June’s Writer Feature

KWA’s June Writer Feature: Carol Englehaupt

Carol writes middle grade, adult cozy mystery, fantasy, and YA paranormal as C.L. Roth.

Her current work in progress is the sequel to her middle grade fantasy, Cosmic Shift, titled Cosmic Chaos.

Writing has given her a separate life from her son, an artist with cerebral palsy. “I am a full-time caregiver. Writing allows me to be ‘me’ and not an extension of somebody else.”

When asked what she would like to pass along to fellow writers, she replied, “Learn the craft to the best of your ability and get your social networking in place way before you need it.”

Carol’s latest release, Bone Weary is available now at Amazon, Createspace, and Barnes and Noble.

When her husband quits his job to take an extended vacation to Australia, a woman and her disabled son head for Weary, KS. She didn’t count on a town-wide feud, a stalker, or bones in the fruit cellar.

Want more from Carol? Keep up with her at her site.

Wes Brummer, Featured KWA Writer

Wes Brummer still laments the end of the Bar None candy bar. He probably wishes he had one to crunch through while working on his novel, Dust and Roses, a historical of Depression-era Kansas. History is what Wes loves. He writes, I feel a story makes the history more alive and compelling. It doesn’t matter if it is far-fetched, as long as the setting is accurate and the characters are well driven.”

Wes is the recipient of several awards from the 2012 KWA Poetry and Prose Contest. The first chapter of his novel won 2^nd place, and his story Ghost of a Chance won both 1st place in Short Fiction AND 3^rd place in Humor! You can read both by downloading our contest anthology, Words out of the Flatlands. You can also read more from Wes by visiting his blog, Journey of a Novelist.

When asked about what this writer is reading, Wes acknowledges his latest resolution: “Read Local. Forget those NYT bestselling authors.” He does his best to support his fellow KWA members.

As for advice for writers, Wes admits, “Hey, I’m just starting out!” but goes on to say, “be sure to follow through with the promises you make in a story. Deliver on everything… If you talk about the possibility of something, either deliver it or take it out.”

Wise words from a great writer!

Children’s Authors Wanted for Panel

KWA Member Carol Martin is looking for three or four children’s authors to hold a book talk/panel discussion at the Ark City Public Library in April. This event is sponsored by the Cowley County Writers Guild.

If you are interested, or know someone who might be, please email Carol at cjmartin62@yahoo.com.

Celebrate Kansas’ 150th with Writers & Readers

Kansas Day is Saturday, Jan. 29, and this year is the Sunflower State’s sesquicentennial. There are dozens of events taking place statewide, all year long, to celebrate, and some even have a literary bent. Here are a few Kansas Day events for readers and writers, and you can find more at www.ks150.org.

Jan. 29: Postcards from Home: Images and Poetics from Kansas, a 150th Event
6-9 p.m., Warehouse 414, 414 SE 2nd St., Topeka
An all Kansas-inspired art and poetry event.

Feb. 14: Literature with Lunch: What Kansas Means to Me, edited by Thomas Fox Averill
1 p.m., Shawnee County Public Library, 1515 SW 10th Ave., Topeka
Discuss this year’s choice for Kansas Reads 2011. Thirteen essayists and four poets try to map the spiritual topography of Kansas and explain why this particular patch of prairie is so dear. They share the conviction that Kansas represents something powerful, something significant, something noteworthy. Read and discuss the book, or attend and listen to learn more.

Feb. 17: Kansas Poems of William Stafford, ed. by Denise Low
7 p.m., Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vermont St., Lawrence
“Kansas at 150” TALK book discussion presented by the Kansas Humanities Council.
William Stafford may have been named Oregon’s poet laureate, but he was a Kansas boy at heart — born in Hutchinson — and his youth in Kansas deeply inflected his poetry. “Mine was a Midwest home — you can keep your world,” he proclaimed in his poem “One Home.” Stafford’s poetry is rooted in a sense of place, and the work in this collection shows how Kansas as a place continued to inform his thought and verse.