Date Published: September 30, 2025
Publisher: She Writes Press/Tantor
Narrator: Ann Marie Gideon
Run Time: 8 hours and 4 minutes
Growing up in West Texas, Jane Little Botkin didn't have designs on becoming a beauty queen. But not long after joining a pageant on a whim in college, she became the first protégé of El Paso's Richard Guy and Rex Holt, known as the "Kings of Beauty"—just as the 1970's counterculture movement began to take off.
A pink, rose-covered gown—a Guyrex creation—symbolizes the fairy tale life that young women in Jane's time imagined beauty queens had. Its near destruction exposes reality: the author's failed relationship with her mother, and her parents' failed relationship with one another. Weaving these narrative threads together is the Wild West notion that anything is possible, especially do-overs.
The Pink Dress awakens nostalgia for the 1960s and 1970s, the era's conflicts and growth pains. A common expectation that women went to college to get "MRS" degrees—to find a husband and become a stay-at-home wife and mother—often prevailed. How does one swim upstream against this notion among feminist voices that protest "If You Want Meat, Go to a Butcher!" at beauty pageants, two flamboyant showmen, and a developing awareness of self? Torn between women's traditional roles and what women could be, Guyrex Girls evolved, as did the author.
Can you tell us a little about the process
of getting this book published? How did you come up with the idea and how did
you start?
Before Covid, I sat inside a hotel bar with four
authors I barely knew in San Antonio Riverwalk’s Omni La Mansion one late
October evening in 2019. Along with a literary agent whom we had invited to our
small table, we celebrated our last day attending a western women’s writing
conference. Like the other storytellers at my table, I began to reminisce my
experiences during 1972 when I contested in San Antonio’s Miss Texas USA
pageant. I shared my story as a tightly handled beauty contestant and soon had
the women laughing at my escapades and overly exaggerated rendition of an East
Texas accent. When I mentioned my handlers Richard Guy and Rex Holt (Guyrex
Associates), nationally known as the “Kings of Beauty Pageants” and who
dominated the Miss USA pageant scene for years, the agent’s interest piqued.
Everyone was surprised to learn that I had been a Guyrex Girl, a term
nationally trademarked later. What I didn’t tell the women in the bar that
night was that I had been forced to move from a dysfunctional middleclass
family—from a controlling mother—into a theatrical ménage of high performers
who were also intent on managing all aspects of my life for one year. Eventually,
an author produced a cocktail napkin and made me sign my pledge to write this
narrative. The next two years exploring the story and putting it on paper were
painful but cathartic. I had to view myself with a historical lens during the
Counter-Culture era and examine my parents’ flaws. I had to face self-inflicted
wounds as a result of the situation I had been given.
What surprised you most about getting your
book published?
How difficult it was to publish a memoir. I was an
award-winning author of nonfiction. Surely, I would be able to find a
publisher! We had just come off Covid, and by the time I finished the
manuscript, literary agents and editors did not want to travel to writers’
events that typically had pitch sessions. At a Women Writing the West
conference, I was able to pitch to a NY editor via Zoom where everyone else in
the room could listen. Embarrassing. When he told me that it was hard to sell a
memoir, I was so disappointed. But an editor who was in the pitch room
met with me. My publisher She Writes Press happens to love women’s stories. The
journey was worth it.
Tell us a little about what you do when
you aren’t writing
I live in the White Mountain Wilderness in south-central New Mexico. Quite lonely but a great place for writing. Often I escape with the friends I’ve made since I became an author—other writers, historians, songwriters and musicians. These women and I share the same interest in western writing so when I need a fix, I see them. More importantly, I also depend on a group of old girlfriends to keep my feet on the ground. They were essential in my writing The Pink Dress! I also do speaking events, typically in Arizona, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, and Texas. Otherwise, my husband and I can hike, fish, and enjoy winter sports with family. Still, I’m always looking for a story. (He has no idea…)
As a published author, what would you say
was the most pivotal point of your writing life?
Just taking the first step. As previously mentioned, I
was an English teacher and curriculum specialist for thirty years in Texas. One
day, my junior son brought a cartoon to my office, asking, “Mom, isn’t this our
uncle?” The cartoon was of a man stripped to his underwear while hanging from a
rope with the Montana vigilante code 3-7-77 pinned on him. A man in a mask and
bowler hat is dropping coins into the hand of a squirrely man, representing the
press. The robber baron says, “Just say he is a traitor!” The man was my uncle,
Frank Little. My son was to write a DBQ
(document-based essay) about the cartoon in his Advanced Placement American
History class. I knew part of Frank’s story, but I had no idea how significant
his life had been because my family hushed the story. At that moment, I knew I
would research and tell the story, though I could not actually begin for
several more years. The resulting book, Frank Little and the IWW: The Blood
That Stained an American Family (University of Oklahoma Press 2017) won
national awards, and I was hooked as a researcher and writer.
