These new friends share a common love for writing western fiction and non-fiction. Some make their sole living from writing royalities and some have other vocations. Some like Cowboy Mike, John Nesbit, and Paul Hutton are professors at Universities. Others have other "day" jobs, but they all opened their hearts to my family.


One of the greatest thrills of my life was meeting Elmer Kelton in Phoenix. Mr. Kelton died this past year and the world of westerns will not be the same without him.

Gary McMillian is a new writer friend who lives in Odessa.

Cowboy Mike is a very kind friend with a compelling and contagious laugh. He is an educator with a love for good jokes. I only had one or two to share :). He writes about the expoits of the Buffalo Solders in the west.

Loren Estleman is the first person I met at the Phoenix Conference and also the first western writer I ever personally met. Loren is an accomplished writer and was very gracious to introduce me to the western writer's family. He treated the "greenhorn" with dignity.

Larry Sweazy has a Spur award under his belt. WWA gives Spur Awards to excellence in writing. Larry and his wife Rose are great people. His hobbie is nursing birds with broken wings and etc back to health. His current series is the The Scorpian Trail.

Paul Hutton is an educator at the University of New Mexico and also director of WWA.

L. J. Martin and his wife Kat Martin are prolific writers. When I asked him what type of material he wrote, his humble answer was, "I have a couple of westerns out."
Another great writer is John D. Nesbitt.

I met many new faces and people who have a love for the Old West. The WWA was like attending a family reunion where everyone was interested is knowing what you are doing and how well you are progressing. Most of the folks are regular attendees and a new face was fairly easy to spot. All the members were especially interested in making the "greenhorns" feel included and directed to the contacts they needed to make. I met some great christian people and several who wrote from that perspective. One such writer was Major Mitchell.
Some were prolific writers. I asked Chet Cunningham how many books he had written and the answer was 369. At least I think it was 369, I was so taken by the number I wasn't sure. My next question was, "What is the most you have written in one year." His reply was, "18."
Rod Miller, a quiet man with a big heart. A poet of poets. Read some of his poetry at Cowboy Poetry.

Pictured here with Elmer Kelton is Dusty Richards. Dusty has many accomplishments, one of which is that he actually cowboyed in the area around Scotsdale as a young man. Dusty is the crown prince of humor for the WWA. His laugh and stories are contagious.
Paul Colt, a man with a heart for the west.