Mike Hartnett, a retired business magazine editor/newsletter publisher, currently serves as the president of Kansas Authors Club District 2 in Lawrence. At the October convention in Wichita, he will offer a seminar about his memoir And I Cried, Too. The book recalls details about his involvement in four murders that occurred in Central Illinois in the 1970s.


At the time he was an administrator at Lincoln College, in Lincoln, Illinois.  Russ Smrekar, a student there, was caught burglarizing a dorm room. Hartnett expelled him and turned the evidence over to the police. Three days later Smrekar was arrested for shoplifting three pieces of meat from a local grocery store. Long story short: he killed four people who were witnesses to these misdemeanors. Hartnett was very involved with the police, testified to the grand jury, was under death threats, etc.


The college was never the same for him after that. He had been writing part-time for two area newspapers, enjoyed it, and took a job as an assistant editor for a trade magazine. But his head was filled with the murders – things that were never reported. Smrekar was eventually convicted of two of the murders. When he was dying in prison about ten years ago, he admitted to the two other murders. Those remains have yet to be found.
One of the highlights of Hartnett’s life was spending a morning with the late William Maxwell, who was the fiction editor of The New Yorker. He encouraged Hartnett to write the memoir. For a year, Hartnett wrote the saga, but about the time he was almost finished, he was promoted to editor, which meant a lot more work and travel. He put the murder manuscript aside – for about 35 years.


“About a year ago, a police detective in Illinois tracked me down in Kansas to tell me there was a new development in the case,” Hartnett said. New development? Smrekar died in prison years ago after admitting to all four murders. “The detective couldn’t tell me what the ‘new development’ was, but as we talked, it was clear we were in agreement: Smrekar probably had an accomplice for at least some of the murders.”
​

He decided there might be another chapter to write. Nothing new has developed, however, and he decided he better finish the book before it finished him. If all goes as planned, he will have fresh copies of And I Cried Too at the Wichita event. Coming summer/fall 2019 from http://www.meadowlark-books.com


Book ‘Em!

Ronda Miller
State President, Kansas Authors Club
2018-2019
 
Ronda Miller is a Life Coach and Poet who works with clients who have lost someone to homicide. She is currently a Peer Coach and traveling poet with Poetry for Personal Power. She is a Fellow of The Citizen Journalism Academy, World Company; a Certified Life Coach with IPEC (Institute of Professional Empowerment Coaching); a University of Kansas graduate; Lawrence resident; and mother to son, Scott, and daughter, Apollonia. Miller created poetic forms loku and ukol. She was a presenter at the Transformative Language Arts Conference at Goddard University in Vermont, October 2018. Miller gives presentations across the U.S. on grief, “Writing Your Trauma Without too Much Drama,” and end of life issues, “Talking to Crickets”.
 

Miller has three books of poetry, including MoonStain (Meadowlark 2015) and WaterSigns (Meadowlark 2017). 
 

Ronda is the current President of Kansas Authors Club. She has served in past years as District 2 President and Convention Chair. At the state level she has been the Poetry Contest Manager (3 years) and Vice President (2016-2017).
 
​
When Miller isn’t coaching clients, or writing poetry, she is wandering The Arikaree Breaks and screaming into blizzards and thunderstorms.

​Rhythm-A-Ning: A Poetry & Music Event, will take place at the 2019 Kansas Authors Club state convention, on the Saturday, October 5th, from 11:00-11:50 AM. Poets will read their poems through once while two accompanying musicians and the audience listen; then the same poem will be read through again with the two musicians improvising to the poem. This will result in a spontaneous ekphrastic experience for all; poets, musicians, and audience. Join us in this unique auditory experience! The accompanying musicians are Bill Glenn on percussion and Seth Carrithers on acoustic bass, two well-known Wichita improvisatory musicians.
 
Poetry selection is via a blinded juried submission process, open to all KAC members statewide and out of state who will be attending the convention. It is open ONLY to KAC members, and your submission is a guarantee you will be at the convention to participate. Though the selection is by juried submission, this is not a contest. No prizes are awarded (except you get to participate!) and a rejection does not reflect on the quality of the submitted work, but rather what works best for the program.
 
