"Git Fer Vegas, Cowboy!"

Albuquerque Herald Full Page Advertisement, February 29, 1916

City of Las Vegas Museum Exhibit, 2009-2011

Photograph by Eric Maldonado

UCLA Extension Writers' Studio Plus

The Studio experience was everything UCLA Extension promised--and more. I enjoyed four intense, full days of total attention to writing, writers, and progress on my novel, Prairie Madness, Conspiracy at Fort Union, New Mexico. The workshop leader, Lisa Cron, really knows her stuff and gets her points across. She provides an excellent and very helpful site: http://www.wiredforstory.com/. And all of us writers were sincerely helpful and interested in each others diverse projects. The UCLA staff was excellent.



After the Studio, I returned with a volume of ideas on structuring the novel's narrative. But, luckily, I received some other writing opportunities. There's always something happening at the City of Las Vegas Museum, and it usually involves writing.



In April, I submitted "Harriet Knickerbocker, The Belle of Las Vegas," a brief (but intensely researched) biographical sketch. Hopefully, it will be published in a new photo-history of Las Vegas, New Mexico.



On May 6th, I presented a talk with slide images--"Cowboy Commerce: The Las Vegas, NM, Cowboys' Reunions"--at the annual conference of the Historical Society of New Mexico. The presentation was based on the Museum exhibit I had curated in October of 2009.



Now, I'm rearranging my files and settin up to get crackin' on Prairie Madness.