A native of Arkansas, I was raised in Wichita and lived in New York for a while. We have returned to Arkansas where I live with my husband on an acreage in the Ozark National Forest. Fellow western writer Dusty Richards has influenced my career more than anyone. He never let me give up, and there were times I wanted to. He always told me, "The road to success is littered with quitters," and I've never forgotten that.

In 2003 I received the Creme de la Creme Award from Oklahoma Writers Federation, Inc., for a mainstream novel, which I've never managed to sell.
Last year we drove to San Antonio so I could accept a WILLA Literary Finalist Award for my book on New Mexico, Fly With The Mourning Dove. This is the most important award I've ever received.
In my journalistic life I've received several merit achievement awards for my historical columns from the Arkansas Press Association, and those are important to me as well.

While in San Antonio to accept my award for the New Mexico book, I met with a publisher who signed me to a contract for a book about the lost communities of the Boston Mountains of the Arkansas Ozarks. In addition to that, I've also signed a contract with another publisher to write a cook book filled with stories from the Boston Mountains. Working on these together is sure saving me a lot of research time. We hope to have them both out in the spring of 2010. Writing a book about New Mexico came as a great surprise, but when I learned the story of a distant cousin and her experiences homesteading in the high desert after WW I, the project took shape. I recently finished her life story and she is now reading it. The University of New Mexico is interested in the book and I should have news as soon as the revisions are finished. I'm also working on a book titled A Savage Grace. It's quite a departure for me, but a publisher is interested, so finish it I must. Though I've always been a fan of horror, I never thought I'd write one. The experience has been mind boggling. Fantasizing is fun, especially when it scares me.

Blogger
This is a blog about the writing life and I try to post weekly with photos of interest to readers.

Velda Brotherton
This website contains information and excerpts of my published short stories plus interviews and reviews and all my books. There are some historical photos of my early life as well.

NWArkansas Writers Workshop
This is a large critique group of which I am co-chair along with Dusty Richards. We've been in the business of mentoring young and beginning writers for 23 years and have seen plenty of them get published. This is an ongoing work. We have a free conference in March of every year to pay forward all the help we've received from others.