Las Cruces Writers is thrilled to announce that Lisa Lucca has won the Southwest Book Design and Production Award from the New Mexico Book Association for her book Ashes to Ink in the LGBTQ category!
September Writers Class: Character Development
Efrem Carasco
Saturday, September 24, 2022
2:00 pm – 4:00pm
“Anyone can create a character, but the development of a strong, three-dimensional character . . . that’s an act of a true writer.”
Bring Paper and Pen—for your notes.
Good Sam, Building E 3045 Buena Vida Circle
The building in front of Bus and Handicap Parking, next to the building where we hold the LCW meetings—first room to the right.
Members should email Efrem directly to get on the list. Non-members can join and get instant access!…
LCW’s own Fenton Kay will be signing books at COAS on October 1st from 10AM to noon. You can find his latest book from the Carol Montgomery series on Amazon. Here’s the lowdown:
…Carol Montgomery, Ph.D. structural engineer and witch, has a contract to evaluate three 100-year or more old adobes. One of them has a dormer loft. The house contains a haunt, say the neighbors who claim to hear piano music and see a strange flickering light in the loft at night. The old woman that built the house is said to be the haunt, and she loved to play the piano at night for her roomers and family, according to local folk stories. Carol, Ami, and Carol’s telepathic cat familiar, Rogue, visit the place at night and hear the music but see no lights. Carol decides to place trail cameras in the building to find out what is happening. Carol’s cameras reveal an old man’s presence and a piano player. The videos from the cameras show the old man chanting and burning sage upstairs by the light of a flickering oil lamp and a hooded person playing the piano. The old man enters and exits through a tiny trench. Rogue decides to spend a night in the house to discover what is happening and takes Timmy, Ami’s cat, with her. The cats meet the old man, get charmed by the piano music and the sage smoke, and learn what is going on, but not without Timmy getting
Las Cruces Writers is thrilled to announce that our very own Bob Worthington has won another book award for his new book, Fighting Viet Cong in the Rung Sat. Below is the official press release. Congrats to Bob!
LAS CRUCES VETERAN & AUTHOR WINS NATIONAL AWARD FOR
SECOND VIETNAM BOOK
LAS CRUCES, NM — Las Cruces resident, writer, and Army veteran Dr. Bob Worthington’s book “Fighting Viet Cong in the Rung Sat” has been awarded a silver medal from the Military Writers Society of America (MWSA). The second book of Dr. Worthington’s Vietnam military trilogy, the award was announced on August 27, 2022.
MWSA President Bob Doerr said that Dr. Worthington’s book earned the silver medal in the memoir/biography category after scoring “high enough in our rigorous evaluation process to win a medal recognizing (his) achievement.” Dr. Worthington’s “Fighting Viet Cong in the Rung Sat” was recognized for the writing, editing, and its publication. “(He) should be very proud of (his) accomplishment,” Doerr said. “We certainly are.”
Dr. Worthington describes his second tour in Vietnam as some of the fiercest fighting of the war and tells of his experiences training South Vietnamese commandos to conduct raids in the swamps south of Saigon.
“Fighting Viet Cong in the Rung Sat” is the follow up to Worthington’s previous book, “Under Fire with the ARVN Infantry,” which was awarded a national award for Excellence in Literature by the Military Writers Society of America. The author’s final book in the trilogy, “The Making …
Check out LCW’s own Charmayne Samuelson signing books at COAS Books via the Las Cruces Bulletin. Her event is 10AM-Noon on Saturday, August 20th (perfect intersection with Downtown Farmer’s Market!) She has several new books including a collaborative effort with her great, great nephews.…
Check out President Emeritus George Pintar’s new audiobook of his recent novelette, Navajo Tainted Beliefs. You can get it at Audible and Amazon. Here’s a synopsis:
Navajo Tainted Beliefs is a fictional novelette exploring the similarities and differences between the Bible and the Navajo stories regarding the creation of the earth and humankind.
Chile Charlie and Dolly Sweet Thompson interview two Navajo shamans to obtain the facts and oral stories regarding these concepts. The setting is at the headquarters of the Navajo Nation—Tohatchi. These side-by-side comparisons are well-documented and have excellent narration that is easy to understand. You will laugh, cry, and wonder why as you listen and digest these similarities.…
Las Cruces Writers membership meeting agenda
Thursday 14 July 2022 at Good Sam 1:30 to 3:30
Membership elections today!!!!!!!!!
