With my head down and working on my own schedule, it's easy to forget what day of the week it is. I barely thought about it being September until I saw all the back to school stuff (which is mostly late August anyway, so that shows how on-point I am). There's so much that comes along with this, but most of it is personal and tough to express. Also, most of it doesn't need to be expressed because it's the same thing that most of us feel when we think of 9/11/01.

My big memory involves standing in line all day long to give blood. I was living in St. Louis and after I saw what happened, the news affiliates were predicting the Red Cross would need as much blood as possible to help the victims. This was while things were still happening, so they didn't know for certain whether anyone needed extra donations or not. That was the only thing I could do at the time, so I went to give. I'd never given blood before but I had to do something. When I got there, most of the city seemed to be lined up so they could do something too. I waited in that line all day long and honestly don't even know what they did with all that blood. There had to have been way more than what they (or all of the local Red Crosses) needed, but it was moving to be there and witness the entire country bleeding for our loss.

I don't appreciate being told to "never forget" as if I COULD forget. I'm also not one to feel more emotional about something because the calendar tells me to. Seeing the towers fall impacted me along with everybody else and I won't forget about it come September 14th or March 27th. Still, it is good to see everyone bleed for a good cause.

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.

Too early to tell

Don't quite know what to make of this one yet. A Jonah Hex movie could be amazing or it could just be a schlocky attempt to put Megan Fox into another tight dress. Not that I'm opposed to that sort of thing, but Jonah Hex deserves something more than that.

I'm still reading the comic books and enjoying them immensely. I've kind of fallen out of love with The Man With No Name series just because it seems a bit too convoluted for its own good. Haven't given up on it completely yet, but the next few issues better be good.

I'd like to see a new Ghost Rider series set in the old west. Say what you want about the Nick Cage movie, but that one scene where he was riding alongside Sam Elliott's dead horse was one hell of a cool visual. Give me some demon banditos and I'll be a happy guy.

Tainted Interview

Gary Dobbs did a great interview with yours truly over on his Tainted Archive blog. Here's the link: http://tainted-archive.blogspot.com/2009/07/i-always-wanted-to-wear-black-hat.html

There were some really good questions that got me rambling about subjects ranging from the Clint vs. Duke debate all the way up to the state of the western genre. Go see for yourself, because that's all you're getting from me.

Fourth of Joo-ly

I can't remember the last time I've had a 4th of July where I wasn't working. That's not really a bad thing, since I have fond memories of finishing up many hopeful projects while fireworks going off outside. This year was nice. My wife cooked up some burgers and we were entertained by the show put on by our skittish dog as she ran back and forth to guard against the approaching horde of gun-toting intruders. Sure, the banditos were just poppers from across the street, but the pup's heart was in the right place.

Hope the rest of you had a great holiday as well. For those of you not in the States, shoot some fireworks anyway. They're purrrdy.

The Wild Midwest

Every now and then, I catch some flack for living in Nebraska. Usually it’s some comment about covered wagons and prairie dogs flipped my way any time I venture out of the state. I always have to defend Omaha by saying, “No, it’s really a city. Yes, there are paved roads.” And “No, it’s not the wild west.”

Today, Megan and I went to our bank and found the entrance taped off, cop cars out front and the drive-through lanes closed off. Was my bank robbed? Did I just miss seeing a bunch of gunmen storm out carrying bags of money with big dollar signs on them? Do I watch too many superhero cartoons? For all I know, somebody with a bad case of heat stroke wandered in to knock over the deposit slip racks or charge over the counter when the teller wouldn’t acknowledge they were there as they helped car after car in the outside lanes. If that’s the case, I feel for them. If it was a robbery, I’m just glad Megan and I hit the post office first. I like watching the horses thunder in from the east to drop off the new Sears Roebuck catalogs.

UPDATE -- News just came in that it WAS a bank robbery. I've already signed on for the posse.