Where do you get your best ideas and why
do you think that is?
By listening. My subjects have come from family
histories and stories that my long-deceased aunts and grandmother shared; or something
a person mentions nonchalantly. For example, with my upcoming biography on Mary
Ann Goodnight, a docent at the Charles and Mary Ann Goodnight Historic Ranch
Site in the Texas Panhandle unknowingly spurred the manuscript. Not that I
should write a book, but when asked what was available on Mary, she said no one
has written a book on Mary because there was only a “smidgeon” of information.
She even used her fingers to show me why there were no books. Challenge taken!
I loved the chase.
What is the toughest criticism given to
you as an author?
Oh, this is easy. With a university press, an author
submits a manuscript to an acquisitions editor. That editor sends the paper to
at least two peer reviewers who have some knowledge of the subject. The
reviewers report back to the press and the author with comments. With my first
book at the University of Oklahoma Press (OUP), I received a review from an
older academic author who claimed that I used purple prose in a section of the
biography. I was indignant! I had an English degree, taught high school seniors
for thirty years, and I surely knew not to use any ornate language. But darn
it! He had been right. I learned that less is more when an author wants to make
a powerful point. That less can be beautiful. An author should show the reader
with the briefest of descriptions, both tangible and concrete, and never tell
the reader what you want to impart. I’ve never forgotten the lesson.
What has been your best accomplishment as
a writer?
I have now won numerous awards, almost all national.
While the awards certainly help sell books, it’s more the recognition from my
peers and up-and-coming authors who ask for my help in writing that I care
about. Whether reviewing their work, critiquing, or publishing advice—I love
helping and even teaching them if asked. Plus, I value and grow from learning
what is in their hearts and minds. I did not begin my first book until I
retired; I didn’t publish it until I turned 65. So, I’m thrilled to be received
well within my chosen vocation and asked for opinions, help, and shared
ventures.
How many unpublished and half-finished
books do you have?
My newest biography, The Breath of a Buffalo, A
Biography of Mary Ann Goodnight, will be published early 2027 from the
University of Oklahoma Press. They have the manuscript and photos, but
uni-presses take their time. This biography is about a woman who saved the
Southern Plains bison herd from extinction. After about 30 million bison were
decimated in the 1870s, she saved four orphan calves when there were only 500
bison left in the entire United States. Without Mary, there would be no
Southern Plains bison and likely, the Northern bison would have been near
extinction as well. She sent her bison north to seed herds, like the one you
see at Yellowstone. Hers is an amazing story, a love story too. Otherwise, I
have ideas twirling in my head for at least three more books.
About the Author
A NATIONAL AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR, JANE...
melds personal narratives of American families often with compelling stories of western women. Jane is a late bloomer as an author. After teaching for thirty years, she was honored by the Texas State Legislature by formal resolution for her work with local history and education in 2008. She edited and directed publishing fifteen volumes of Texas local history with her former students before she decided to write on her own. Jane's first book propelled her membership on the Western Writers of America board and later as its vice president. Jane continues to judge entries for the WWA's prestigious Spur Award; reviews new book releases; authors articles for various magazines; and speaks to groups in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas.
JANE'S FIRST TWO WORKS HAVE WON NUMEROUS AWARDS IN HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHY AND WOMEN'S STUDIES...
including two Spur Awards, two Caroline Bancroft History Prizes, the Texas Book Award, and the Barbara Sudler Award for the best book written on the West by a woman. Jane was also a finalist for the Oklahoma Book Award, High Plains Book Award, two Women Writing the West’s Willa Literary Awards, Independent Book Award, Foreword Indies Book Awards, and Sarton Book Award.
Released in fall 2024, Jane’s third book—what she calls her Covid book—is The Pink Dress, A Memoir of a Reluctant Beauty Queen, a Foreword Indies Book Award winner in pop culture and Women Writing the West's Willa Literary Award finalist in creative nonfiction. The narrative brings far West Texas to life during the 1970s’ American Counterculture era.
Jane's newest book, The Breath of a Buffalo, A Biography of Mary Ann Goodnight, will be released from the University of Oklahoma Press tentatively in fall 2026.
Today Jane blissfully escapes into her literary world in the remote White Mountain Wilderness near Nogal, New Mexico, when she is not speaking at various events or preparing for her next nonfiction book.
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