Call to order by acting chair Bob Worthington
Treasurer report by Bob Worthington Appx $300 cash in the bank.
Education report by Bob Worthington
Membership/social media/next writing seminar report by Mark Davis
Elections: Bob Worthington
Nomination committee slate:
Pres. David Osterhout
VP no candidate
Sec. Rosemary Matos
Treas. Rosemary Matos
Bd member Mark Davis
Bd member Bob Worthington
Old business
New LCW brochure Mark Davis
Membership survey results Mark Davis
Membership directory Mark Davis
Book signing at Mall
New Business???
Breakout session
Mark Davis critique of writer’s work
A member will read a short (3 to 5 minutes max) segment of his/her writing and then the members will comment on how they perceive the writing. Mark will be the session leader and explain how this will work. We invite members to bring 2 to 3 pages of their work to read and have critiqued.
Several members have asked for this to be done. For this to work we need some members to bring to this session some of their written work.
Meeting adjourned…
Dreaming of coolin’ off in the lazy, crazy, hazy days of summer? Join the Las Cruces Writers in the Mesilla Valley Mall and chill out at our book signing! Ten authors in the upcoming Las Cruces Writers July 9th, MIDSUMMER BOOK DREAMS book signing and sale will offer over 50 titles in various genres includ-ing fiction, non-fiction, children’s, memoirs, and coffee-table photography books.
From 12 – 3 p.m. at Mesilla Valley Mall, meet Susan Elaine Pfeiffer, Fenton Kay, Rosemary Matos, Judy Cicero, Mark William Davis, Bob Worthington, David Osterhout, Elaine S. LeVine, George Pintar, and Charmayne Samuelson.
Romance novels and memoirs are always two popular genres of books offered by the group, and two of the authors at the signing will be Susan Elaine Pfeiffer and David Osterhout.
Susan Pfeiffer will be signing her time-travel romance, The Dusty Attic – Where The Future Meets The Past. Susan worked as the Administrative Assistant at the Las Cruces International Airport for over 21 years before retiring in 2015. Her writing passion blossomed around 2012 and it hasn’t stopped yet. She is cur-rently writing her fourth book, a sequel to The Dusty Attic. She is a true romantic at heart and loves white-water rafting, bird watching, and living her own romantic adventure with her husband of almost 50 years. Look for her on Facebook.
Author David Osterhout, an army intelligence officer who was stationed …
Agenda for the 9 June 2022 Las Cruces Writers membership meeting
1:30 to 3:30 pm at the Creative Arts Room at Good Sam at 3011 Buena Vida Circle.
Call to order by Bob Worthington, Acting Chair
Treasurer report: Judy Cicero
Membership report: Mark Davis
Web site/media report: Mark Davis
Education report: Bob Worthington
Need volunteer for Vice President position Elections during July meeting
July book signing at the Mall: Charmayne Samuelson
Executive Board report: Bob Worthington
Revised brochure/membership application
Farmer’s Market report
Membership in Dona Ana Arts Council
Writing seminars for the public
Future of LCW
Writers’ critique breakout session (for July meeting)
Other new business
Breakout session LCW brainstorming
In July the current LCW administration will end. On 1 August a new management team will take over. This brainstorming session will attempt to elicit from the members what you want from LCW and what you want it to do for you.
Currently we have the executive board meet, once a month, a week before the membership meeting. The membership meets once a month to hold a business meeting and to hold two breakout sessions (writing and marketing) and once a month we have a two-hour writing seminar. We also host two book signings at the Mall. Some of our writers have agreed to read any member’s work and provide feedback. So we have a system for writers helping writers.
The brainstorming will try to assess what the members like and what they do not like. Basically the board members want to …
I (Mark Davis) will host a seminar on Saturday, May 28th from 2-4 PM at Good Samaritan Village, Building E, 3045 Buena Vida Circle. I will also stream the seminar via Zoom (invitation will go out to members email list a day before).
Reaching audiences and selling books online is very 21st century, but don’t expect that if you build it they will come! In this seminar, I will give an overview of online marketing approaches and the idea of a “digital platform” that is designed to assemble an audience using a variety of tools.
This class is designed for writers of all skill levels who have an interest in marketing and promoting their books online. The goal will be to survey the available channels for reaching your audience and do a few deep dives on the technical aspects of those online systems. While some of the details may be technical, the presentation will provide both a primer for those hoping to do-it-yourself and options for those looking for assistance.
This seminar dovetails with George Pintar’s planned July seminar, Branding Your Business.
Topics to be covered:
