Are you a genre writer?  Many people are – but most writers like to cross over into other areas besides the one in which they began.    SouthWest Writers began as a group of romance authors back in the 1980s, but it quickly became apparent that writers from a plethora of other genres wanted to be able to locally network with bibliophiles, and at the time there were few other options outside of the university environment.

SWW still offers a wide variety of information and opportunities for anyone wanting to dive into the world of literature.  Our membership ranges from neophyte scriveners to experienced professionals – it offers people who are well out of their school years a resource for understanding the ins and outs of writing.

When people want to focus on one specific genre they still want to be able to network with others of like mind.  So SWW is happy to participated in cross-over events with groups who are focused on a specific style of writing.   Right now, as we are holding the annual writing contest, we are delighted to be working with two local groups who will bring knowledge of their specialties into play when evaluating these entries.

The New Mexico State Poetry Society is scrutinizing our Free Verse, Limerick and Haiku categories.  Shirley Blackwell, current Chancellor of the group, is coordinating the efforts of experts in each of those categories.  NMSPS was founded in 1969. They are a non-profit poetry organization affiliated with the National Federation of State Poetry Societies, Inc. (NFSPS). Their mission is to promote the creation and appreciation of poetry throughout New Mexico. “We are a diverse and inclusive community of poetry aficionados whose collective purpose is literary and educational, with a good dose of fun thrown in.”

For more information on NMSPS click here.

The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) is an international organization dedicated to helping authors produce quality stories for young people.  Their local chapter here in New Mexico is an excellent resource for new authors.   Award winning author, Chris Eboch, has spoken for SWW on several occasions, and is coordinating the organizations participation with our writing contest.

Writing for kids is not as easy as it might seem – especially since the abilities of children vary dramatically from year to year through high school!  Have a good story is just the beginning – the same story would be written differently for a kindergarten student than for a middle grade child.    Knowing how to focus your work is an art form integral to your success.

For more information on SCBWI New Mexico click here. 

SouthWest Writers is very grateful for the assistance of these wonderful sister organizations and if your interests lie in these areas we encourage you to check them out!

SWW Authors Win Big in New Mexico Press Women’s Contest

Several SWW members had already reported that their entries in the 2024 NMPW Communications Contest won awards, but as of this week the entire list of winners was released and we are very proud to congratulate many of our members for their achievements!

Both of the SWW Anthologies from last year have also garnered prizes.

Of the 173 prizes awarded for the NMPW communications contest, SWW members won 51.  That’s 29%!

Also, NMPW recognized several individuals whose collective works have pushed social or literary boundaries, naming them Courageous Communicators.  The SWW members so recognized include:  Loretta Hall, Sherri Burr, Regina Griego, Leonie Rosenstiel, and Rose Marie Kern. 

The following is a list of the SWW members and their awards.   

SouthWest Writers as a group won two awards:

• Woven Pathways won 3rd place for a Collection of Short Stories written by Multiple Authors
• Holes in Our Hearts  won 2nd place for a Collection of Short Stories written by Multiple Authors

SWW Member Elizabeth Rose was runner up for the prestigious 2025 Zia Book Award with her non-fiction tale When Cows Wore Shoes.

Additionally, Elizabeth won two Honorable Mentions:  One in the Collection of Short Stories category for ” The Long, The Short and the Tall/Tales of a New American, and another in the Single poem category for “Listening for Your Return.  Congratulations Elizabeth!

Many of the authors in both SWW anthologies, and some independent SWW members,  entered and won for individual pieces.

• Kathleen Hessler won 1st place in the Specialty articles: Personal Essay category for “Precious Penny”.
• Linda Buss won 2nd Place in Fiction for “Cradle in the Wild”.
• Allen Herring won 3rd Place in the Single Story category for “Wallflowers”.
• Gency Brown took 1st place in the Fiction Novel for Adult Readers category for her debut novel A “Right Fine Life”
• Joe Cappello was awarded Honorable Mention in the Single Story category for “They Only Showed Elvis from the Waist Up.”
• William Fisher won 2nd Place in the Novels category for “The Price of the Sky”.
• Anna Sochocky received two awards: A 2nd place in the Magazine Article category for “Trauma to Trust” and and Honorable Mention in the Agriculture article category for “Suffering from Sand Colic”
• Vicki Mayhew won 1st Place in Fiction for “How the Unicorn Said Goodbye”
• Mike Hays won 2nd place in the Essay, Chapter or Section in a Book category for “So Many Wars”
• Margaret Shannon won Honorable Mention in the Biography/History category for “Abbey-Ashman: Two Colonial and Pioneering Families of North America Volume 2: The Alden Ancestors”
• Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola won two 1st Place awards.  The first was in the Online Publication Category for “New Archive of Santa Fe Clery Abuse Documents Hailed as Unprecedented”  and a 1st place in the Religion category for “Navajo Catholics Upset after Franciscans Transfer Historic Mission to Local Diocese.
• Elaine Montague won 1st Place for “Musings of a Locked-Out Wife” in the Blog Category for her experiences during Covid when she was not allowed to visit her husband in an assisted living facility, even when he became mortally ill.  She also won Honorable Mentions in the Single Poem category for “Marionettes” and the Arts and Entertainment Category for “Let’s Network!”
• Kathy Louise Schuit, the  SAGE Newsletter editor, won a second place with NMPW, in the category of Print or Online Publications regularly edited by Entrant, Newsletter/other Publication, Nonprofit, Government, or Educational. Kathy also won a Third place in the category of  Books, Short Stories, Verse, Essay, Chapter or Section in a Book, for her story,  “Weightless,” which was published in the Woven Pathways anthology.
• Jasmine Tritten won 2nd place for her specialty article on physical health entitled “When Life Turns” [included in Holes in Our Hearts]  and Honorable Mention for her personal essay “Trickles in Paris”.
• Paula Nixon won 3rd place in the Editorial/Opinion category for “To Honor Veterans Listen to Their Stories”.

• Jim Tritten, Joe Badal, and Dan Wetmore won 1st place in the book editing category for Holes in Our Hearts.
• Sara Frances won a 1st place in the Book Design category for “Unplugged Voices”.
• Rosa Armijo-Pemble received an Honorable Mention in the Short Stories category for “Just Care: A Lesson in Possibilities.”
• Leonie Rosenstiel won several awards. Third Place for her series of articles on AI (published in The Sage during 2023), Honorable Mention for her chapter “Military Patterns” in Holes in Our Hearts, Honorable Mention for her  interview on the podcast Bump in the Road, entitled “The Reality of Guardianship.”  Additionally, Leonie received the special Courageous Communicator award for her fiction and nonfiction.
• Jim Tritten won several awards including: 1st place: “Papal Blessings” [Specialty Articles, Travel], 2nd place for “Living with an Alien” [Specialty Articles, Personal essay], 3rd place for “Holes in Our Hearts Goes Statewide” [1C News Story, Online publication], “Elusive Answers” [Specialty Articles, History], and a 3rd place Sweepstakes Award, Individual, 3rd place.
• Pat Walkow won two awards: A 1st Place for her Memoir “Life Lessons from the Color Yellow” and and Honorable Mention in the Novels category for “Alchemy’s Reach”.
• Sherri Burr won several awards including: 1st place:  Speech  “The Underground Railroad: A Journey from Slavery to Freedom”,  1st Place The Writing Life: Diana Gabadon, 1st Place –  Humorous “The Writing Life: Grace” 1st Place – General “The Writing Life: Spare”   2nd Place – Editorial/Opinion “Problematic Baldwin Case Could Have Been Even Worse Worse at Trial”, 2nd Place Informational (how-to, Q&A, advice) “The Writing Life: Shifting Priorities”, Honorable Mention-Essay, Chapter, or Section in a Book “My Brothers Guardian” in Holes in Our Heart, Honorable Mention – Personal opinion “The Writing Life: The Yellowstone Universe”
• Regina Griego won three awards:  1st place in Podcast for “Regina Griego-Transcending Futures”,  1st Place in Interview of more than 750 words for “An Interview with Author Regina Griego” and 2nd Place for an articles of 750 words or fewer “Writing for Healing and Social Change”.
• Congratulations Everyone!

