Pressroom & Contact Information - Carmen Goldthwaite

Contact Info

Carmen Goldthwaite: Author, Storyteller, Writing Teacher
817 726 0412

carmen@carmengoldthwaite.com

Pressroom

4 photos to choose from – Click on the link below the image to download:

For a full list of recent and upcoming events, please see the Events page:

Events

Author Bios

Short form:

Carmen Goldthwaite, career journalist and syndicated investigative reporter, turned those skills into a spade to unearth stories of Texas women ranchers, lives and tales little known or long forgotten. She’s written their stories in Texas Ranch Women: Three Centuries of Mettle and Moxie and Texas Dames: Sassy and Savvy Women Throughout Lone Star History.

She’s a popular speaker to Women’s Clubs and Daughters of the Republic of Texas, Foundations and Libraries and Archives. She also serves as a Director of SMU DeGolyer Library’s Archives of Women of the Southwest and as Writer-in-Residence, TCU Schieffer School/Community Journalism.

Long form:

“I wanted to write, to be a newspaper woman since I read a story of one as a nine-year-old at the Alice, TX public library. Before that, before learning to read, I loved the smell of ink when the daily paper came. Fortune smiled and I got to be a news woman and smell the ink and hear the pounding of the presses (in the old days). Now, I get to continue finding the stories that are little told or long forgotten.”

Show more +

Carmen Goldthwaite, once an investigative reporter for Scripps Howard News, turned those “digging” skills into the fertile fields of Texas women’s research. Fifteen years later, two books rolled out of the publisher’s warehouse: first, Texas Dames: Sassy and Savvy Women throughout Lone Star History and then Texas Ranch Women: Three Centuries of Mettle and Moxie. Both are from The History Press of Charleston. Her earlier investigative reporting led to Texas statewide awards and syndication with Scripps-Howard News and as a correspondent for The New York Times, topping off a 20-year newspaper career.

The Texas women books plus her own history as a “7^th generation Texan” contribute to Carmen’s popularity as a speaker to Women’s Clubs, Daughters of the Republic of Texas chapters, Foundations, libraries and archives.

Now she’s again turned to research, writing to tell a story based on early family tales from her mother. This high sea adventure – from Marseilles to Charleston – recounts the danger and survival of children coming to America as orphans. In the case of Catherine Marie DeSpain in the historical novel Whispering Spirits, it’s a Huguenot family saga waiting to be published and has won “finalist” designation in national contests.

Carmen also has won national awards in short fiction for “Summer’s Kiln,” a modern cowboy story and “Into the Sun,” a post VietNam tale. A couple of personal essays, “Night Bull” and “Burgers and Butterflies,” appeared in Chicken Soup of the Soul: Miracles Happen and Chicken Soup of the Soul: The Magic of Mothers and Daughters.

Other publishing credits include Wild West, True West, American Cowboy, Fort Worth Texas Magazine, Persimmon Hill, and Latitudes & Attitudes magazines. She has written numerous “how to write” pieces for Writers Guide 2010 – 2014 editions. Other publishing credits include anthologies such as The Way West (Fulcrum) and Wild Women of the Old West (Tor) anthologies.

Balancing the need of solitude for research and writing with social contact that’s a must, Carmen teaches creative writing in her Fort Worth Writing Circles. Formerly she taught at both TCU, her alma mater, and SMU. Honored by them, she has served as a director and past vice president of Archives of Women of the Southwest at SMU DeGolyer Library; Writer-in-Residence, TCU Schieffer School/Community Journalism, and former director, Friends of the Fort Worth Library.

Show less –

Author bios in PDF format Download

Résumé in PDF formatDownload

Résumé in Word formatDownload

Books in Print and Digital

TEXAS RANCH WOMEN:
THREE CENTURIES OF METTLE AND MOXIE
ISBN-978-1-62619-598-1
Visit History Press at: www.historypress.net (Arcadia Publishing)

TEXAS DAMES:
SASSY AND SAVVY WOMEN THROUGHOUT LONE STAR HISTORY
from The History Press of Charleston South Carolina.
ISBN 978.1.60949.812.2
Visit History Press at: www.historypress.net (Arcadia Publishing)

CHICKEN SOUP OF THE SOUL: MIRACLES HAPPEN, “Night Bull,”published by Chicken Soup of the Soul publishers, February 2014.
ISBN 13: 978-1-61159-932-9

CHICKEN SOUP OF THE SOUL: MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS: “Burgers and Butterflies”; ISBN 13: 978-1-935096-81-8

THE WAY WEST: True Stories of the American Frontier; “Dancing in the Eye of the Storm,” from Tor/Forge; ISBN 0-765-30450-3

WILD WOMEN OF THE OLD WEST, “The Yellow Rose”
from Fulcrum Publishing, Golden CO; ISBN 1-55591-295-8

Publishing History

Books & Anthologies:

Texas Ranch Women: Three Centuries of Mettle and Moxie, Oct. 2014, The History Press, Charleston, S. C.

