December 3, 2004
Well, thanks to all of you reading this, I made it with two hours to spare. Started off this morning staring at nine copy holes. Really kind of nervous and anxious about it, pictured myself writing in here how I failed royally, so I knuckled down and finished the first chapter on the death of Johnny Ringo at nine, then the second one on the Bisbee stage robbery and Virgil Earp shooting at McMasters fell at ten. Whipped out the O.K. Corral fight by about 11:15 (this is one I could write in my sleep), and the Spicer Hearing by 11:30, broke for lunch (Carole brought in Pei Wei salads and iced tea, she bought), got back on it at 12:30, finished Gray's Ranch by one, Curly Bill vs. that Lincoln County Son of a Bitch Jim Wallace at 1:40 and Easy Virtue Meets the Long Arms of the Law at 2:20. Feels great. It's amazing what you can do when you have to. There is no way I could have done any of this without the $100 hanging over my head. It's very stressful, but quite effective. I often tell people that if I had no deadlines, I would still be working on my first book. Ha. Too true. Not even an exaggeration.

Went into Carol's office and told her to give me back $50 and to take the remaining $50 and treat the staff to a party (Abbey wants to go bowling, Gus suggested buying some crack).

Had time to work on ten new True West Moment bumpers for the Westerns Channel. Jeff Hildebrandt is flying in next Wednesday and we're filming out at Pioneer Living History Museum. Going to do something on saloon fare (inspired by Sherry Monihan's new book, which is coming out next year and she sent me the introduction), stagecoach stunts, fanning, Old West credit, buffalo chip fires, disguises (outlaws wore many disguises besides the cliche of the bandana pulled up over the nose), lawyers, beans and money (actually credit). Going to be fun.

Jeff, the sound guy, told me about a new earpiece deal where you tape your comments beforehand then replay them back in your ear, as you are filming and it acts as a teleprompter with you actually speaking on a slight delay. I looked up the unit online and it’s $267. If only I hadn't tipped that damn bartender so much, I could afford it!

Tom Russell has played the David Letterman show twice this year. When he told me I got really excited because I'm a huge Letterman fan, and I asked him that was like and he said, "Cold." Evidently Dave insists on the Ed Sullivan theater being quite cool (sweat glands? I don’t know). He also said Letterman has a big ranch up in Montana. Tom also said Dave's very into the Western deal and could recite Russell's entire songlist on his CD (something Tom said he couldn't even do). Interesting, eh? David Letterman rides the range. Hmmmmm.

"Authenticity is the true mother of my fame."
—Jimmy Buffet