What Hollywood Taught Me about Prose Fiction

by Steven Gould

Steven Gould is the author of Jumper, Wildside, Helm, Blind Waves, Reflex, Jumper: Griffin’s Story, 7th Sigma, Impulse, and Exo, as well as short fiction published in numerous magazines and anthologies.

 Jumper was made into a 2008 feature film with Samuel L. Jackson, Jamie Bell, Rachel Bilson, and Hayden Christensen. In 2013 Steve was hired to help develop four movie sequels to James Cameron’s Avatar, as well as write five novels based on the films. Impulse is currently being made into a TV pilot for YouTube Red

The recipient of the Hal Clement YA Award for SF, Steve has been a Hugo, Nebula, Prometheus, and Compton Crook finalist, but his favorite distinction was being on the ALA’s list of Top 100 Banned Books 1990-1999. Right there at #94 between Steven King’s Christine and a non-fiction book on sex education. Then Harry Potter came along and bumped him off the bottom of the  list.

The presentation is available on YouTube HERE.

If you attended the recent Self Publishing Conference you will be delighted to have access to some of the presentation materials brought by our roster of award winning speakers.   Some of the speakers from the recent Self-Publishing Conference have posted their powerpoint presentations online.   We are also proud to announce that many elements of the conference were recorded and released to YouTube.

Rose Marie Kern shared her insights as to how to determine if self publishing is right for you by posting her presentation on the Pros and Cons of Self Publishing.

Sarah Baker has also donated her insights on what printing companies are good for individuals to partner with in the production of a self-published work.   Her powerpoint  entitled Now What?  is available to you on the conference page as well.

If you would like to access these presentations and recordings, go to the Self Publishing Conference page.

Bob Gassaway was a journalist for more than 20 years. After earning a Ph.D. in sociology, focusing on human communication, he began teaching journalism and conducting research as a sociologist. He is co-editor of a non-fiction book called Dirty Work and later in life wrote murder mysteries, drawing on many memories of crime scenes.

After a long illness, Bob passed away in May.  A SWW member and board member, many of us remember him as soft spoken and unfailingly polite, always noticing the efforts of others and encouraging positive interactions.   Before the SWW Memoir Conference in 2015, Bob wrote the following article, and in doing so exposed many of his own experiences and memories for us to enjoy.