Submission guidelines:
1: You may submit up to two poems in your submission.
2: Each poem must time out at less than three minutes max when read aloud (be sure to read your poem aloud and time it before submitting). Any poems over the three-minute limit will be automatically rejected.
3: Author’s name and personal information must not appear anywhere in the pages containing the poems.
4: Include a cover page with your name and complete contact info (including email address) and the titles of the poem(s) in your submission, along with your KAC district number and a brief bio of about 50 words or less. This should be the ONLY place identifying information appears. The bio will have no effect on the outcome of the judging (the judges will not see it) but may be used in the program should your work be accepted and space allows.
5: Poems may have been previously published. Just send us your best short work, new or old.
6: We will not be publishing your poems, so you need not worry about whether reading a new poem at Rhythm-A-Ning will constitute a first publication for that poem; it will not.
7: No multiple submissions please.
8: Send your submissions in .doc, .docx, .pdf, or .rtf format via email to Connie White at craepa@cox.net. In the email header, put the following: Rhythm-A-Ning submission from (your name here).
9: The submission period opens May 15th and closes July 15th. Any submissions received before or after those dates will not be considered.
10: Notifications will go out via email in mid or late August at the latest. Notification may come from an email address other than Connie White’s.
 
If you have any questions you may email either Connie White, or Bob Dean at bobdean@swbell.net.
 
We recommend that you don’t worry about trying to write something “musical” as this is an improvisatory event and there is no way to predict what the end product will be. Just send us your best short poems, and have fun!
 

The published book awards offered each year by Kansas Authors Club attract the best writers from around the state. It’s a big deal when a writer sees their work in print, and an even bigger deal to receive recognition for quality work. The KAC Children’s Book award, “It Looks Like a Million” design award, Martin History book award for books dealing with Kansas History, the Nelson Poetry book award, and the Coffin Memorial book award for books of all other genres are vital to the Kansas Authors Club literary contests each year. (Contest guidelines)
​
How do winners of these contests approach the task of crafting quality publications? If you are considering entering your recently published book in one of these contests, KAC District 5 has a class for you. For the first time at Kansas Authors Club’s annual convention this year a panel comprised of recent Coffin Memorial Book Award winners will offer ideas for polishing and perfecting manuscripts. Each panelist will share a couple of ideas which helped in writing their winning prose, followed by time for questions from those in attendance.

Panelists include Jean Grant, Gloria Zachgo, and Ann Fell. In addition, this seminar will be scheduled to allow participation by the 2019 winner. As an added bonus, keynote speaker Paul Bishop will serve as moderator for the panel discussion.

Ann Fell, received the Coffin Memorial Book Award 2016 for Sundrop Sonata. With her passion for helping people, piano tuner Isabel Woods loves her job—but passion can be a dangerous thing. Reluctantly agreeing to harbor a client’s autistic daughter, Izzy’s good intentions unexpectedly expose her own family to a murderous fiend with a chilling agenda. Human trafficking and bio-terrorism are no longer just buzz words from the nightly news. For Izzy, they have become terrifying and real. As the deadly Sundrop Sonata begins to play, Izzy has one chance to save the people and the country she loves armed with nothing more than courage, intelligence, and her esoteric knowledge of pianos.

​This October 4-6, come to Wichita and learn tips these award-winning Kansas writers decided were most helpful for the success of their stories.

Hook ‘Em!

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Every year, all writers in Kansas, as well as any KAC member regardless of residence, are invited to submit work to the literary contest. There are divisions for young writers as well as adults. This year’s contest opens April 1. All entries must be received by June 15.

The youth contest is open to all Kansas students and to student members of KAC. Writers will compete with others at their age level in five divisions, Grades 1-2; Grades 3-4; Grades 5-6; Grades 7-8; and Grades 9-12. The categories include, Poetry, Fiction, Nonfiction, and Spoken Word Poetry. The winning entries (1st, 2nd, 3rd, and Honorable Mention) of each category and age division will be published in a book. Each writer with work included will receive a copy. Additionally, awards will be presented during a special ceremony at the October convention in Wichita.

The adult contest offers a Poetry division and a Prose division. 2019 Poetry categories include Theme (“Hook ‘em and Book ‘em!), Classical forms, Free verse, Narrative poetry, Whimsy, Japanese forms, Performance (spoken word), and a special category for New Poets.

