The Writers Colony-Eureka Springs, Arkansas

If you’ve ever been to Eureka Springs, Arkansas, you’ll see gazillions of inspirations.

I’ve never been but I did write a book titled with the same name based on a fictional place in Florida.  When I thought of that title, I meant to symbolize awakening for the main character and I didn’t even know there was a Eureka Springs, Arkansas until someone posted a review somewhere about the disappointment of not enough Eureka Springs character in the book.  After that, I investigated and found, YEP, Eureka Springs definitely is a place I want to visit sometime. So, here’s a shout to a place that looks amazing and welcoming. And a BIG thanks to that person who read my novel, Eureka Springs, which pushed me in the direction to investigate this beautiful place in Arkansas.  

The website for The Writers Colony says: https://www.writerscolony.org  

The Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow is located in the historic arts village of Eureka Springs, Arkansas, in the Northwest corner of the Ozark Mountains. Our town is tiny – population 2,079 – but we are host to thousands of tourists who come for a slice of our unusual lifestyle. We are distinctly different from anywhere else in the world.

Let the sunlight tickle your eyelashes open to greet a new day and a new blank page. The hills and trees outside are awake and awash in morning sunshine, the birds scattering their song. Or maybe, if it’s winter, you’ll gaze in wonder at the long, thick icicles that hang from the bluffs in the holler. We are, after all, the town that water built.

Every writer has his or her dance with the page and pen. At the Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow, our whole reason for being is to support your efforts to write write write. Maybe your day will be inspired by a nature walk through ancient forests and bluffs, or the exploration of a nearby garden grotto and the satisfying way “ohm” echoes against the cave walls. Or maybe you prefer the short walk to civilization for a piping hot espresso and conversation with friendly locals at a neighborhood haunt.

Whatever inspires you to write, you’ll find it here. Your cozy writing nook beckons. It’s the write time. It’s the write place.

Contact the director for current opportunities and events.  Use the contact tab at the top of the website.

So-on the website, find the eMerge magazine.  It’s their literary e-mag.  Authors involved in The Writers Colony contribute.  Comment here with one authors name from eMerge to be entered in the end of the month grand prize for January 2019.

(Thanks to The Writers Colony of Eureka Springs for letting me download all info from their site https://www.writerscolony.org/)

ARKANSAS TRAVEL GUIDES AND MYSTERIES AT A TWO-FOR-ONE PRICE.

Radine Trees Nehring of Arkansas Asks: 

Wouldn’t it be fun to live the life of a travel writer?  They get free trips to luxury destinations—don’t they? They get fabulous meals, free entry to events, and much more. (Yes, they do. I did travel writing early in my writing career.) 

So, why did I end up becoming a full-time mystery writer?  Was it just because I enjoyed reading mystery novels, and wanted to try writing one?

No, dear reader. It was also because I fell in love with a state that had many prime destinations and events for tourists to enjoy and I wanted to share that with the world. In what was my own fun decision, I fell into writing about (fictitious, mostly) crimes in some of those real places and in real buildings.

Did the people responsible for those destinations yelp with rage when they learned I planned to set a crime novel that included a murder in their prime place and would depict the location as it really was? Far from it. They realized, when I hadn’t, (remember, I was doing this for fun and to share great news about Arkansas) what an advertising bonus such a novel set in any tourist destination could be. If mystery readers learned about their location and the exciting events that took place there, even if fictitious, it would be good advertising for them. “Their” novel would be a terrific promotion venue and I was going to do all the work. So it’s no wonder that staff members in various locations often jumped enthusiastically into my research sessions. They took me into all kinds of places not normally open to the public, and frequently made plot suggestions: “Radine, look here, couldn’t you hide (something) here? And then we could .  .  .  . What do you think?” 

If anyone ever noticed that I did not use most of their plot suggestions, no one ever complained. And I have remained friends with individuals at most of the locations I chose, another added bonus. Not only that, many continue to sell copies of their location’s novel.

Your bonus? By looking at my web site you may select any one of the novels described there and enter to win it by commenting on this post. I will blind-draw an entry. Please include a form of contact and the novel you select when you comment. Thank you, chose your destination and enjoy the trip!   

Radine Trees Nehring, 2011 Inductee, Arkansas Writers Hall of Fame
Sharing the magic and mystery of the Arkansas Ozarks in award-winning
articles, essays, short stories, and To Die For novels
http://www.RadinesBooks.com

HEADLINE: New York Reviewer Visits Arkansas Author, Radine Trees Nehring

Rustic barn and the summer Milky Way along Hwy 43, Boxley Valley Historic District near Ponca

In February, 2005, New York book reviewer "Eden" Embler finished yet another positive review of one of my mystery novels set in Arkansas with these words: "The author makes the area so intriguing I want to see it for myself."  Not long after (and to my astonishment), I learned the Emblers were coming to Arkansas that spring.


My husband and I met them in Eureka Springs, (setting for A Wedding to Die For),  and took them on a tour of several locations I'd chosen for novels and short stories. Then, on their own, they toured much of the rest of the state before returning to New York, where Embler continued to review my novels until her death in 2010.

My husband and I fell in love with the Arkansas Ozarks in 1978 during a camping trip. Before long the Nehrings owned 23 acres of forested Ozarks hills and hollows with ponds, a creek and a spring. We built a weekend cabin, and traveled there from Tulsa, Oklahoma most weekends. In 1986, I began writing about our adventures for magazines and newspapers around the United States. In 1988 we moved to Arkansas full time and, in 1995, a hard cover collection of my Ozarks articles and essays: DEAR EARTH: A Love Letter from Spring Hollow, came out in New York. (This environmentally-based book is still available from http://www.RadinesBooks.com)

What next? I began writing my first Ozarks mystery novel. A Valley to Die For appeared in 2002, followed by Music to Die For, and a series was born. Number 8 in the "To Die For" series appeared last spring--A Portrait to Die For--an art crime adventure featuring Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas.
Which leads me to another Arkansan who has been honoring the state for many years. 

Tim Ernst's photographic art has been featured in National Geographic, Audubon, Outdoor Photographer,  and the New York Times, plus in Sierra Club and Hallmark calendars, and many other places. He's the author of more than a dozen hiking trail guidebooks, and seventeen of his collections of wilderness photographs have been published as coffee table picture books.

A quiet morning reflection with blazing fall color, Big Piney Creek, Ozark National Forest, near Limestone, Arkansas

(He also teaches photography workshops.) To list his many honors and awards would take more space than I have here, so I'll just say I am deeply honored that he allowed me to submit three photographs from his latest book of photographs: ARKANSAS IN MY OWN BACKYARD, for Fifty Authors from Fifty States. 

To enjoy more about Tim and his stunning photographs, visit www.TimErnst.com    
  
To learn more on my work, visit   http://www.RadinesBooks.com    

I'm offering one lucky winner their choice of A Portrait to Die For or Dear Earth.  Leave a comment with your preferred contact info to be entered to win!     

Unnamed waterfall along the Little Mulberry Creek, Ozark National Forest, Arkansas. There are hundreds of waterfalls in the Ozarks--some well-known, but many are unknown like this one and just waiting for personal discovery.