Those Living The Dream -- A My Town Monday Post

It's that time of week again which means another My Town Monday post about Amarillo, but before I get to that let me say a few things.

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I really appreciate all the kind words and encouraging comments on my last post. That first installment was the easy part to write. The rest of the story is only going to get tougher but I'll be posting more of the story on Tuesday or Wednesday and even then I may not finish as it could take three installments.

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Also I have many readers who live in and around Orange County, California. I hope they are all safe and sound and not caught up in those terrible fires. The loss of homes and property is bad, but those things can be replaced so here's hoping those of you in the danger areas have safely evacuated.

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Now to MTM. I have strayed from blogging about writing lately and I'm going to try and get more of those types of posts up, so today's post is about the writing community here in Amarillo. Amarillo has one of the oldest writing organizations (Panhandle Professional Writers) in the country, but today I'm going to talk about individual authors.

One of my original ideas with My Town Monday was to do interviews with various local authors and post them once a month or so, but unfortunately, time constraints have prevented me from accomplishing that goal. I still hope to do that very thing eventually, but for now I'm going to do very brief little snippets on the local authors that have sold and placed novel length fiction with traditional royalty paying publishers. this list may not be complete, so if any of my readers know of others please let me know ASAP so I can add them to the list. The authors are in alphabetical order.

Jennifer Archer -- Jennifer is a multi-published author of contemporary romance, women's fiction, and just recently announced a deal for a young adult book on her blog. She is also one of the nicest people you could ever meet. Her books have great emotion and a sense of humor as well as very real characters. You can find here website here, her blog here, and her books listed on Amazon here. If you've never read her work, I recommend you start with this one.


Terry Burns -- Terry writes Inspirational Westerns. He is also a literary agent with the Hartline Agency. I would describe Terry as a relentless self-promoter and a man that has given a ton of his time and services to the local writing community. You can find his blog and website here and his many books at Amazon here. He has a new release coming out in January of 2009, but for now I'd recommend you read book 1 in his Mysterious Ways series.

Linda Castillo -- Linda writes Romantic Suspense. I have only met Linda once at a library event and I have yet to read her work, but I hope to remedy that soon. To visit her websit, go here. To buy her books here.



Britta Coleman -- Okay, so Britta doesn't live in Amarillo anymore. So she deserted us up here in the Panhandle and moved to the big city of Fort Worth. So what? It's my blog and I'll include her if I want. I first met Britta when I signed up for my very first writing class at Amarillo College. Needless to say she quickly left me behind and published her first novel Potter Springs which is a contemporary women's fiction. Buy it, read it, visit her blog and website. You won't be disappointed.


Harry Haines -- On the surface me and Harry have very little in common other than where we live. Yet, I feel a great kinship with Harry. Harry, or should I say Dr. Haines, is a retired music professor from West Texas A&M. He wrote for a good long while before catching his big break by winning the Mayhaven Award for Fiction which came with publication. His first novel, Orphan came out earlier this year. His website can be found here and Orphan can be purchased here.


Kimberly Willis Holt -- Kimberly is the author of children's and young adult books. She won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature with her story, When Zachary Beaver came to town which is one of my favorite books and is a must read for books fans young or old. She is also the author of My Louisiana Sky among many others. Visit her website here, or her blog here. Her books can be found on Amazon here.

Dewanna Pace -- Dewanna writes historical romance under both her name and the pen name of Dia Hunter. Book under her own name can be found here and her website is here.





Jodi Thomas -- Jodi is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of historical romance and women's fiction. She has published something in the neighborhood of thirty novels and is a Romance Writers of America Hall of Famer based on her many RITA awards. I owe my start to her teaching and guidance as do many other writers in the Amarillo area. Jodi's latest release is titled, Tall, Dark, And Texan. For her website click here, or see the list of her many books available on Amazon here.

Ronda Thompson -- I'm sad to say I never met Ronda Thompson. I've even sadder to say that Ronda lost her battle with cancer in 2007. Ronda wrote romance, her last series was paranormal in nature and a fellow author Jennifer Archer wrote a touching tribute which can be found here. Ronda's work lives on and can be bought here.





There are many more talented and published authors in Amarillo. From poetry to short stories and novellas in anthologies, to non-fiction, but I'll have to introduce you to those folks later. And if I've missed someone I apologize.

Do me a favor and check these authors out. They are all talented and diverse in their writing styles so I am sure there is a book there for everyone who reads my blog.

As always, I will be adding links to post about other towns, so if you are inclined, join in and leave me a comment letting me know you did. And maybe one of these days I'll get caught up and have a chance to interview some of these talented authors and share their wisdom with y'all.


OTHER MY TOWN MONDAYERS

Linda McLaughlin reports in about those fires in Orange County, California.
Cloudia Charters takes us walking in Waikiki, Hawaii.
Junosmom turns over her blog to Kentucky Chuck.
Debra says goodbye to an old friend in Village of Peninsula, Ohio.
Sepiru Chris gives us a taste of life in Hong Kong.
David Cranmer offers up a hot post from Avery Island, Louisiana.
Patti Abbott relaxes on Mackinac Island, Michigan this week.
Nan Higginson takes us to Old Town Alexandria over on the Women of Mystery blog.
Mary Nix gives us a rocking post about Olmsted Falls, Ohio.
Barrie Summy leads the way to San Jose, California.
Lyzzydee takes around Welwyn Garden City, England.
Jenny Jill gives us a sign of the times in Muskoka, Ontario, Canada.
Barbara Martin gives it the old college try from Toronto, Canada.