The 2019 Prose categories include Theme (“Hook ‘em and Book ‘em!), Humor, Memoir or Inspirational, Flash Fiction, Stories Written for Teenagers, Short Story, Playwriting, and First Chapter of a Book–unpublished.
​
For the first time, there is a special category available for Author’s Blogs or Web Sites. To enter this contest, authors must submit the URL of a website they maintain, a “mission statement” describing the purpose of that website, direct links to at least 3 entries or pages that the author would like to highlight, and a short paragraph detailing how and where the site is publicized and promoted.

Each year Kansas Authors Club also sponsors contests for members who have published books during the previous months. Winners of each book contest are awarded cash prizes of $100.

The Kansas Authors Club Children’s Book Award was created in 2018 to honor the best book written with an audience of children in mind.

“It Looks Like a Million” is an award which focuses on the aesthetics of a book published by a Kansas Authors Club member. The book will be judged on cover design, interior formatting and design, and over-all look and feel of the book.

The Martin Kansas History Book Award was created in 2018 as a tribute to Gail Lee Martin, who was KAC State Archivist from 1995-2005. This book award is open exclusively for books about Kansas history by KAC members.

Created by Raymond and Margaret Nelson in 2002, the Nelson Poetry Book Award recognizes the year’s best poetry book by a Kansas Authors Club poet.
​
The J. Donald Coffin Memorial Book Award was established by Mrs. Bertha Coffin to honor the memory of her husband after his death in 1978. It is intended to honor the best published book for the year written by a member of Kansas Authors Club.

District 7 of Kansas Authors Club is sponsoring a writing contest for all writers above the age of 18 and living in Kansas, unless they are a member of KAC who lives in another state. You do not need to be a KAC member to enter. Entrants may write about any subject they choose in either prose or poetry. Small money prizes will be awarded. For rules for prose and poetry and length of entry go to <www.kansasauthors.org> and click on contests. Fee for entering is $2 per entry. Only, typed copies of entries will be accepted. Do not send by email. Send entry to Sheryl Brenn, 892 Country Rd. O, Levant, KS 67743-9200. Final date to enter is May 18, 2019. Call 785-586-2384 or 785-269-7123 for more information.

Michael Graves recently retired from Emporia State University where he taught Intensive English to international students and TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) courses to teachers in Kansas. He has written two detective novels set in 1937 Wichita: To Leave a Shadow (a Kansas Notable Book for 2016) and Shadow of Death, published in December of 2017. Both books feature the character of detective Pete Stone, created as a memorial to the author’s grandfather. When life conjures its riddles, Mike turns to back roads and baseball for answers.
​
His grandfather’s last words, uttered over fifty years ago, inspired the author to create a life in honor of a man he barely knew. In his presentation, “A Life in the Shadows,” Graves will read excerpts from his historical novels, To Leave a Shadow and Shadow of Death. He will discuss the story, the character, and the place, as well as the research, backstory, and truth vs. fiction. A Q&A session will follow his presentation.

In the next novel, a cop killer strikes Wichita and Pete Stone, Private Investigator, is on the case. He has to be. He wakes up in jail, battered and bruised and accused of a murder he’s almost certain he didn’t commit. He must prove his innocence before he’s abandoned by his clients, his friends, and one special lady. When Stone is not getting knocked around by cops, he’s getting roughed up by love.
​

A unique opportunity awaits the 2019 conference attendees. Coordinating with the City of Wichita, KAC District 5 is arranging a trolley tour of several settings found in the historical Wichita crime novels. You won’t want to miss the tour, personally guided by the author himself.

http://www.Kansasauthors.org
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Hotel information:
KS Authors Club

The Allure of Emotion

KAC’s District 5 is pleased to include attorney and acclaimed Wichita author Tracy Edingfield as a presenter in Wichita.

Ms. Edingfield graduated from the University of Kansas, obtaining a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology with Distinction. Later she graduated from the School of Law at KU with a Juris-doctorate Degree. Throughout her lengthy legal career, she has been a public defender, prosecutor, litigator, and mediator. Her practice primarily focused on divorce work before she retired early to write Historical Romances and Middle Grade Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels. Ms. Edingfield is an Amazon Best Selling Author.

