New Mexico Book Awards Winners and More Writing Tips

PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Paul Rhetts 505/344-9382

RIO RANCHO LOMA COLORADO LIBRARY TO FEATURE WINNERS FROM THE NEW MEXICO BOOK AWARDS ON JULY 10

The Main Rio Rancho Library at Loma Colorado will feature winners from the 2007 New Mexico Book Awards. Authors scheduled to attend include:

Abe Pena
Best Book on Hispanic Subject
Memories of Cibola

Antonio Garcez
Best Book, Other Nonfiction
New Mexico Ghost Stories

Cindy Bellinger
Best Self-help/Best Gardening
Journaling for Women/Waterwise Garden Care: Your Practical Guide

Cynthia Davis
Best Book, Other Fiction
Rahab's Redemption

Don Bullis
Best Book on New Mexico
New Mexico: A Biographical Dictionary

Jan Zimmerman
Best Business Book
Web Marketing for Dummies

John Taylor
Best Religious Book
Dejad a los Niños

Nick Buffington
Best Novel – adventure or drama
Apache Casino

Robert Powers
Best New Mexico History Book
Peopling of Bandelier

Susan Miller
Best Novel – mystery
Quarry

Michelle Holland
Best Poetry
The Sound a Raven Makes

Rene Colato Lainez
Best Childrens Book
Playing Loteria

Glenys Carl
Best Biography/Best First Book
Hold My Hand

L. Greer Price
Best Travel Book
High Plains of Northeastern New Mexico

Ana Baca
Best Novel, Historical Fiction
Mama Fela's Girls

The event will take place from 6:30pm - 8:30pm and is free and open to the public.

The Round Robin style will enable the public to meet with authors, have them sign books, and check out authors that they are not familiar with reading.

The 2008 New Mexico Book Awards is ending July 1, 2008, and winners will be announced November 21, 2008.

For more information call the Library or 344-9382.

More Writing Tips

A Writing Tip from Charlesbridge Editor Randi Rivers

One way out of the slush pile is to meet people in the business. There's no better way to do that than by attending conferences. Conferences usually offer a chance to have your manuscript critiqued. Take advantage of this service. It's one way of making a contact.

If critique sessions aren't offered, then there's usually a meet-and-greet. Granted everyone will be seeking out the editor, but even if you don't get to talk, listen. Find out what types of stories an editor is interested in. Don't be pushy, however, and don't force a submission on the editor. Instead, get to know the editor as a person. Building a rapport with someone is a valuable resource.


In the early 1990s, Randi Rivers worked for a magazine publisher based in the Los Angeles area. While in L.A., she coauthored the play Heart of the Matter, which was later produced by the Dunwoody Stage Door Players in Atlanta, Georgia. After returning to Massachusetts, she joined Charlesbridge Publishing. Currently an editor, Randi acquires and edits eight to ten children's books per year.

***

A Writing Tip from Young Adult Novelist Rich Wallace

Coming up with a basic plot is nothing too remarkable. What makes the story worth reading is the characters. So where do they come from?

For me, it's always been from within myself. I write primarily about teenage boys, so I need to reconnect with myself at that age. But even if I were writing about a talking bear or an animated steam shovel, I'd still want to infuse that character with my own angst or joy or confusion or anger—something I know because I've experienced it.

I have a few tactics for reconnecting with my teenage self. Most of us have a point in our childhood that still holds fairly intense emotions—probably a time of real turmoil and life changes. When you focus on that point—writing from the viewpoint of a character at that age—you might find that your stories have greater emotional resonance.


Rich Wallace is the author of four acclaimed novels for young adults: Playing Without the Ball, Wrestling Sturbridge, Shots on Goal, and Restless. He has also authored a short-story collection called Losing Is Not an Option, and a series of sports novels for middle-grade readers called Winning Season. His columns, profiles, and other features have been published in Highlights, Track and Field News, Runner's World, and other publications. Rich is a former senior editor at Highlights. His fifth and most recent YA novel, One Good Punch (Knopf), was released in October 2007.

***

These tips come from general sessions given at the Highlights Foundation Writers Workshop at Chautauqua. Find out more at www.highlightsfoundation.org.


The Highlights Foundation
814 Court Street
Honesdale, PA 18431
Phone: (570) 253-1192
E-mail: contact@highlightsfoundation.org

saludos René Colato Laínez