It's been long enough, but my excuse is I've been on the road, doing book tour and then back briefly and on the road with my brother taking a vacation drive from East Texas to New Mexico to Colorado to the Buffalo Bill grave and museum on Lookout Mountain, then up to the top of Wyoming, and over into Montana to visit the Custer Battlefield. After that, over to Yellowstone, and then back through Wyoming to Deadwood, South Dakota to see Wild Bill Hickock's grave and death site, and then down through Nebraska and Kansas and Oklahoma and back to Texas. All of this is about seven days time. We weren't wasting any time as my brother had to be back. Actually, I was at home on the eighth day after staying with him the next day at his place. We were stopped by a cop in North Platte, Nebraska who seemed to have been given an award as Chief Moron. We pulled out of a filling station and forgot to turn on the car lights, and were pulled over. He decided for no reason we could determine, that we were drinking or on pills or had stolen the car. And though I showed him papers and license and insurance he still had me say the alphabet and then complained that the T sounded like a D, as if this proved me drunk. As I told him "I'm from EAst Texas. I have an accent." I had to follow the tip of a pin with my eyes without moving my head, and then when that was finished that he was determined to do it again, and I finally said, "Give me a breathalyzer, which he didn't do, and then asked me if I had restrictions. I said, "You got my license. Do you see any?" "thought you had trouble reading the insurance card." "I did. I use glasses for reading, from Wal-Mart, but I don't have restrictions. Check the license." Anyway, Barney Fife went at it for about thirty minutes or more before finally giving me a 55 dollar ticket and sending us on our way. My brother, worn out and having a bit of trouble with his diabetes, tried to get out of the car--not a good idea--and Barney dropped down like he was going to draw. I understood the mistake, but this guy really should get Jackass Of The Year. It was like a comedy skit.
Working on the new Hap and Leonard book, titled now, DEVIL READ, and hope to have it finished well before the end of the year, as I've worked on it off and on all year along with a variety of other projects, including screenplays and comics. So, excuse my tardiness. I'm going to try and pick up my blogging, but sometimes I think I may just not be the guy for this stuff. I prefer to work and do my day to day business and visit in person. I'm gregarious enough, and structured in so many ways that the stucture of a blog wears me out. But, hey, I'm trying.