One of her passions is helping other writers achieve their goals. She has organized Writers of the Wheat Literary Festivals in Wichita to showcase local authors and their books.

At the Wichita Kansas Authors Club Convention in October, Ms. Edingfield will share tips on luring readers into your stories through emotional appeal. She explains, “Great writing pulls your reader into the story. Creating that vortex means mastering the emotional draw of a scene.  In this class, you will learn to use an Emotion Color Wheel and how to best choose words to lure the reader into your story.”

Under the name Tracy Dunn, she wrote two Middle Grade Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels. Alex & the Immortals relates the tale of Alex, his brother Dillon and their friends.

The October seminar will introduce the Emotion Color Wheel. Don’t miss her presentation on “Wringing that Last Drop of Blood” from your words. If you’d like to contact Tracy, you may do so through any of the following methods: tracydunnbooks@gmail.com, tracyedingfield@gmail.com, Twitter: @TEdingfield, or Facebook: Tracy Edingfield, Writer.

Hook ‘Em with passionate emotions.

http://www.Kansasauthors.org
​
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Dan Close is an associate professor in the Elliott School of Communication at Wichita State. He has taught many forms of journalism for 30 years and presented at conferences nationwide. Close was a reporter and editor at The Wichita Eagle and other newspapers for a dozen years. He is the winner of national and regional awards for writing and reporting. Close covered multiple homicides, F-5 tornadoes, race riots, union strikes, plane crashes, ice storms, flooding, the homeless, the elderly, and the mentally ill. He has interviewed four presidents and many music celebrities. He has been editorial consultant or editor for three books, including Bind, Torture, Kill: The Inside Story of the Serial Killer Next Door [HarperCollins, 2007].

At the 2019 KAC convention in Wichita, Close will offer a seminar on The Future of Fake News.

“Fake news is not new, folks,” he says. “It’s been around as long as politicians and the media have sparred, and as long as the public has been gullible enough to be fooled by sensational stories. We will take a brief look at its ugly past, how it affects us presently — and more importantly, where Fake News is headed. You won’t believe some of the things that are being predicted. Hint: Technology will not be our friend when it comes to discerning the difference between truth and alternative realities. Will include handouts, and possibly a quick game, to help you figure out what’s real. How is this going to affect your writing? We will kick that around, too.”

Contact Close at dan.close@wichita.edu
​
http://www.KansasAuthors.org

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​
Hotel information:
KS Authors Club

Every year, all writers in Kansas, as well as any KAC member regardless of residence, are invited to submit work to the literary contest. There are divisions for young writers as well as adults. This year’s contest opens April 1. All entries must be received by June 15.

​The youth contest is open to all Kansas students and to student members of KAC. Writers will compete with others at their age level in five divisions, Grades 1-2; Grades 3-4; Grades 5-6; Grades 7-8; and Grades 9-12. The categories include, Poetry, Fiction, Nonfiction, and Spoken Word Poetry. The winning entries (1st, 2nd, 3rd, and Honorable Mention) of each category and age division will be published in a book. Each writer with work included will receive a copy. Additionally, awards will be presented during a special ceremony at the October convention in Wichita.

The adult contest offers a Poetry division and a Prose division. 2019 Poetry categories include Theme (“Hook ‘em and Book ‘em!), Classical forms, Free verse, Narrative poetry, Whimsy, Japanese forms, Performance (spoken word), and a special category for New Poets.

The 2019 Prose categories include Theme (“Hook ‘em and Book ‘em!), Humor, Memoir or Inspirational, Flash Fiction, Stories Written for Teenagers, Short Story, Playwriting, and First Chapter of a Book–unpublished.

For the first time, there is a special category available for Author’s Blogs or Web Sites. To enter this contest, authors must submit the URL of a website they maintain, a “mission statement” describing the purpose of that website, direct links to at least 3 entries or pages that the author would like to highlight, and a short paragraph detailing how and where the site is publicized and promoted.

Each year Kansas Authors Club also sponsors contests for members who have published books during the previous months. Winners of each book contest are awarded cash prizes of $100.

