Lit Fest vs Huskers

Today was the Omaha Literary Festival. It was a great time and thank you very kindly to all of you who showed up! Even with a Cornhuskers game on at the same time as the panels, there was still a pretty good turn out. One thing that I thought was really interesting was the variety of folks on the panel itself. Apart from me, there was an author with a book set in the west during more modern day and based on factual events, plus a professor at UNL who writes about the west from a Mexican-American perspective. Between the three of us, we covered a lot of ground.

And kudos to the moderator, as well. All too often, moderators at panels either don't want the job or just plain don't do their job by just letting the conversation drift where it will or stall out completely. Not so this time. Although, he did introduce my first series as "The Man From Book Hill". Eh, no hard feelings. I gotta grouse about something. Seriously, great job all around and I hope to return next time!

Lit Festivities

The Omaha Literary Festival is coming up on the 19th. My panel is “Wild: mythmaking and the American West,” and it will be held at 4 pm. Dave Mullins, author of the Las Vegas-set story collection, “True Love Versus the Cigar Store Indian,” will moderate. If any of you can make it, I'd love to see you there. Otherwise, it'll be me and a few other folks at a table talking to each other and nobody else. While that's not uncommon with these things, it's always better with an audience. Hope to see some of you there!

Lit Fest

I've just recently confirmed that I'll be appearing at the Omaha Literary Festival on September 19. It'll be held in, you guessed it, Omaha, NE. If you're in the area, stop by and you shouldn't be disappointed. There will be plenty of writers from the western and other genres giving talks and (hopefully) signing some books. Here's a link to a website with some details. Hope to see you there!

Until then, I'll be working on a new Ralph Compton book. Feels good to climb into the saddle again.

Ahhhhhhhh....

That’s the contented sigh I let out when a completed manuscript is dropped off at the Post Office. I just finished my newest Ralph Compton book and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. There’s still a few editing phases to go through, but this part’s done and, even better, it’s done ON TIME!

Reports are coming in from the Western Writer’s convention and it sounds like it was a good time. Lots of good folks showed up, but only a few editors were among them. This harkens back to the dry spell I wrote about a few posts back. As I said back then, the market ebbs and flows. So long as good stuff keeps getting written, things will come around eventually.

It’s hot here on the prairie, but at least it’s not sopping wet like it is in Missouri. My Mom lives in the thick of all that, but she’s tough and is doing as well as can be expected. Even so, I’m sure I’ll be headed down there as soon as she needs a helping hand. That’s why I’ve got the ol’ laptop. It may not be one of those new, slim models, but it gets the job done. Actually, by computer standards, my laptop is a brick. All I need it for is to work on Word documents, and even a brick can handle that.

See ya in April

My next book in the Ralph Compton series just got put up on Amazon.com with a release date of April of '09. These are always fun to do and I think this one turned out pretty well. The Western Writer's Convention wrapped up this weekend and so I'm waiting to hear back from the folks that were lucky enough to be able to go. If you went, send me some pictures and let me know how it turned out.

Wish I was there

This week is the Western Writer's Convention in Scottsdale. Several different factors all came together, making it impossible for me to go this year and it really stinks! I've gone to the last six of these in a row and a few more scattered here and there before that. It's always a great time and it's also always my summer road trip. I shake my fist at you, high gas prices!! To everyone who's there, have fun and tip a bottle or two for me.