...and proud of it!

Happy 4th of July everyone! Being a writer has allowed me to revel in many of the freedoms that are distinctly American. Free speech and free expression are just a few. Being a western writer has allowed me to have fun with even more distinctly American things like cowboys, poker, riverboat gambling and saloon girls. Now that I've tipped my hat to the Stars and Stripes as well as to you guys, I'm off to revel in bar-b-q and the scent of burnt gunpowder drifting through suburban air. Ahhhhhh. Gotta love it.

Gretna Public Library

On July 22nd, I'll be going to the Gretna Public Library to have a chat with their Adult Summer Reading group. They're reading THE ACCOMPLICE, so I'd better flip through it again myself. It's been a few years since I wrote that one. Heh. Hopefully I don't get stumped too many times by people's questions. Here's a link to the event's website. http://www.gretnapubliclibrary.org/adultservices/index.html
I'm not sure if it's open to the public or if it's just for the reading group, but if you want to stop by and you're in the Gretna area, give 'em a call.

The house began to twitch...

Ok, so last night THIS hits us. It was something between a tornado and a hurricane. Actually, I figure it was the equivalent of a tornado that had been spread across an entire city.

The storm lasted for about 10-15 minutes, but it was a tough 10-15 minutes! Couldn't see anything through my windows besides flying leaves, churning gray and some old guy in a rowboat. Maybe that last one was from The Wizard of Oz, but the rest was about right. Winds blew through here at over 90 mph!

Trees are down all over and we lost power for the better part of a day. Fortunately, we got our power back and we can all get back to work. Sure the piles of hail look pretty and the smell of broken wood is nice and fresh, but SHEEEZZ!!

Random Stupidness

Yeah, I know stupidness isn't a word...or is it?

I was just going over some preliminary edits for my next Compton book and it got me thinking about dumb typos that I constantly make. Every writer's got at least one or two. For example, I don't know why but I often type "furture" when I mean to type "future". I think my brain is just zipping ahead to the end of the word while I'm still typing the beginning. Either that, or I've got a screw loose.

Another good one that an editor pointed out is my insistence on writing "in tact" instead of "intact". It's one word, idiot!!!!!

One more is my over-use of the "...". I do that one a lot...or do I?

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.