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Readers love the stories of

"You find the untold stories of so many women... women who've been lost from the pages of history, and you write them well."
— Evelyn Wilson
Tarrant County College
English professor

Did you know...

A Dallas woman, a widow in the 1850’s, juggled the roles of business with caring for her children. She built a bridge across the Trinity River that sealed Dallas’ future as a major city at the crossroads of Texas.
Do you know this woman?

   Click here for the answer

A note from Carmen...

   I urge all of my students and fellow writers to “have fun writing.”
   The following illustrate why:

   YEA!
One of those “yes...your story has been selected” notes came from the Chicken Soup publishers, an early Christmas present. They accepted an essay, “Burgers and Butterflies,” for Chicken Soup of the Soul: The Magic of Mothers and Daughters. I wrote the piece soon after losing my mother. The book will be out in mid - March, 2012. Writing helped the grief; seeing it published honors my favorite “Texas dame.”
    (More on Author page.)

   Another project underway for a while, Texas Dames, Sassy & Savvy, reached completion in time to submit to Texas Tech University Press-sponsored contest that bears the name of one of my mentors in writing Texas history, Lou Rodenberger. It’ll be a while yet before learning the results.

   This year I decided to “step out” a bit and submit a poem. To my surprise, The Storyteller magazine published “The River’s Hand Divine.”

  _________________________  

                 
   Switching to my “teacher” hat,  there’s nothing so pleasing as writing students growing their talent and impressing others with their stories --in 2011, three have attracted interest from agents and two have been signed, all of them from the Writing Circles that meet in my home. (More on Writing Teacher page). One celebrated the launch of his self-published novel in the spring.

   This past year also brought new teaching and editing experiences...
Private students
included a 16-year-old wanting to improve his essay skills for college applications. A great kid with such supportive parents.

   Another new twist...editing, reviewing, making suggestions on a student’s manuscript before she submitted, impressed at her maturing writer’s voice and how much she had learned and applied.


Carmen hosts a Writers Salon for her Writers' Circles