I know, I know. It's already July but June slithered away from me because so much has been going on. Anyway, I can't see why I can't call this the June newsletter even though it's really July 3rd. I'll quick write another one for July.

Oh, so very much, some things I can tell and some things I must keep to myself. Anyway, I have lots of good news. Let's start with LeFlore County. I was invited to speak to the Green Country Ruff Riters, and I did, on the first weekend in June. Jackie King drove us down to Poteau on Friday and I have to confess, we were both disappointed. The sky was blue, the sun was bright, the air was clear. I want the roads near Poteau to be blanketed with low- lying fog banks. I wanted eerie but I got wholesome. Darn.

Paula Gorgas and her sweet husband met us and Paula rode home with Jackie and i got to ride home in a beautiful, faithfully restored yellow Studebaker... one of my favorite cars from the past. Paula's man told me all about what he had had to do to restore the car, then told me he also had a restored Studebaker pickup. Well, you know I love a pick up and I love a Studebaker so the man was speaking my language. We ate Mexican went to the Gorgas Manse deep in the woods and saw all the photographs and drawings of the Studebaker restorations. I don't know how Paula's husband knew I was old car mad, which I am. I loved the whole thing.

Paula is teeny weeny but she has a dog who could wear a saddle and carry her mistress, should Paula care to ride. Newfoundland. Big. Now, I'll swear this is true. That dog helped me into or out of the house entryway every time I went in or out. Paula spoke sharply to her several times apologizing for the dog's invasion of my space but listen, friends, that dog knew what it was doing. She was herding me and lifting me into the door (and nowadays I need all the help I can get.) Poteau still has magic I found.

Saturday dawned another sunny and beautiful disappointment so we set out for the library. You should know that the Ruff Riters number about 12 or 15 members, so I thought I'd be sitting in a tiny corner of the town library, chatting with ten people, about How to Sell Your Writing, Starting now. (You can invite me to your group's meeting and I'll give you those secrets as well.)

HUGE CROWD

What a shock.

People were crammed into the space and there were people from towns around Poteau, from Arkansas, Texas and one Tulsan (Jackie) Wow! They were smiling and I could see their light bulbs turning on over their heads, one after the other. I loved it. They were learning and so was I. Fifty or sixty folks, I'd say. I played my little game with them, identifying the favorite reading material of several complete strangers. That always baffles listeners and amuses me. Of course that's a skill that doesn't make me one centavo. I am full of that kind of smart aleck stuff.

I thought the Secretary of the club was taking notes but she wasn't. She was drawing a cartoon of me. Wonderful! But something happened. The cartoon didn't make it back to Tulsa. I was desolated. Teresa is talented and a real professional. I hate it that I somehow lost myself.

Well, hell.

Maybe I'll go back next year and Teresa will do her thing again. In the future lies hope.

I hugged my old pal Modean Moon, who is editing for Baen now. She said, "I'm not staying." "Heard it all, have you?" I asked her and we grinned at each other. She has been in so many of my classes. Love Miss Modean.

Anyway, the Ruff Riters took Jackie and me to eat wonderful Italian food.

I'm writing a novel set in eerie Poteau, not sunny sweet Poteau. I'll have to go back. It took hours to drive to Poteau (it seemed) and only minutes to drive back Tulsa, Jackie and I agreed that that part of Oklahoma can set some kind of spell on a person.

BARBARA is my new book which is out this month. It's an "as-told-to" biography of Barbara Bartholic's forty years of investigating UFO's and UFO abductions. If you would like to get better acquainted with my lovely friend, my strange and lovely friend, you can now order BARBARA from AWOC Books for $13.95 plus $3.25 postage. It's not about Poteau but it is a bit eerie just the same.

I sold a number of CONFESSING FOR MONEY books down there. You can order your own copy from AWOC Books for $14.95 plus $3.25 for postage. Poteau was fun, even exciting, but I found no love interest there. All the men sitting in the front near where I was talking were just boys, well behaved, highly intelligent boys, but boys all the same. Of course, at my age, most men look like boys. What can one do?

I am lying. I DID fall in love in Poteau. The first person or two who guesses the object of my affections will get a copy of SALLY with typed prologue and epilogue enclosed. Paula is excluded from this contest because she knows the truth... and no, it wasn't her husband or her dog. Come on friends, give a guess.

Maybe so. I have so much more to tell you And yes, one of the things involves a man, a really exciting man, a secret man, but not in Poteau. I went somewhere else in June. More about this in the July newsletter(s)

To order the books mentioned in this newsletter from AWOC Books, send check or money order to:

AWOC.COM
P.O. Box 2819
Denton, TX 76202

(Texas residents add 7.75% sales tax)