Last week at this time I was manning an author’s table at Art of the Cowgirl in Queen Creek, Arizona. The night before I was in Prescott. I’d been invited to give a presentation at the Western Heritage Center and it was a wonderful experience. In addition to meeting my dear friends Kat and Larry Martin at the event and staying the night at their place, I had an opportunity to meet some of the most kind and generous people at the museum. Prior to giving lectures about women of the American frontier, I was a standup comic. I worked my way through college doing standup at a strip club. Don’t ask me why they needed a comic at a strip club. I have no idea who thought that would work. But it did. Not a night went by that I didn’t hear, “Hey, get those naked women off the stage and bring up a comedian.” And then I would come out.
The good people of Prescott allowed me to work a few bits of comedy into my talk about the Old West. It was a grand time and I was grateful for the opportunity. True West magazine’s senior editor Stuart Rosebrook was instrumental in gaining the Western Heritage Center invite. Rosebrook is one of those people I count on for sound advice when it comes to the subject matters I tackle in the books I write. Had it not been for him I probably wouldn’t have written According to Kate: The Legendary Life of Big Nose Kate, Love of Doc Holliday nor would I have agreed to write Zoe Tilghman’s tale. There are a lot of so-called historians out there who don’t want you to write on certain subjects and they aren’t shy about letting you know. I wish everyone had someone in their corner like Stuart Rosebrook. And I wish everyone could travel to Prescott and meet the fine people who support the Western Heritage Center. What a time I had!
