Western Writers of America Convention

Looks like I'll be heading to St. Louis, MO, on June 19 and 20 for the WWA annual convention. Nothing like a 12-hour drive to remind you of long-gone rodeo days, right? The convention runs from June 17-20, but I'll only be able to attend Friday and Saturday.

Not sure what all I will have on tap for there, but following a conversation with fellow authors Reavis Wortham and John Gilstrap at Bouchercon in New Orleans in the fall, I think I'll be pushing pretty hard to find an agent. In discussing future projects one evening, they convinced me that should be my next step.

Been a long time since I've been to St. Louis. Last time was on a trip to Chicago for a rodeo. One of the crew was really bad about sleeping the whole way on trips, not taking his turn as driver or as the "driver alert system" in the passenger seat. So, when we gassed up in St. Louis and he was very sound asleep in the camper, we gently lifted him out and laid him out on the top of a gas pump, where he continued to snore contentedly...until we drove off and left him there. In mirrors, we saw him wake up and look frantically around for us.

Did I forget to mention that he was in his tighty-whiteys only?

Before someone called the cops, we circled around the truck stop and pulled up beside the pump. He jumped in and off we went. Lesson learned?

Not really. He stayed awake for about 30 minutes of his two-hour driver alert system shift before falling asleep, with only his snoring to keep the driver awake. Wish me better luck than that.