"Writing in the Ozarks" conference scheduled for August 2011 at novelist Janet Dailey's inn in Hollister, Missouri

Information about this conference is being provided by Ozarks Romance Authors because we support and encourage other writers' groups within our geographic region. In fact, many of our members overlap and are also members in these other groups.

Writing in the Ozarks: Writers' Conference at Ye Olde English Inn in Historic Hollister, Missouri August 18-19-20, 2011 (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday) Sponsored by Ozark Adventures, Inc.

The renovated English Inn, of Downing Street in downtown historic Hollister, MO, is the exciting, yet relaxing, working getaway site for writers of all genres: Westerns, Mysteries, Horror, general interest articles, mainstream fiction.

This historic inn features on-site dining at the River Stone Restaurant and the Black Horse Pub. Comfortable and elegant rooms include free wi-fi. All presentations are on-site or nearby on Downing Street, or at the campus of The College of the Ozarks (Saturday events only).

PRESENTERS

Janet Dailey introduced the “Western romance,” which focused on the female, who was often marginalized in traditional Western novels, and provided the “first look at heroines, heroes and courtships that take place in America, with American sensibilities, assumptions, history, and most of all, settings.” She is the author of the popular Calder Series, and she is now the owner of the English Inn! Visit Janet Dailey online by clicking here: http://www.janetdailey.com/blog.


Dusty Richards has written dozens of Western short stories and novels. He is the only writer who has won two Spur Awards in the same year (for short story and novel) and was named by Readers Choice in True West magazine as the “greatest living American Western writer.” He is the author of "Writing the West: A Western Novel Roundup." Visit Dusty online by clicking here: http://www.dustyrichards.com.

Radine Trees Nehring is the creator of the popular mystery series “Something to Die For,” set in the Ozarks, and featuring the adventures of Carrie Culpepper McCrite and Henry King. Her latest novel, "A Journey to Die For," was the winner of the 2010 Silver Falchion award at the Killer Nashville Conference. Visit Radine online by clicking here: http://www.radinesbooks.com.

Fred Pfister is a retired English professor and editor of The Ozarks Mountaineer magazine, and author of "The Insider's Guide to Branson and the Ozark Mountains" and "The Littlest Baby: A Handbook for Parents of Premature Children." Visit Fred online at the web site for Ozarks Mountaineer magazine by clicking here: http://www.ozarksmountaineer.com.

REGISTRATION & COSTS

Call Ozark Adventures at (417) 239-0203 to register. See program details in June on their website by clicking HERE. $60 ($70 at site) registration fee includes free, rest-of-year membership in the Ozarks Writers League (OWLs), to those not already members. (Click HERE for information about the group.)

Lodging and meals are at the expense of participants. Eateries within only two minutes walking distance of the English Inn are Vintage Paris, Little Hacienda, Japanese Kitchen, and Audi's #1 Pizza and Pub. Call Innkeeper Pam Hatch, 417-544-9056, and ask for special “Writer Rates” ($69 and $99). That rate includes breakfast at the Inn.

Visit www.oldenglishinnhollister.com for room views and information. Other lodging is located in the general area of Branson and Hollister. We would suggest the nearby Keeter Center on the campus of College of the Ozarks.

Read the article about “double Spur Award Winner” Dusty Richards in the forthcoming July-August issue of The Ozarks Mountaineer magzine. Subscribe and see sample articles and features at www.ozarksmountaineer.com.

This conference in Hollister coming up in August 2011 sounds fantastic! If you would like to attend, please post below or send us an email at OzarksRomanceAuthors@gmail.com so we can make plans to ride together or meet you there.

Ozarks Romance Authors is a non-profit, multi-genre group for writers and was founded in 1987. Meetings are held the first Saturday of each month at The Library Station, 2535 N. Kansas Expressway, in Springfield, Missouri.

Join us for critique group at 10:00 a.m., lunch at noon, and our meeting/guest speaker at 1:00 p.m.

Visitors are welcome. Your first three visits are free.

Our annual conference will be held July 23, 2011, at The Clarion Hotel and Conference Center in Springfield, Missouri. To learn more about the amazing lineup of speakers and workshops, click here to visit our conference page.

If you have questions about our group, please email us at OzarksRomanceAuthors@gmail.com or call (417) 597-4716.

Western author Dusty Richards scheduled to speak at our April 3, 2010 meeting

Dusty Richards is a fabulous author from our region. He will speak to ORA at our April 3, 2010, meeting.

From Dusty’s site:

I speak to the Ozark Romance Writers in Springfield, MO. I will be looking at members first chapters that have been turned down and discussing why. Should be a great day.

http://www.dustyrichards.com/Marketing%20News.htm

Dusty has many credits to his name, including the 2010 Western Heritage Award for a Western Novel from the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, and the 2007 Spur Award from Western Writers of America for Best Western Short Fiction and Best Mass Market Paperback Novel.

His bio from his web site (as of 2010):

If there was a Saturday matinee, Dusty was there with Hoppy, Roy and Gene. He went to roundup at seven years-old, sat on a real horse and watched them brand calves on the Peterson Ranch in Othello, Washington. When his family moved to Arizona from the Midwest, at age 13, he knew he'd gone to heaven. A horse of his own, ranches to work on, rodeos to ride in, Dusty's mother worried all his growing up years he'd turn out to be some "old cowboy bum."

He read every western book on the library shelves. He sat on the stoop of Zane Grey's cabin on Mrs. Winter's ranch and looked out over the "muggie-own" rim and promised the writer's ghost his book would join Grey's some day on the book rack.

Since English teachers never read westerns, he made up book reports like "Guns on the Brazos" by J.P. Jones. The story of a Texas Ranger who saves the town and the girl. Then he sold them for a dollar to other boys to lazy to read when teenagers were lucky to earn fifty cents an hour. In fact, book reports kept him and his buddy in gas money to go back and forth to high school.

After graduating from Arizona State University in 1960, he came to northwest Arkansas, ranched, auctioneered, announced rodeo, worked 32 years for Tyson Foods in management, anchored TV news and struggled to get a book of his own sold. The three earlier books on the list were published without his knowledge and only discovered a year ago as even existing.

In 1992, his first novel, "Noble's Way," was published. In 2003, his novel, "The Natural," won the Oklahoma Writer's Federation Fiction Book of the Year Award. In 2004, "The Abilene Trail" won the same award. Dusty invests a lot of his time helping others who want to learn how to write by speaking at seminars and conferences all over the United States.

There is no difference in writing any kind of fiction. In Dusty's words, "You simply change the sets, costumes and dialect."

He serves on the board of Ozark Creative Writers Conference held annually in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, as well as on the boards of the Ozarks Writers League in Branson, Missouri, and the Oklahoma Writers Federation. He also serves on the board of his local electric co-op, and of the Springdale, Arkansas PRCA rodeo. He is a past board member of the Western Writers of America. In 2004, he was inducted into the Arkansas Writers Hall of Fame.

This year, his 65th book will have been published under his own name and pseudonyms. That does not count his five dozen plus short stories and hundreds of articles and columns.

Dusty and his wife, Pat, reside next to Beaver Lake east of Springdale, Arkansas -- that is, whenever they aren't off at speaking engagements or writing conferences, announcing rodeos or chuckwagon racing, or researching for western novels. He and his wife have two wonderful daughters, Ann and Rhonda, two great sons-in-law, and four super grandkids from ages 12 to 20.

If he can steal time to do it, Dusty likes to fish for trout on the White River in Arkansas.