The Kansas Authors Club Children’s Book Award was created in 2018 to honor the best book written with an audience of children in mind.

“It Looks Like a Million” is an award which focuses on the aesthetics of a book published by a Kansas Authors Club member. The book will be judged on cover design, interior formatting and design, and over-all look and feel of the book.

The Martin Kansas History Book Award was created in 2018 as a tribute to Gail Lee Martin, who was KAC State Archivist from 1995-2005. This book award is open exclusively for books about Kansas history by KAC members.

Created by Raymond and Margaret Nelson in 2002, the Nelson Poetry Book Award recognizes the year’s best poetry book by a Kansas Authors Club poet.
​
The J. Donald Coffin Memorial Book Award was established by Mrs. Bertha Coffin to honor the memory of her husband after his death in 1978. It is intended to honor the best published book for the year written by a member of Kansas Authors Club.

For more information on the 2019 KAC literary contests, including guidelines for submissions, see https://kansasauthorsclub.weebly.com/writing-contests—all-ages.html
​

What are you waiting for? Write, write, write!

Have you ever wondered how to start a blog? How to keep it alive? What to write about? What makes a blog “successful”?

At the October convention, Kansas Authors Club District 5 will host a seminar with a panel of successful bloggers. Each panelist is invited to share their personal blogging story, focusing on what makes a blog attractive to followers. After their short presentations, class attendees will be able to ask questions and receive thoughtful answers from the experts.

At the Kansas Authors Club Convention in October, Claire will guide writers through the middle of a manuscript in her class, “LOST IN THE MIDDLE: How to Shore Up the Middle of Your Manuscript.”
“You start your story with a whiz-bang premise and you’re off!” Claire says about the class. “At the end, things will come together in a breathtaking climax. But what happens in between? Don’t run out of steam and lose your inspiration! This presentation uses lots of real-world examples and provides hands-on tips on how to avoid that sagging second act and keep your story moving forward.”

​This entry is cross-posted at: annchristinefell.com

The 2019 convention of the Kansas Authors Club welcomes attorney Curt Bohling. He will speak about trial procedures and answer questions about getting legal details right. Bohling has been a federal attorney for over 30 years, with most of his career spent as an Assistant United States Attorney in Washington, D.C., and Kansas City, Missouri.  His cases include the Miracle Cars fraud case that was featured on CNBC’s American Greed; and one of the largest criminal software piracy cases in the United States that also resulted in the tax fraud prosecutions of a Hall of Fame NFL football player and a former NBA basketball player.  In Kansas City he served as the Chief of the Monetary Penalties Unit, dealing with asset forfeiture and victim restitution issues, and Chief of the Appellate Unit.

Bohling is the son of Diane Wahto, renowned Kansas poet, who has served as president of District 5 for three years, as well as KAC awards chairperson and chair of the 2019 convention. With Diane in the family, Bohling has been intimately acquainted with literary pursuits throughout his life.  He taught law writing to beginning law students. When the series Homicide was on TV, actor Yaphet Kotto came to court to observe a homicide case that he was prosecuting. At the Kansas Authors Club convention in October 2019, Bohling will return to his hometown to discuss Fiction on Trial: Can Writing About Law Be Both Accurate and Interesting?

About his seminar, Bohling says, “Lawyers and the law are staples in books, movies, and TV.  Sometimes writers get the legal details (mostly) right, often they get them very wrong.  Do these details matter, or do they just get in the way of a good story?” His presentation will compare the real and fictional worlds of law to find answers to those questions.

​This entry is cross-posted at: annchristinefell.com

District 5 of the Kansas Authors Club is pleased to have HB Berlow as a presenter at the 2019 Wichita conference. Making his way from Boston to Wichita a few years ago, he found his niche writing historical fiction about Arkansas City, Kansas. At the October conference he will discuss History in the Making: The Challenge of Writing Historical Fiction.

Berlow studied film-making and creative writing at the University of Miami in the 80’s, was involved in the Boston Poetry Scene in the 90’s, and was president of the Kansas Writer’s Association from 2012 to 2013. The historical crime fiction series, Ark City Confidential and Secrets of the Righteous, published through The Wild Rose Press, is currently available on Amazon.

