Missouri Writers Guild check out their website and then sign up to become a member. They are a great bunch of professional writers. I love it. http://www.missouriwritersguild.org/

Check on Cara Brookins a hard working mother, wife and writer. She loves to write for teens.
http://www.carabrookins.com/

Rita, I am so sorry I over looked your comment, but when I discovered it, I became very excited. Boy, sometimes we wonder if anyone reads our blog or website, but you proved it all takes time to get the word out. Thanks a million. Your book sounds very interesting. I love history. http://www.theshadeswriter.wordpress.com/

Patricia Fry, Kerri Fivecoat-Campbell, Literacy Lab, Carla McClafferty(AR-SCBWI Regional Adviser and author), author Darcy Pattison, and workshops and conferences. Soooo much happening more and more opportunities for people who want to learn the craft of creative writing and teaching. When I moved to this area of Arkansas, January 1998, there was nothing - thank God for the Baxter County Library, its books and programs. I love the library and all the people involved that are creating a wonderful future for all of us book lovers and the creative arts.

Read Kerri Fivecoat-Campbell's blog at http://kcwrite4u.blogspot.com/. Read her interview with author Patricia Fry http://www.spawn.org/, and how you can have a chance at winning a book and be able to ask the author a question. I wanted to win the book, "Marley & Me by John Grogan - another great interview. I didn't win, but I purchased the book at a library booksale. I love the booksales. yes, I know my house is full of books. I just have to start getting up at four o"clock to read. Oh, back to winning Ms. Fry's book, " The Right Way to Write, Publish and sell you Book. I was the winner and she answered my question. Not a short answer, but a very long and helpful answer. I am so excited; I can't wait to run my eyes through it.

Carl McClafferty... sorry I was interrupted by my husband informing me there is a snake in my biggest Redbud tree. So, I grabbed my camera and slipped into my gardening shoes and away I ran. The Black snake was stretched out on a small lower branch. It came from the Woodland Garden. I was able to get some pictures, then it moved down the tree back to the garden where I took more shots - no not with a gun, with the camera. The Jays was yelling warnings as they watch from branches above until it quickly disappeared before our eyes. The Jays left while I continued to search for it. I found it wrapped around a clump of Mondo grass.

Cara is involved in teaching June 9-14 at Editors at the Teachers as Writers Workshop, with Literacy Lab. Click on http://www.smartstepliteracylab.org/id16.html.

Sign up at http://darcypattison.livejournal.com/ for Darcy's newsletter Revision Notes filled with encouragement and helpful information. Fear of Regrets was a very mean full piece about the book with that title and her thoughts of never giving up.

Ozarks Romance Authors http://ora.home.mchsi.com/events.html are having an event on June 14, 2008.

Thersa Burns-Maler author & illustrator of children's books will be at the Baxter County Library, Mountain Home, AR on June 21. For more information go to http://www.baxtercountylibrary.org/ and http://www.theresaburns.com/ I hope to see you there.

Bel Arco Resort Writers Workshops, Friday, August 15, 2008 with author, freelance writer and teacher Terry/Tessa McDermid. For more information: http://belarcowritersworkshops.blogspot.com

Novel Writers Workshop and children's writers. Do I have some exciting news for beginners and advanced writers on how to write a romance novel. Novelist and freelance writer Terry McDermid, will be our first speaker August 15, 2008 at Bel Arco Resort Writers Workshops. There will be more information on future blogs and on my website.

It has been an up and down week. Thanks to writers friends who made it a week of encouragement. Check out Missouri Writes For Kids http://www.mowrites4kids.drury.edu,
Christine Taylor-Butler http://www.christinetaylorbutler.com, and Juvenile Writers of Kansas City http://www.jwkc.org they are having a conference September 20, 2008 with agents as their speakers.

More important websites to check out, Harcourt Publishers http://www.harcourt.com, The Historical Novel Society http://www.historicalnovelsociety.org, and The Shades Writer http://theshadeswriter.wordpress.com.

Chicago Tribune Printers Row Book Fair June 7-8.

Weather, gardening, websites and interesting authors. This year's weather keeps me wondering what twist in life will the storms hold. The writing life is very much like the weather it comes and goes where I never know what each day will bring me. Some days I take shelter in the Woodland Garden from the storms that blow into my writing convincing me to give up. Spending a few hours under the canape of trees as the birds serenade me smoothing my doubts. When I return to the studio I am refreshed and ready to set my world on firer for writing is where I receive rewards for stepping out.

Blogs to check on K.C.'s Write for you at http://www.kcwrite4u.blogspot.com/ today she interviews John Grogan author of Marley and Me. Mr. Grogan provides inside to writing a memoir and finding an agent. What I come away with when writing personal memoirs hidden deep within us, our writing flows easier and touches the hearts of many readers. Also check out this blog http://www.missyandcocosblog.blogspot.com it is a journal of a young lady,her little girl and their journey for all animals to be love. My little nineteen year old dachshund named Baby Girl went on her long journey a years ago April 13. She is missed. I took lots of pictures and have written two stories for children from her point of view.

This is a busy week so I hope the weather is kind to all of us. My friends who write children's books and for magazines meet Friday morning. Thursday I meet a writing friend for lunch. Saturday and Sunday are picnics to attend with my husband.

Maybe, in the next blog I can share part of an exciting adventure I will be involved in. Don't forget Arkansas Writers' Conference is June 6-7 in Little Rock. Arkansas SCBWI is getting their own personal website created by talent Phyllis Hermann and I believe it is her sister Melanie Johnson who has provided the illustrations. She is doing a great job. http://www.arkansasscbwi.org/about.html

The Books in Bloom Festival is the brain child of the Carroll and Madison Library Foundation. What a beautiful sunny day with no wind touching the mountain top where the ghost are known to visit the gardens at the Crescent hotel. This day white tents filled the grounds, inside were beaming authors waiting to share, sell books and enjoy visiting with their fans.

The hotel Conservatory was festooned in white, lots of windows over looking the garden with a parade of white chairs filled with extremely dedicated listeners. Five acclaimed authors shared their insight why they became writers, how personal bits and pieces of their lives are interwoven into their books. The two I had time to listen to was Carolyn Hart and J.A. Jance who made us laugh and sing a little song as they pulled us into their magical kingdom of hard work and commitment.

The twelve authors who didn't speak in the Conservatory spoke in the Readers Tent. I missed the ten authors stationed with their books in the Sows Ear Tent. The Sows Ear is a new bookstore located on the square in Berryville. I tried to take note of everything happening so much going on and so little time. I waved a quick "hi" to Radine Trees Nehring a member of the Ozarks Writers league and I sat a few, a very few minutes with Carla Kilough McClafferty, Arkansas's SCBWI Regional Advisor. Oh, I had several questions I want to ask about her book, "Something Out of Nothing".

It was great seeing and visiting with friend Veda Boyd Jones. We have known each other for about thirteen years and she gets younger looking every time I see her. Boy, has she been busy with some new chapter books for kids and other books for a total of forty-two and 300 articles. She is a member of SCBWI, Missouri Writers Guild and for many years an instructor for the Institute of Children's Literature. Veda and I learned about the the ghosts who haunt the hotel from the guide who takes visitors to the dark corners of Crescent Hotel overlooking Eureka Springs. I couldn't visit too long after all the authors were there to sell books and visit with fans.