March 29th, 2010

I drove to historic Woodland, CA. on Saturday to give a presentation to the Friends of the Library organization. March is Women’s History Month and it was a great pleasure to share stories about some of the inspiring ladies of the Old West. The unfortunate part of the event was the news the prestigious library where the presentation took place is in danger of being closed. The economic climate isn’t good and because of that many public libraries share the same potential fate. A sad fate. It’s the one place in any county where you are given the chance to borrow wisdom, history, mysteries, human interest tales, with simply the promise to bring the book back when you’re done. Flann O’Brien author of The Best of Myles once said, “Those dreadful detective stories. Another corpse in the library this evening. Really, you know, too much of a good thing. Fourth this week. No doubt trouble is shortage of libraries.” There was an article published about some of my books in True West magazine this month. I thought it might help drive more folks to the site. It hasn’t. I’ve produced two new ads for You Tube and this site. I look to launching those in early April. A good portion of what I have to do during the day is sales and I need to do better at it. I enjoy writing, but would enjoy it more if I knew the books are being read. Doesn’t seem like I’m going to be able to county on public libraries for too much longer. I’m back to work on the Libbie Custer book today. I need to go back and recheck my facts. My recent visit to Montana was important in many ways, but in particular for the specific dates of the events that happened in her life. Just want to get all my facts straight. I’ll dive back into the PI case today I was handed prior to going to the Little Big Horn. I’m anxious to get back to work on that mystery. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention my brother Rick. I’ve promised him that his life would not be for nothing. If I might borrow a line from Shakespeare’s Henry V, “By this leek, I will most horribly revenge.” On this day in western history in 1887, cattle rustler and murderer Mannen Clements, was killed in a gunfight in the Senate Saloon in Ballinger, TX by city Marshall Joe Townsend. Mannen was John Wesley Hardin’s brother-in-law. With Hardin in your family you could just bet someone was going to be guned down.