A Letter to my younger self

 October 19, 2024

   Taped a couple shows with Rob Word of A Word On Westerns this morning. His son is helping him and they have a state of the art 360 degree camera that takes in the entire room and they can cut all sorts of angles from the video with a tiny camera not much bigger than a thumb drive.

Rob Word, at right, and his techie son RJ

   There was only one problem, the camera overheated and RJ had to put the camera in the freezer for five minutes before we could continue. This happened twice.

   For every step forward, take two backward,

   Last night I got to visit with Barry Corbin, who lives in the Forth Worth area and who came in to the banquet, walked right over to where I was sitting, sat down and said, "I love your magazine. I read it cover to cover." Doesn't get much better than that!

BBB and Barry Corbin on the right

   The most exciting event of the past two days, was buying Kathy Sue a cowboy hat in the legendary Fort Worth Stockyards.

Kathy and Dustin with shovel front brims

   One of the aspects of my talk last night, was built around helping other writers. I decided to write a letter to my younger self. Here is the basic outline I used to riff on in my talk.

A Letter to My Younger Self

    Hey, you spoiled little half-Norwegian twit! Listen up. I know you think you know it all, but I am going to tell you what you need to know going forward.

• I want you to know that what you desire most is possible if you push against the old ways of thinking.

• Everything you want is on the other side of fear.

• Write every day, without hope, without despair.

• One of your vulnerabilities will become a strength.

• At some point you will need to jump off a cliff and figure it out on the way down.

• The pefect recipe for life is: something to do. Someone to love, something to hope for.

• If you ever retire be sure to get up at 6 and drive real slow making everyone late for work.

• If you can avoid it, do not play "Wipeout" at a band reunion practice on March 22, 2008.

• Forget the girls, find a hot, eighth grade school teacher who teaches math so you can have great sex and she can balance your checkbook.

• The greatest revenge is to not be like your enemies.

• If the magazine biz survives 2024 there will be a kegger in Cave Creek on me, and you are all invited.

• If you ever win a prestigious award be sure to compliment random people in the audience.

• "Nice hat, Rob!"

"Hey, Chris, great taste in cover art!"

—BBB

BBB Cover Art