In her early years of writing, Clare set out to write a historical novel set in the fictional town of Manifest, Kansas, which is based on the real southeastern Kansas town of Frontenac where her maternal grandparents lived. Drawing on stories she heard as a child, along with research in town newspapers, yearbooks, and graveyards, Clare found a rich and colorful history for her unforgettable novel, Moon Over Manifest. She says “having lived most of my life in the same neighborhood, place is very important and for me true places are rooted in the familiar—the neighborhood pool, the sledding hill, the shortcuts, all the places where memories abound. But I wondered, what would a ‘true place’ be for someone who has never lived anywhere for more than a few weeks or months at a time? Someone like a young girl on the road during the Depression. Someone like Abilene Tucker.”

Clare has been making appearances at schools, libraries, and conferences around the country and abroad.  She enjoys meeting children, educators, librarians, and parents who have embraced her and her writing.  She lives in Wichita, Kansas with her husband and four children.

At the Kansas Authors Club convention in Wichita, October 4-6, 2019, Clare will present a seminar, Writing in the Crossroads: Where Craft and Creativity Meet. As writers, we all work at the craft—honing our skills in use of language, imagery, detail, and description.  But is there a risk of focusing on the calculated to the exclusion of the creative?  How do we know when it’s time to loosen the reins on plot, character, and conflict, allowing the creative process room to stretch and pulse and breathe life into the bones of the story?  In this workshop Clare will discuss the synergy and struggle of writing in the crossroads — where craft and creativity meet.

In addition, for those who wish to share a lunch with Clare, she will talk about Books I Have Loved and I Swear Loved Me Back: The Transformative Power of Story. (Luncheon provided by Holiday Inn. Tickets available with registration.) We’ve all heard that to be a writer, you must first be a reader.  And we know from experience that stories have power—to touch, to heal, to transform.  In this talk, we’ll journey into our reading past to the books that provided joy, comfort, even friendship in our younger years, and discover how stories become stepping stones in the writing life.

​This entry is cross-posted at: annchristinefell.com

Hook ‘Em!

Hotel Information:
KS Authors Club

District 5 of the Kansas Authors is pleased to host Paul Bishop as the featured Keynote speaker at the convention October 4-6, 2019 at the Wichita Holiday Inn, 549 South Rock Road. His planned topic for the Keynote speech is “When Worlds Collide.” For thirty-five years, Paul Bishop pursued two careers—putting villains in jail, and putting words on paper. As a detective with the LAPD, he chased bad guys and solved crimes. Under the cover of darkness, however, he donned his Cloak of Stories, finding cathartic release writing novels…But what happens when the cop and the writer inevitably crash into each other?

In addition, Bishop will offer two seminars at the convention. “Murder and Mayhem for Writers” will explore how to get police procedures right in your next mystery novel.  Veteran LAPD detective Paul Bishop will take you into the world of homicide crime scenes, sex crimes investigations, suspect interrogations, and many other aspects of law enforcement so you can get the details right.

A second seminar, “Getting the Words Right” examines how to trim excess wordage from your drafts. “Do these words make my manuscript look fat?”  Writer, editor, and publisher Paul Bishop shows you how to cut empty calories from your manuscript—words and phrases that will get your stories rejected before the end of the first page. He’ll also explain why putting second things first is important, and how to avoid the deadly sin of info dumps.
​
A special opportunity for four lucky participants will be a 15-minute private conference with Bishop as a writing coach and editor. District 5 will raffle off chances for these conferences. Win one of four fifteen-minute, one-on-one sessions with writer, editor, and publisher Paul Bishop. Bring the first five pages of your manuscript to battle The Red Pen, scourge of all writers. Get answers to make your manuscript bulletproof. This will be a possibly harsh, but honest experience. However, it could be the fifteen minutes you need to get published.

Contact Paul at http://www.paulbishopbooks.com

Hook ‘Em!

​See you in Wichita this October.

​ANNOUNCING WRITING CONTEST
  
Members of the 7th District of Kansas Authors Club will be sponsoring a writing contest for the 7th District Gathering to be held in Colby on Saturday, June 8 in the Pioneer Memorial Library at 11:00 a.m. The Library is at 375 W. Fourth Street in Colby. It will be a catered luncheon meeting and contest winners will be invited to attend and read their winning entries to the group.

