We finally did it! Thanks to the miracle of computer software and a patient and brilliant web advisor (who also makes wonderful plum jelly), the Tony Hillerman Conference is now accepting registrations for the Nov. 12-13 writers weekend. I love web stuff. Really. And especially when I can get it to work. The challenge puts the problem-solving side of my brain to use in a different way that writing. Jean Schaumberg served as point person on the registration stuff while I spent the day crafting the newsletter and re-learning all the bells and whistles of our email program, Constant Contact. Actually, a child could do this...probably easier than a grandmother like me. I've asked the writers who get our newsletter to send their good news for the next issue, and the same is true for any writers out there who happen across this post. Just email it to us at WORDHARVEST with NEWS in the subject line. A photo is fine, too.

Hillerman Conference in Santa Fe

When Jean Schaumberg and I offered the Tony Hillerman Writers Conference in Albuquerque, N.M. each November, we always heard "Please do the conference in Santa Fe." So, for 2010, we've made the big move!

Our headquarters this year is the beautiful Inn and Spa at Loretto, pictured here. After much begging, we were able to get a great room rate, and free valet parking at this lovely, full service hotel. Loretto has special meaning to Jean and me. Both of us went to school on this very site, when it was home to Loretto Academy, a girls' school run by the Sisters of Loretto.

To make sure that our guests have time to enjoy Santa Fe, we've fiddled with the schedule a bit to give folks some free time between morning and afternoon sessions to walk to the Plaza (just two short blocks away), shop, visit museums and soak up Santa Fe's historic ambiance. And the hotel will offer the lower rate both before and after the conference, too, for those who want to combine a lilttle vacation with the conference.

We hope those of you who wanted to come to Santa Fe will use this opportunity. Jean and I are delighted to have the chance to show you our hometown.

November 12-13, Tony Hillerman Writers Conference, Santa Fe, N.M.

Hillerman Prize on the horizon

I know it's only April, but please start thinking about entries for the Tony Hillerman Prize. WORDHARVEST'S Tony Hillerman Writer's Conference presents the award in cooperation with the founding partner, St. Martin's Press. Deadline for submissions is June 1, but you don't have to wait that long. The winner receives a $10,000 advance and publication with St. Martin's. The book has to be a book length mystery set in the Southwest. The author can be a published or unpublished writer, as long as he or she has never published a mystery. We get a lot of questions about on-demand publishing, self-publishing, etc. Usually, those books are allowed. (Our partners at St. Martin's make the final call). For full details, go here, to the novel contest link our WORDHARVEST website.

We've had two winners in the three previous years of the contest. Christine Barber won for The Replacement Child, a wonderful book set in Santa Fe. Roy Channey received the Hillerman Prize in 2008 for The Ragged Edge of Nowhere, a mystery set in Las Vegas. I thought both of them were good reads.

So, don't be shy. Get your manuscripts shaped up and mail them off to St. Martin's. You never know....The winner will be announced at the Tony Hillerman Writer's Conference Nov. 13.