Journal Notes

I heard yesterday that Thunder Over the Prairie has made it to the next level of executives at the studio. Which makes it a little closer to actually getting made into a film. I spoke with actor Marty Kove and he was gracious enough to want to give it a read too. Frontier Teachers did okay for the first day out. All in all I was feeling happy about things that were going on. And that hasn’t happened in a long time. I was okay until the tracking feature on my site showed a couple of people, one from Missouri and another from North Carolina posting derogatory remarks about my brother and my family. As always, I don’t know why. I received a post to my site a few months ago from one of their family members who boasted that everyone was doing so well. During the initial investigation into my dear brother’s situation, we were told by the courts that his children did not want to see us and to stay away from them. At my brother’s sentencing hearing they told the court that they “were hurt that their father’s family didn’t want to have anything to do with them.” That was a lie. Just one of many. I spoke with a woman this morning who’s brother was sent to prison on a lie as well. It was nice to be able to talk with someone about the hurt you feel everyday over the matter?and in severe cases, over the loss. There is a sadness deep in your heart?a pain that aches always. It hurts especially so when people who claim to be moving on continue to do the ugly things they do. Think I’ll add that in the book The Deadliest Accusation too. It’s an example of the very little character they have and the pain they continue inflict on people who had nothing to do with what they say happened. Now, back to work.

Frontier Teachers is now in the bookstores. I’ll be heading out to the Book Seller in Grass Valley to pick up a few copies. I did an phone interview about the book this morning with Mike Thomas at KWRE in Warrenton, MO.. It’s always a delight to be on his broadcast. I wish everyone you met in the industry could be as decent. One of the reasons I consider pursuing a different career is the rude response you get from radio and television promotional directors, motion picture agents and publicist. With rare exception (producer- director Howard Kazanjian being one of them) most of the people I’ve encountered in the entertainment industry are rude. I placed a call to actor Tom Selleck’s representatives this afternoon and she was less than kind. Fifteen seconds into the conversation I knew this was not a situation I wanted to be dealing with on a long term basis. I wonder if actors know how they’re being represented? They probably don’t care much. I do know this, should his name be mentioned again in casting I’ll caution everyone concerned to think twice. Life is too short to deal with representatives who can’t grasp that their clients haven’t cured cancer, they aren’t working to teach children to read and write, and they haven’t rescued people from burning buildings. That kind of rude behavior should barely be tolerated from real heroes like doctors, teachers, and firefighters. It’s inexcusable from the representatives of the people who simply act the part of real heroes.

Frontier Teachers is supposed to be in bookstores next week. I haven’t seen a copy of the book in its completed form, but have been told by my editor that it looks good. To all who have written to ask, I’ll be sending out review copies as soon I get them. The trailer for Thunder Over the Prairie is now on You Tube. It will interesting to track how often it gets viewed. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m not always crazing about writing. I like having written. Having written can be very satisfying. I remember sitting in a theatre on campus at the University of Arizona having written a play that had been produced by the school. I was still stinging from my divorce when I wrote Lucy. Writing about the ordeal and seeing it performed was gratifying. I’m not necessarily proud of what I put down on paper then. I was young and foolish and brokenhearted. I find the variety of ways you can express yourself through the written word fascinating. Words and thoughts. They bounce around inside our heads, with only a few making the transition into real life. A few made the transition into Frontier Teachers and Thunder Over the Prairie. I certainly hope they’re well received. A lot is riding on it.

The launch for the book Thunder Over the Prairie will be held in Dodge City on Friday, June 5 at the Dodge City Library and Saturday, June 6 at the Long Branch Saloon in Dodge. I’ll be sending invitations out in March. If you’re a regular visitor to the site and would like to be a part of the festivities, drop me a line and you’ll be added to the guest list. I guess it seems a little silly to be planning a book launch so far in advance, but I want to do everything I can to make this title a success. I have three other books behind this one that are coming out, but I hope Thunder opens new doors. I’m at a crossroads professionally and still trying to catch my breath over the tragedy in my personal life. I should have been a lawyer maybe things would be different. I good lawyer. With the exception of my brother-in-law, I don’t think there are too many of those. I read a newspaper article yesterday about fifteen women who were hired by the University of Illinois to smell pig manure so that researchers can find out what makes pig manure smell so bad. You know who I feel sorry for? The women who applied for that job and got turned down. Guess I’ll stick with the writing.

Lord Byron once wrote about marriage, “Wishing each other, not divorced, but dead; They lived respectably as man and wife.” I can’t help but think about Bill Cody when I read that. I’ve been working on a book about his life and loves and the difficulties he had with this marriage. He wasn’t faithful, but his wife did try to poison him. An act like that is bound to push you into the arms of someone else. According to the transcripts from the Cody’s divorce proceedings William told the court, “We have had trouble off and on during all our married life, first, beginning about two months after we were married.” Two months?! Louisa fought divorce and they were miserable. She liked the money he made however. I guess it bought her the type of misery she could live with. I know women like that. Most of the women in my family married for money, but not a lot of money. You can’t go to a reading of a will in my family without someone asking, “Who’s getting’ the tools? I’m back on the road Monday doing various book signings in the Sacramento area. Don’t think I’ll go in costume this week. The petticoats are too hot to wear. The plains had to be littered with petticoats from women making their way west. I base all my fashion decisions on what clothing is least itchy. Pioneer women didn’t have that luxury. Back to Bill and one story that can’t possible end with “and they lived happily ever after.”