The Many Faces of Memoir

The memoir is a curious kind of writing. It has many faces because it has a different style and tells a different story for every person who creates one.
Bookstores tend to lump biographies and memoirs together, but they actually are very different beasts. A biography tells the story of a person’s life from childhood up until the time the story is written. But a memoir is a narrower take on a person’s life-just a segment of the life that the writer deems interesting and worth recounting.
One writing teacher uses a kitchen metaphor to distinguish between them. She says a biography is the whole pie. But a memoir is a slice of the pie. It should be an interesting slice with characters and probably conflict that will hold the reader’s attention, but it’s just a piece of the life, covering a particular time period in the writer’s life.
One thing is clear: Biographies and memoirs are shelved in the nonfiction section of the bookstore. Indeed, the memoir is expected to be a true account. If you plan to write fiction, write a novel, not a memoir.
   Nonetheless, the writer can take some reasonable liberties with a memoir. Memoir, after all, derives from a French word meaning memory. So you’re drawing on your memories when you write a memoir. Yet many memoirs reproduce conversations of years gone by. Are they verbatim transcriptions that the writer is reproducing? Not likely. The reader should understand that the writer has reconstructed the events as he or she remembers them. In fact, a note early in the book might remind the reader that the writer is depending on memories to tell the story.
One of my friends, Fred Bales, has used a variety of approaches to telling stories from various parts of his life. He published one book, mostly for friends and family, using the letters he and his wife, Jan, wrote to their parents when Fred and Jan were serving in the Peace Corps in Chile.
In another project, Fred created a novella based on boyhood memories of a scandalous sex triangle in his hometown. He also produced a short nonfiction book on his experiences during an attempted coup in the Philippines. He was in Manila as a Fulbright lecturer, teaching at two universities, when some members of the Filipino military tried to overthrow then-President Corazon Aquino in December of 1989. Fred holed up in his small apartment, but often could hear gunfire not far away.
Bright journalist that he was, he cranked paper into his typewriter and began keeping a log of his daily life, describing what he could see and hear, plus what he learned about the attempted coup d’état from television news and from people at the U.S. embassy. Last year, when he decided to write about his coup experiences, that log provided the facts he needed.
He used memories in a more traditional approach to memoir to produce an account of his work as a volunteer for a homeless shelter in Albuquerque. The residents in the shelter are men with medical problems, some of them quite serious.
That book, called Our Sheltered Lives, actually sort of sneaked up on Fred. He had been volunteering at the shelter for about three years, he says, when he decided that he could write a book about his experiences. At that point he began making some notes after each day of volunteer work to describe his more interesting experiences.
In the book, Fred recounts conversations with the men as he drove them to medical appointments and on errands around town. He disguised the identities of the men to protect their privacy.
Fred is a former journalist and a retired journalism professor who taught at the University of New Mexico (UNM). After he retired from UNM, he taught for several years in New Orleans and later in Brownsville, Texas, before he returned to Albuquerque to settle down and start writing.
“I think everybody ought to have something to look forward to, and for writers, that is writing,” he says. “I do if for my own self. It has its own rewards. I’m not in it for the money.” (But he does have four books for sale on Amazon.com)
Jim Tritten, a member of the board of directors of SouthWest Writers, is a retired Navy pilot and draws on those experiences in some of his writing. He has 3,345 hours of pilot time in 24 military airplane types to his credit. And he has made 320 landings on nine aircraft carriers-one of the most difficult things a naval aviator will ever do.
A modern aircraft carrier is a huge ship when you go aboard one or see it tied up at a dock. But it looks like little more than a speck in the ocean when you are flying thousands of feet above it and planning to land on the flight deck below. The carrier is not parked at sea when a pilot is trying to land. The ship is underway, rolling and pitching with the waves and the actions of the sea, plus it is steaming into the wind to grant the airplane extra lift as it makes its precarious landing.
If you are able to touch down on this moving target, a tailhook under the plane is supposed to grab a steel cable strung across the deck. An aircraft traveling 120 miles an hour is jerked to a stop in just two seconds.
Jim has penned a few short nonfiction stories about his years of flying, the close calls, the tall tales the pilots tell each other, his visits to foreign ports and his other adventures. And he has written a novel, not yet published, that includes a fictional chapter that is based on a real-life crash that Jim experienced firsthand.
But we all have stories that will interest others. For instance, I spent a year in Vietnam as a war correspondent for The Associated Press. (Actually it was one year, two weeks, five hours and 18 minutes-but who’s keeping track?) I spent most of my time with the U.S. Marines in the northern part of South Vietnam-and I made a very large target at 6-foot-4 and 300 pounds. I’ve started writing a book about covering the war.
Beyond that, I’ve been a journalist, a firefighter, a paramedic, and a sociologist. Along the way, I’ve been to dozens of murder scenes. Now my primary writing interest is mystery novels based on what I’ve learned about the work of crime scene investigators.
Naturally you don’t have to go to a war or make a habit of landing on aircraft carriers or see lots of dead people or work with the homeless to have an interesting tale. The trick is to pick out the pieces of your life that are the most interesting and find a narrative structure that you can use to knit those together into an intriguing story. And that makes a memoir.
With some thought and effort, you can turn your story into a memoir that your family will cherish-and it might just find a publisher who will spread the word far and wide.

Thank you, Bob, for your wisdom, your friendship and the sense of adventure you gave in everything your wrote.