We’re back visiting with Dusty Richards, an author with 120 books published and almost as many awards.  If you missed the first half of this interview, you can find it immediately below this part.  I recommend you scroll down and read it first, although it isn’t necessary to enjoy this part of the interview.

Jim:  As we were finishing the first installment, you said that Noble’s Way was the first book you sold.  Tell us how that sale came about.

Dusty:  I met the main man at St. Martin’s at a Tulsa Night Writers Conference. When I asked why they wouldn’t give me the name of the western editor, he gave me the name and said to write “Requested Material” on the outside. So I did that. The editor rejected it, but told me to send it to M Evans. I sent the manuscript and included the editor’s letter. Before long, editor Pat Labruto called wanting the book.  I didn’t have an agent at the time, so I called Cherry Weiner and she took me on. I’ve been with her ever since.

Jim: I know you don’t like to brag about the awards you’ve won, but I’ve told my readers you have won a lot of awards. So, tell us about some of those. Please.

Dusty:  I met Gary Goldstein at the Oklahoma Writers Federation and he got me to write a number of books for hire. (If you aren’t rich and famous, write those.)  When he got to Kensington, they were covered up with westerns, but I wrote one called Texas Blood Feud about Chet Byrnes and his family in a deadly feud in the Texas hill country.  It won the Will Rogers Award for best western that year.

Jim: Tell us about the Wrangler Award.

Dusty: I wrote a four-book series for Berkley. The Sundown Chaser won the Wrangler award.    Ernest Borgnine presented the award, a great bronze statue of a horse and rider, to me at the Cowboy Hall of Fame and John Wayne’s daughter gave me a hug.  Another in this series, The Horse Creek Incident, won the Spur Award, and Wulf Tracks was the runner-up for the Spur.  Three out of four ain’t bad for one series.  That ceremony is still on YouTube with my unscripted acceptance speech.

Jim: And speaking of the Spur award, you did something no one else had done.

Dusty:  The year I won the Spur for The Horse Creek Incident, I also won a Spur for my short story Comanche Moon.  So, two Spurs in one year.  That’s happened again since then, but I was the first to do that.

Jim: You had another double, didn’t you?

Dusty:  Yes. I won the OWFI Best Book of the Year awards in two consecutive years.

Jim:  Do you have a writing schedule?

Dusty:  I was pretty obsessed with writing.  My plan to write these days is – write every chance I can get on the computer.  When writing a book, I put in some marathon days and nights, pouring out the pages.  But I do need some time to do other things – attend an event, maybe gamble, go visit a friend who shares my views, perhaps research something historic, and speak at conferences.

When I come back, I’m steamed up to write again. My subconscious fills the pages. The only thing I worry about is, do I have enough action. I hate books where you can skip pages. It is my goal to keep the reader turning pages.

Jim:  You and Velda Brotherton hold classes for writers. Tell us a little about that.

Dusty: Velda and I started a group back in the 80’s, the Northwest Arkansas Writers.  We meet each week. Writers bring five pages to read, and copies for other participants.  We critique the writing and make the writers write better.  We have some serious members turning out books.  Right now, our membership has seven writers with one or more books published.

Jim: And what books are on the horizon from Dusty Richards?

Dusty:  Blue Roan Colt, from Cactus Country Publishing, will be out this month. Chaparral Range War, from Berkley, will be out in January 2013.  The second book in that series will be out in the fall of 2013. Starting sometime in 2013 and running into 2014, Kensington Pinnacle Western will publish three novels about the Byrnes family.

Jim: Where is the publishing industry headed?

Dusty:  Many of us like to hold a book, a real book. But the younger generation grew up playing games on electronic devices. They like e-books. As they become the majority, they will demand e-books.  And the cost of printing, storage, shipping, and returns will make e-books more and more important to publishers.  Wal-Mart is the last strong hold in paperback sales.

Jim:  Okay, Dusty.  We’re at the airport and they’ve called your flight. You’ve got one minute to give me some important advice.  Let’s hear it.

Dusty:  My best advice is—write a book. When you finish, you’ll know you can do it, so you have no excuses.  It probably won’t sell, but you have climbed one mountain. Read furiously. Highlight all the internalization in three paperback books.  Understand Point of View.  Don’t rewrite except for small obvious errors. People rewrite and rewrite until they aren’t sure of anything they do.  They complain that they can’t get the first sentence right.

Write the book.  At the end, you will know the characters so well you can write a great opening line.  Then, edit it.  Read Writers Digest.  They have good and bad information, but they can help a novice.

I’m not on Facebook or Twitter.  But I do answer my e-mail.  dustyrichards@cox.net

Jim:  Dusty has served on the Western Writers of America board of directors, has been President of that organization and a convention chairman.  Dusty told me, “Jory got me into it and has been a great help to me. I met my agent through WWA.  The WWA has been my road to today’s standing in the western writing world.”

He has been a guiding force in the Ozark Writers League for a number of years.  He has played an important role in OWFI.  And he’s spoken at the Northeast Texas Writers Organization ( NETWO) conference several times, always to excellent reviews.

You can find all of Dusty’s books (well, most of them)  at:  http://amzn.to/RMogAh.  His website is: www.dustyrichards.com.

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