Ronda Miller, president of Kansas Authors Club, will be the featured speaker at the meeting.

Contest Chairman is Sheryl Brenn, at 892 Country Rd. 0, Levant, KS 67743-9200, Phone 785-586-2384.

The contest is for either prose or poetry entries and is for writers 18 years of age or older. It can be about any subject the entrant wants to write about and must be their own work. Entries must not have been published in any other source.

District 7 includes most of Western Kansas but entrants don’t have to be a member of Dist. 7 or even a member of Kansas Author’s Club, but they do have to be living in Kansas unless they are a member of Kansas Author’s Club who has moved away.

​They will be using the rules set by Kansas Authors Club for prose and poetry. Those rules can be found in the Kansas Authors Club year book or on the website.  Small money prizes will be awarded to first, second, and third place winners in both divisions and honorable mentions will receive certificates.

Judges will not be members of Kansas Authors Club. You can enter both prose and poetry but a charge of $2.00 must accompany each entry. Make checks payable to Dist. 7, Kansas Authors Club. Do not send cash.

Due to computer problems with last year’s entries, they are asking for a hard copy of your typed entry to be sent to the contest chairman by U.S. Mail no later than Saturday, May 18, 2019.  Entries must be postmarked by that date.  No email entries will be accepted. Do not put your name on the entry. Use a face sheet with your name, address, and phone number on it so it can be removed and your name will not be seen by the judges. 

Novelist, screenwriter, and television personality, Paul Bishop is a nationally recognized behaviorist and deception detection expert. A 35-year veteran of the LAPD, his high profile Special Assault Units produced the top crime clearance rates in the city. Twice honored as LAPD’s Detective of the Year. Paul is the author of sixteen novels, including five books in his LAPD Detective Fey Croaker series. He has written scripts for episodic television and feature films and starred as the lead interrogator and driving force behind the ABC TV reality show “Take the Money and Run” from producer Jerry Bruckheimer. His book, Lie Catchers, is the first in a new series featuring two top LAPD interrogators. The forthcoming sequel is titled Admit Nothing.
Bishop’s books include:

• Hot Pursuit
• Deep Water
• Penalty Shot
• Fey Croaker: Kill Me Again
• Fey Croaker: Grave Sins
• Fey Croaker: Tequila Mockingbird
• Fey Croaker: Chalk Whispers 
• Fey Croaker: Pattern of Behavior 
• Shroud of Vengeance 
• Running Wylde 
• A Bucketful of Bullets
• Nothing But the Truth (Almost)
• Suspicious Minds 
• Felony Fists 
• Swamp Walloper 
• Lie Catchers 

Bishop wrote three episodes of the TV Series Diagnosis Murder:

• The Last Resort (1998)
• Down Among the Dead Men (1999)
• Murder at BBQ Bob’s (2000)

He was featured as the Chief Interrogator in the 2011 Reality TV Series Take the Money and Run produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and in the 2004 Unsolved History documentary JFK: Beyond the Magic Bullet where he appeared as himself.

Over the coming weeks, various presenters will be featured in a series of posts here. Many of the planned workshops will enhance the theme with suggestions about how you can hook readers into turning every page, tips that are good for poets as well as any prose genre. Several classes will offer in-depth information about mystery and crime fiction genre, some even explore topics that involve research and detective work in historical settings.

There will be opportunities to chat with old friends, and make new ones. Share your writing adventures, successes, and dreams. Participate in a read-around. Find out the winners of the 2019 KAC literary contests. Great food—great fun—great classes!

You won’t want to miss the KAC convention 2019, “Hook ‘Em and Book ‘Em!”

​Mark your calendars: Wichita, October 4-6, 2019.

Kevin Rabas, Kansas Poet Laureate, will combine poetry with music during his reading at The Volland Store: A Place for Art and Community at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 22. The event is free and everyone is invited. 

​Kevin's program will be followed by an "open mic" where people will have the opportunity to share their poetry with the audience. If you are affiliated with an academic institution, this would provide students an excellent venue in which to read their poems.

For more information, contact The Volland Store at their address, 24098 Volland Road, Alma, Kansas, by phone, 785-499-3616, or on their website here.