There are many moments in American history to be proud of and remember often. I’ve had the pleasure of being able to write about some of those moments. The graduation of the first woman from medical school, the rescue of the Donner Party, the opening of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show. Those were truly proud, unforgettable moments. There were some disappointing moments in the Old West as well. I’m working on a proposal about the Sand Creek Massacre right now and the brutal way in which the American Indian was treated. Hundreds of men, women and children were slaughtered by a lunatic dressed in an army uniform. Not the country’s finest moment. But it is a sad fact of history and should not be ignored or watered down because it’s distasteful. I hope I get the chance to write a book on the tragic event that occurred in Colorado in 1864. I continue to work on the book about Bill Cody’s life and loves and about my brother’s ordeal. I can’t forget him and I can’t forgive myself for convincing him to take a plea. I just want to make it right.

The “Coming Soon” attractions on this site has been updated. I’m pleased with the trailer for Thunder Over the Prairie. The promotional idea came from the most recent edition of the Author’s Guild. It’s a new way of getting the word out about a new release. Hope it’s effective. Visitors to the site can let me know what they think of the trailer via email at gvcenss@aol.com. The men and women at the medical museum where I spoke this week were great. I was very nervous because the audience was made up of healthcare professionals and I wanted to make sure I got all the facts straight that were in the book The Doctor Wore Petticoats. Everyone seemed quite interested in the material and I was invited to submit an article to the medical magazine USC publishes. Wish I had the time to contribute, but I’m swamped with the Buffalo Bill Cody book, writing The Deadliest Accusation, promoting the Frontier Teachers book due out next month and the children’s book being released in December. During my lunch hour today I worked on press releases for a book that’s due out in June of 2009. 2009! There’s too much going on. My life seems to be running me. I started doing a hundred and one things shortly after my brother was hurt. I kept myself over scheduled to keep me from thinking about all the bad. Now I don’t know how to stop. I’d love to be on a beach somewhere with nothing on my mind but better times, the view of the surf and an impossible blue sky. If things don’t go as well as I hope for Thunder Over the Prairie I am going to consider another line of work. Maybe I’ll move to a ranch in Montana and ride off into the sunset. Of course I’d have to learn how to ride?.

Shirley Worley died this week. She was a delightful human being and my aunt. I spent a lot of time at her house when I was a little girl. I remember her as a kind lady with a big heart. She was always ready with a smile and a hug. I didn’t see much of her after my biological father ran out on my brothers and I and that’s unfortunate. Not too long ago I became reacquainted with her and enjoyed speaking with her on the phone from time to time. I’m sorry she’s gone and sorry for her daughters. She’ll be missed. On the business front, new postcards announcing the upcoming release of the book Frontier Teachers were sent out last week. Some of postcards have arrived at the homes and businesses of readers who have been added to the mailing list. The book celebrates the schoolmarms of the Old West and their dedication to education in harsh, unsettled territories west of the Mississippi. David Sanchez, President of the California Teacher’s Association wrote the foreword for the book.
I got a look at the trailer graphic artist, Jeff Galpin made up for Thunder Over the Prairie. He did a great job. I can’t wait to get it on the website and out to my publisher. Thunder Over the Prairie will ride into bookstores in June 2009. The cover art for the book The Deadliest Accusation is reaching the final stages of design. It’s taken some time to complete the manuscript because the subject matter is so difficult. Hope it makes a difference.

While reading through the transcripts of Buffalo Bill Cody’s divorce records I found an interesting quote from his wife. “I still love my husband just as I always did,” she told the press. “We were always happy until he went into show business, and met other people – other women. I always hoped he would settle down with me someday at our home in North Platte.” I find it interesting that she could make such a statement after accusing him of a variety of vile acts. What was it about him that she loved? She was an extremely jealous woman. She was most particularly jealous of his sisters. Her drive to destroy him for not making her his whole world is reminiscent of Gene Tierney’s character in the movie Leave Her to Heaven. Leave Her to Heaven is a chilling film. If I hadn’t have seen with my own eyes the length some people will go to possess another human being and/or bring them down in the process, the movie would not have scared me so. It’s on to chapter seven now.

I’ve been digging through mounds of paperwork from Buffalo Bill Cody’s divorce hearing. His wife accused him of a variety of horrible things, most of which were not true. Some of the accusation were so heinous that had they been made in this day and age, Cody would have been jailed. The subject matter is all too familiar to me and I thought about my brother, Rick. Just as those same old demons threatened to rear their ugly head and pull me down to the depths of sadness again I heard a song that snapped me out of it. Like a voice from heaven the lyrics of the song “Held” by Natalie Grant pricked my soul. “This hand is bitterness. We want to taste it and let the hatred numb our sorrows. The wise hand opens slowly to lilies of the valley and tomorrow. This is what it means to be held, how it feels, when the sacred is torn from your life and you survive. This is what it is to be loved and to know that the promise was that when everything fell we’d be held.” When everything falls we are held by a Creator who cares deeply for His children. I’ve been thinking about that song and the message within all day as I worked on chapter six of Cody’s story. It’s made a difference.