July 18, 2003
Cooler yesterday. Wants to rain. Trying to line my ducks up for a driving marathon today (leaving at 5 AM) for Lincoln, New Mexico. Took the Ranger back to Tobias in the morning (Thursday) to get the heat-o-stat or something fixed. Also got a tire that’s about to go. Walked to work again, felt good.

Worked for two hours on historically accurate Westerns. Got eight or nine written up, including The Long Riders, Little Big Man, Silverado, The Passing of the Oklahoma Outlaws, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, The Wild Bunch and Heaven’s Gate. If you’re wondering (like I would be) why some of those even qualified as being accurate about anything, you’ll have to read the article.

Argued over the Vera cover. Too cluttered. Pulled off several items, looked better, tweaked a headline or two, still not completely there. I don’t think Daniel is going to like the changes, but here we go. Told Robert to PDF it down to Dan for his approval.

Went to lunch with Carole at Pei Wei ($9 cash). Fun, as always.

Had a good phone conversation with Jeb Rosebrook (he wrote “Junior Bonner”). He had good advice for the meeting with the network. I’m torn between giving them too much and not enough. He clarified for me they wouldn’t have requested us to fly to New York unless it was a “working meeting.” Funny how that clarification opened up the possibilities. Ordered a script writing software program ($150, my biz account). Want to rough in the pilot (listen to me! The next thing you know I’ll be talking points and taking meetings).

Went down and got my coumadin pro-time workup score (1.5: the guy shook his head, saying, “Man you got thick blood!” And I thought, “Not half as thick as my skull.”). Also picked up two boxes of my books (sold out in Willcox) for my trip to New Mexico. Picked up truck ($230 my biz account).

As I expected, Daniel called and he disagrees with the changes. Wants to put type out in the painting field. My logic is, why have a color bar going down the left side as a compartment to contain type if you’re not going to use it? He still disagreed. He’s so stubborn—and so am I. Finally told him to keep it within the boundaries of the red zone. I think it’s the right call, but I felt bad. I always want to give artists their head whenever possible. Besides, I’ve been known to be wrong, every now and then.

Got a phone call from one of my hosts in New Mexico saying one of the fires over there is threatening their cabin and they may not be able to get in there, much less have me spend the night with them. Worrisome. There must be five or six fires in the general area. Really a modern phenom. I don’t remember this degree of fires when I was growing up, do you?

Took a meeting with Annie Bianco (see Colt ad back cover, current issue). She is, well, she’s persuasive. Plus, we argued points on the back end.

Just kidding.

“To know is nothing at all; to imagine is everything.”
—Anatole France