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Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Member news from Mara Purl and Donis Casey

Members Mara Purl and Donis Casey "met" through the Women Writing the West members' Yahoo! Group, and planned a joint book signing for their new books, both of which happen to be third in a series.

They met in person for the first time at the conference in Colorado Springs, and a week later did their event at Denver's famed Tattered Cover Book Store. Through discussions about their work and books, they discovered common themes which they shared with a rapt audience in Denver. Expanding on their theme "Western women writing western women's lives," they discussed a range of topics from intensive research to the key role of intuition in their female characters' lives, and from carefully structuring their plots to allowing for serendipitous inspiration.

Donis Casey's first novel "The Old Buzzard Had It Coming" recently won the Arizona Book Award.

Mara Purl's first novel "What the Heart Knows" won the Silver Benjamin Franklin Award and the USA Book News Finalist Award. Both authors are at work on the fourth books in their respective series, and plan to do future events together.

1 comment:

Jane said...

Congratulations to both Donis and Mara. I got to read about "the Old Buzzard" while at the conference and finished the book on the way home. An absolute delight! Mara's book is beside my bed right now. Such wonderful talent. I never have to be at a loss for finding a good book to read. Hurrah to you both! Jane