Texas Dames: Sassy & Savvy Women Throughout Lone Star History. Oct. 2012, The History Press, Charleston, S.C.

Whispering Spirits, The DeSpain Family Saga: An historical fiction series, pending publication. 2021.

Chicken Soup of the Soul: The Magic of Mothers and Daughters, “Burgers and Butterflies,” 2012.

Chicken Soup of the Soul: Miracles Happen, “Night Bull,” 2014

Writers Guide(s) to 2010 – 2014; Writers Institute Publications, West Redding, CT.

The Way West: True Stories of the American Frontier, “Dancing in the Eye of the Storm,” Tor-Forge Publishers, WWA Anthology, 2005.

Wild Women of the Old West, an anthology, “The Yellow Rose of Texas,” Fulcrum Publishing, 2003.

Newspaper & Magazine:

Contributing writer: True West, Wild West, Persimmon Hill, Fort Worth, TX, New York Times/Financial, American Cowboy, Latitudes & Attitudes (inland sailing features); poetry, The Storyteller — (2000-2018);

Columnist, “Texas Dames™,” self-syndicated to community Texas dailies and weeklies (2005-2009)

Columnist (“Her Story”) & Book Reviewer— Fort Worth Star Telegram (1996-2002).

Reporter/Writer/Investigative Reporter, Houston Chronicle, The Fort Worth Press & Scripps Howard News, Dallas Morning News, Odessa American, Midland Reporter Telegram, Brownwood Bulletin. (1964-1973 & 1980-1981)

Other Communications Stints:

Speech Writer, Brown & Root 1980 – 1984

Speech Writer & Government Affairs Representative–Shell Oil Co., 1976-1979

Press Secretary, U. S. Rep. Dale Milford,—aviation and space technology & House Committee on Intelligence aide. 1973-1976

Teaching

Writers’ Circles

Facilitator, host and teacher, 2009 – present

Writers Circles, 2009 – present

SMU, School of Creative Writing, The Writing Path, 1998 to 2020

TCU, Schieffer School of Journalism, Media Writing, 2005 to 2009

Speaking Engagements

Texas History– around the state to various chapters of Daughters of the Republic of Texas, Daughters of the American Revolution, Women’s Clubs and Forums, Libraries, Archives, Colleges and Universities and multiple Study Groups. 2002 – Present.

Writing Skills (Fiction and Nonfiction)–to Writers’ conferences, Women’s clubs, libraries and genealogical groups, writers’ groups, seminars and workshops. 2005 – Present

Education

Texas Christian University, 2016 – 2018 Brite Divinity School; MTS enrollee

Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, 1972, M.Ed. Student Personnel Services/Psychology

Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, 1966, BA Journalism/Advertising/Psychology

Professional

Director and Vice Chair, Women of the Southwest Archives, SMU DeGolyer Library, 2014-2018;

Member, Western Writers of America; since 2004; Spur Award Judge, marketing committee (Texas); panelist (assorted)

Member, former director, Society of Professional Journalists

Member, former director, DFWWriters’ Workshop

Associate Member, Texas Press Association

Member, Investigative Reporters & Editors (IRE)

Member, The Westerners

Member, Texas State Historical Association

Member, Western History Association

Community (Fort Worth)

On Call Chaplain, Texas Health/Harris Southwest Hospital, 2016 – 2020

Chair of “Spirituality & Aging” Fort Worth Conference, 1^st Christian Church (October 2004); adviser to 1^st Methodist of Fort Worth’s October 2005 Aging conference

Former Director, Friends of the Library, Fort Worth

Former Director, Lone Star Sierra Club Chapter

Publicity Chair, American Indian Chamber of Commerce (Texas)

Communications Committee, American Heart Association, Fort Worth

TCU Alumni Association/ Frog Club / TCU Women Exes