s critique time and frustrates everyone.

6. You will get bubkus out of a group that merely slaps one another on the back. The whole point of a critique group is honest feedback. This doesn’t mean you should make every correction suggested. You may decide to ignore certain comments and act on others. No one knows your work and your style better than you. The key is to critique in a POSITIVE and SUPPORTIVE way. No group should tolerate a “literary bully.” Over time you will learn whose comments to trust and whose to take with a grain of salt. I’ve seen some members try to incorporate every comment and suggestion made in their re-writes. The result is total banality. This is the most important thing to learn in a critique group, otherwise your writing could degrade rather than upgrade.

7. A caveat. All members are expected to do their share of the critiquing if they want to reap the benefits of the group. No one likes members who show up only when they have a manuscript to hand out or comes to meetings unprepared to critique. Depending on group size and activity level, be prepared to sometimes go home with well over 100 pages to read in preparation for the next meeting.

8. What if you can’t locate a nearby group to join? Start one. Post notices in bookstores, local newspapers and libraries. Join local writer’s associations and network. Eventually, you’ll find other orphaned writers looking for a group. A good critique group can be a godsend. It can serve as a classroom as well as a springboard to publication. I learned more about writing in one year with a quality critique group than I learned in 18 years of formal schooling. The result was the snaring of a quality New York agent and the publication of my first novel. By following these steps, listening to my fellow critiquers, filtering out the nonsense and retaining the gems, my craftsmanship improved with every meeting. A good critique group can be better than any “book doctor” you could hire, and you’ll submit squeaky-clean manuscripts to editors/agents, moving you to the head of the herd.

Author’s Bio
Pax Riddle is a graduate of the Writer’s Digest Novel Writing Workshop. His first novel, Lost River, published by Berkley Books (Penguin/Putnam) is currently in bookshops everywhere. He has had short stories, book reviews and poetry published in The Licking River Review (the literary magazine of the Western Kentucky University), The Beaver Tail Journal, EWG Presents and Pulse (on-line magazines), News From Indian Country (a national Indian newspaper), the academic journal, Studies in American Indian Literatures, and Wild West, a national western history magazine.

The six shooter manufactured by E. Remington and Sons of Ilion, New York, rivaled the Colts revolver in popularity in the old west.

Eliphalet Remington started the family business in 1816. He produced muskets, rifles, shotguns, derringers, pistols, farming implements, sewing machines and typewriters.

The first Remington revolver of 1857 was a model designed by Fordyce Beal. It was a pocket weapon for civilians. Beal's larger design, a Remington model 1861, had a new type of loading lever and cylinder pin. It was a .44 caliber intended for the U.S. Army. They also manufactured a similar revolver in a .36 caliber for the U.S. Navy.

A newer model soon resulted for the U.S. Army in 1863 and became the second most popular revolver in the Civil War. the most popular was the Colts model 1860.

The difference between the Remington and the Colts was the solid frame over the top of the cylinder. It gave more strength and a continuous sighting grove.

The Remington was a cap-and-ball percussion weapon. There were approximately 172,000 sold. In 1875 the metal cartridge model far out sold the previous revolver.

In 1888 they became known as the Remington Arms Company and their last revolver was a single-action Army model in 1891. This revolver was not a success and in 1894, Remington abandoned the revolvers.

He was six feet tall, weighed 200 pounds and was a formidable man, who became known as the "Hanging Judge."

It was thought if a person stood before Judge Issac Parker, he was destined to hang. Parker wouldn't take any nonsense in his court room. He opened at 8:30 a.m. until dark, six days a week. He was appointed judge of the Western District of Arkansas in May, 1875. His authority carried over into the Indian territory, which was later known as Oklahoma.

Parker replaced a corrupt judge and let it be known it was now his jurisdiction. He would rule strong, tough and exact. Times were wild and the country was plagued with outlaws.

Judge Parker had a gallows built that would hold 12 men at one time. He meant to drive fear into the hearts of the lawless. His word was final....there was no appeal to a higher court...there wasn't any.

While most feared his tough attitude, the law abiding citizens highly approved of Judge Parker. He got the job done.

Belle Starr appeared before Judge Parker more than one time. In 1882 the Judge sentenced her to a year in jail for horse stealing. She might not have known how lucky she was.

Judge Parker also had in his employ the brothers, Bob, Grat and Emmet Dalton before they decided to go against the law.

Judge Parker served 21 years at Fort smith, Arkansas. He hung 79 convicted criminals out of over a thousand men sent before him. So some boys got off from visiting the scaffolding.

He might have been very hard on killers and rapist, but there were those who believed Parker thought more about the victims. Most outlaws preferred to do their business as far away from Fort Smith, Arkansas and Judge Parker as they could.

The adult gray wolf stands 3 feet high at the shoulder and measures 5 feet long, with a weight of up to 100 pounds. It's color varies from a dense white, to gray, to a deep black. His howl is louder, with a more prolonged pitch compared to the wailing coyote or prarie wolf. The gray wolf is also larger, stronger and more savage.

When the buffalo was plentiful, the gray wolf lurked around them, preying on the injured, sick or weak calves. They would wait for the opportunity to down the animal, tearing into it's neck to make an instant kill. They left behind little for the buzzards.

Then the buffalo hunters exterminated the buffalo herds. Their hides had become very valuable to the eastern markets in making coats, and hats. The carcass was left for the many wolves to eat, but eventually there were no more buffalos and the wolves hunted for something else to satisfy their hunger.

The gray wolf became a constant problem for the settlers and ranchers. They haunted sheep pens, chicken houses and any other type of animal. The ranchers set out poison traps and shot at them on sight. They offered bounties for dead wolves. They hired professional wolf hunters to hunt down the wolves until finally, at long last the population of the gray wolf dwindled to almost nothing.

Today, the gray wolf is in the isolated regions of the Rocky Mountains, the Great Lakes and the northern sections of Canada and Alaska. It feeds mostly on small mammals, deer, antelope, and even birds. It will even turn on it's own kind if it has a need.

GENEVIVE OF TOMBSTONE by John Duncklee, published by Leisure is about a woman with spirit and heart, who would never surrender to the town to tough to die.

THE WHITE HORSE by Carol Bauer, published by Pinnacle, is available at all book stores. It has just sold out of it's first printing and will be going into it's second print.

IN HONORED GLORY by Robert Vaughan, a St. Martins paperback is an epic of the Spanish - American War.

BORDER DOGS by Ralph Cotton, a Signet Historical paperback is a story about a ranger after the ones who murdered his family.

LOST RIVER by Pax Riddle published by Berkeley is a historical novel of a brave Modac Indian woman.

How about you? Did you get published today? Send in the facts about your book to JackWriter@aol.com

So, there ya' go .....that's it for the time being .....we'll be looking for any contributions sent our way for the September newsletter. Don't be shy now! Adios until next month. Keep your powder dry !

Jack & Marge