Yesterday was the last day of the Women Writing the West Conference.
This was a great little conference — lots to do and plenty of classes for every type of writer. Thursday’s “extra” day offered Self Publishing, a Query Letter Boot Camp, and a critique you had to sign up for in advance (I went to the boot camp). Then we had “social hour” and a welcome from the current president along with readings from the finalists for the WILLA awards.
On Friday, we started out with social hour for breakfast, then dug into the curriculum with Visual Plotting, Soft Marketing Tips, Pitch Perfect, and Realistic Wilderness Characters & Settings. The next course included a Virtual Tour of Colorado Springs, Social Media, Submission Netiquette, and Advanced Writing Tips. After that, Publishing Trends in a Post-COVID World, Contracts Demystified, Historical Research & Craft, and Writing Emotion.
After lunch, we had a lovely talk by Bob Bose Bell, publisher of True West magazine, and Radio Interview Tips from Ryan Warner of Colorado Public Radio. Both of those were really fun and got us warmed up for the afternoon sessions.
These included Getting the Most from WWW, Author Marketing Collectives, a journal & magazine panel, and Mosaic. Then we had dinner hour and the awards ceremony for the Laura (short story) and Downing (journalism) Awards. Most inspiring, as was the short musical film afterwards: Here’s To The Women, by Linda Allen.
Saturday morning we settled in after breakfast hour to talk about Braiding the Essay, Peak Your Publicity, First Page Perfect, and Poetic Techniques for Your Fiction & Nonfiction. The next session included a talk on Helen Hunt Jackson, Goodreads for Authors, Set the Scene, and an Agent Acquisition Panel. Then it was time for Planning Your Book, Getting Book Reviews That Count, and Editors Acquisition Panel, and Secondary Characters.
After lunch, we had the WILLA finalists ceremony and a member’s meeting. Then it was time for Climbing Past the Fear, Homesteading the Wild Web, The Transcendent Memoir, and Turning Premise Into Plot. After that it was social hour with Open Mic and Guided Writings, then dinner.
After dinner, we had the WILLA Awards ceremony with keynote speaker Margaret Coel. Our after-awards entertainment was folk-music from Wes and Victoria Hamil from their CD White Man, Red Road. We really ended the conference with a bang!
They gave us the option to purchase recordings of the classes we had to skip, too, which is going to be occupying my days for the next little while. Thanks for a fantastic conference, guys!
Considering my genre, it’s natural for me to watch Westerns! Here are just a few of my favorites for you to check out.
Rio Bravo: John Wayne and Dean Martin defend the town from a corrupt rancher. Features a very young Ricky Nelson.
The Sacketts: based on Louis L’Amour’s books and starring Tom Selleck, Sam Elliott, and Jeff Osterhage. There’s another Elliott/Selleck/L’Amour story called The Shadow Riders, which is also very good.
El Dorado: another version of Rio Bravo actually, with John Wayne, Robert Mitchum and James Caan fighting evil Ed Asner.
Heck, I’ll watch almost anything with John Wayne in it!
Tombstone: Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, Sam Elliott and Bill Paxton as the Earps and Doc Holliday.
The Magnificent Seven: Seven gunslingers come to the aid of a Mexican village.
Dances with Wolves: Kevin Costner and Graham Greene in the story of a Civil War soldier learning about the Lakota tribe.
And for sheer silliness…
Blazing Saddles: Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder try to save the town of Rock Ridge from corrupt Harvey Korman.
HERE’S a fun page all about the Wild West – cowboys, Indians, and even some puzzles and games
Stephen Bly has a nice little blog with some realistic plot kickers for those of you who also write Westerns!