February 11 2003
Tough one yesterday. Had one of our stalwart writers threaten to leave. Most of the problems stemmed from previous staff, but still, it was disheartening to hear. Did as much damage control as I could. Hope he stays.

Bob Brink and R.G. came in my office and closed the door and wanted to talk to me about something of a “sensitive” nature. They are concerned about my usage of swear words in the journal entries. R.G. told of an advertiser who didn’t want him to send a December issue because it used the word “hell” on the cover. It’s true, I know my mom winced when she saw it. R.G’s point is: we wouldn’t run these words in the magazine, so why would we run them on the website. Good point, although it is the way I talk and think. Anyway, expect asterisks in the future.

Bonnie Bell from Thompson came by the office with her husband and a friend. Bonnie’s father was my grandpa’s brother. She really has the Bell look (made me homesick for lutafisk land). Fun comparing notes and catching up on all things Iowa.

Took Carole to lunch at House of Joy ($14 cash). Good talk about changes in office and business. Her role is changing and I’m excited about utillizing her many talents in a new and dynamic way.

Only got one piece of art done. Need to finish Classic Gunfights by tomorrow.

Totally redesignd the travel cover. Over the weekend Kathy, Deena and I stopped at the new ice cream, espresso place that used to be Jim’s full serve gas station. As we were waiting for our order, I saw a New York Times Travel section on a counter and it just clicked: this is what Kable (our newsstand distributor) wants. The Travel head was large and their logo was underneath, much smaller. Took this info into Monday’s session with R.G., Robert Ray, Bob Brink and Meghan. We all agreed it needed to be reversed, or changed out, but what to call it. Robert Ray said, “It really wants to be Renegade Roads.” And so it is. I called Daniel and he whipped out a new version and E-mailed it back. We are going to put Billy the Kid, Wyatt Earp, Custer, Geronimo and Wild Bill in the clouds. The only thing we lost is the brand name of True West being the dominant image, which is significant, but I think it’s a smart trade-off. We’ll soon see.

“You can analyze the past but you have to design the future.”
—Edward de Bono