Ageless Authors Award

I was most pleased to receive this in the mail today!

“Navidad” is honored by Ageless Authors

Larry Upshaw, editor and founder of Ageless Authors, sponsors yearly contests for folks who are past fifty. I imminently qualify! This year’s contest theme was “Coping with Crisis”. My story Navidad was a finalist among hundreds of entries. It’s one of my Joaquin Murrieta stories and is a personal favorite. I based it on local history, a sad occurrence far up Reliz Canyon a hundred and forty years ago. I am very pleased by the recognition and hope that the story will be included in a future anthology. If you can’t wait, I’ve put a PDF of this story on TPT, along with the lesson plans I’ve created for it. It’s free. Here’s the link:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Navidad-short-story-text-2845796

Mountain Rules 2

I’ve had many great rock-climbing partners over the past forty-two years. Two of the first and best were Ed Foley and Lincoln Hatch. We learned the sport together and shared its great joy: stepping into and joining with mountain beauty. Sometimes we stepped into more than just beauty. That’s where climbing tales begin. Editor Larry Upshaw of Ageless Authors liked my account of a springtime adventure on Tuolumne’s granite. They awarded the story first prize and included it in their upcoming anthology. I’ll let you all know when the tome is actually published.

Mountain Rules

Son Jeremy and I atop Pywiack in May of 1988 on an ideal day!

In May of 1987 Ed Foley, Linc Hatch and I went to the Sierras in May for some early season rock climbing. We ended up having more of an adventure than we’d planned – as sometimes happens in the mountains – when a violent snowstorm hit us mid-climb. I wrote about our “epic” in my journal and later polished it up a bit for potential publication. It looks like that will happen pretty soon! The reminiscence won a prize in the Ageless Authors competition. I absolutely make no claim to being ageless, but I’m glad they liked the story. I’ll share it with you when it’s available. Meanwhile, here’s a link to the article: https://www.einnews.com/pr_news/487742565/california-senior-writers-awarded-top-ageless-authors-prizes

A view of Tenaya Lake from Pywiack’s summit on a sunny May day in 1988