TEXAS HERE I COME! Yeehaw!

Hi folks,

Getting ready to head out in the ayem to Texas for two writer's events that I'll be presenting at. The first is the Dallas-Ft. Worth Writer's Conference where I'll be until Monday, May 5, and then I'll head off to San Antonio to spend some time with my writing buddies Bob Stewart and Carl Brush for some down time at Bob's place and on the Riverwalk. Then, Carl heads home to Oakland, CA, and Bob and I mosey on out to the Purple Sage Ranch north of San Antonio for 8 days at the WRW. I'm consulting a manual right now to find out which is the head and which is the rear end of a horse just in case they want to mosey up some doggies or whatever they do...

The director of WRW, Jason Sitzes, just told me they have a couple of openings left for the WRW retreat so I told him I'd post the info here in case somebody's looking for a place to hook up and do some serious writing and mingling with other writer folks. I've done two of these in the past when they were held in Kentucky and they're easily one of the single best writing experiences I've ever had and I highly recommend them. They're incredibly intense, trust me!

If you're interested in more info, just email Jason at the link provided below. Hope to see you there! We'll be eating beans by the campfire and I'll be trying to find a plug for Bob Stewart for his flatulence...

27th Anniversary of Writers Retreat Workshop 42nd WRW  WRW 2014          May 8 - 15                                                     Purple Sage Ranch     Bandera, TX     (just outside San Antonio) writersretreatworkshop.com Greetings Writers! The full roster of WRW 2014 is below. In just under a month writers will come from all over the nation to study intimately with a fabulous staff assembled in one of the finest venues WRW has ever visited. Will you be one of those writers part of an unforgettable eight days working 1-1 with a stellar staff of WRW visiting guests and our core staff? Literary Agent Mary C Moore (not accepting unsolicited manuscripts) started her career in publishing as a writer. She began an internship with Kimberley Cameron & Associates in the fall of 2012. During the internship she discovered a passion for assisting others to develop their stories and helping books reach readers. She especially loves developmental editing. Now she balances three jobs: author, editor, and agent, and finds that the experience in each helps and supports the other. She appreciates literary fiction in the style of Herman Hesse, Jane Austen, or John Steinbeck. She also loves a good commercial book. Commercially she is looking for unusual fantasy, grounded science-fiction, and atypical romance. Strong female characters and unique cultures especially catch her eye. Although she will not consider most non-fiction, stories about any kind of dance or native and pagan cultures may interest her. NYT Bestselling Novelist Grant Blackwood  The New York Times bestselling author of the Briggs Tanner series, (The End of Enemies, The Wall of Night, and An Echo of War) Grant Blackwood is also the co-author of the Fargo Adventure Series (Spartan Gold, Lost Empire, and The Kingdom) with Clive Cussler, as well as the co-author of the #1 NYT bestseller, Dead or Alive, with Tom Clancy, and the upcoming thriller, The Kill Switch, with James Rollins. A U. S. Navy veteran, Grant spent three years aboard a guided missile frigate as an Operations Specialist and a Pilot Rescue Swimmer. Grant lives in Colorado, where he is working his own standalone series starring a new hero. Author/Instructor Les Edgerton is author of 18 books and teaches creative writing on the Univ level, through private coaching, and on various on-line venues. He’s a graduate of IU and has an MFA in Writing from Vermont College. He’s a writer of novels, short stories, nonfiction sports, literary fiction, thrillers and craft books including Hooked published by Writer’s Digest. Author Emily McKay Emily McKay has been reading romance novels since she was eleven years old. Her first Harlequin Romance came free in a box of Hefty garbage bags. She immediately fell in love with the genre and has been devouring them ever since. She has a degree in English from Texas A&M University. After college, she taught middle school for four years. Eager for a job where she wouldn't have to dodge spitwads, she fled the teaching profession to write full-time. In 1993, she followed the advice, “write what you love to read,” and began writing her first romance novel. Her first published book, Baby, Be Mine was released in 2002 and was a nominated for RWA’s prestigious Rita award for Best First Book and for Best Short Contemporary. Since then she'd sold ten additional books to Harlequin, Temptation, Mills & Boon and Silhouette Desire. Her latest two novels, The Farm and The Lair, have been YA successes. Her books have been translated into eleven languages and there are over half a million copies of her books in print. From 7am Early Bird sessions (led by the fabulous Bob Stewart) to 9:30pm Night Owl sessions, morning classes and afternoon meeting/writing time, WRW will fill your hours with intimate individualized instruction, critiques, in-depth 1-1 discussions about your work, and ample time to disappear to your private room to write.  It is an unforgettable experience… one that could change your writing life (maybe even your life). If you have questions, email us at  info@writersretreatworkshop.com. See you in Texas in May! And keep in touch, Jason “[A] group of adventurers who understood commitment gathered at a retreat center on the verdant banks of a big, calm pond in northern Kentucky…For ten glorious, hard, demanding days, they laid down their money and their time on the table where their wants were.” --From Seven Steps On The Writer’s Path, Nancy Pickard writing about Writers Retreat Workshop “WRW is a boot-camp for writers.” –Matt Bialer (agent Sanford J Greenburger)