Whenever I get stuck -

Whenever I get stuck on Mexican Red I do other writing projects. For instance, a children's story, tentatively titled, Penny and Drew, and Their Nearly Perfect Zoo.

Arlo 10

Arlo 9

Quote by Madeleine L'Engle

“You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.”
― Madeleine L'Engle

Western TV Shows

A listing of my top favorites:

Have Gun Will Travel
Gunsmoke - first three seasons
Maverick
Cheyenne
The Life and Times of Wyatt Earp
The Rifleman

Lesser favorites:

Wanted Dead or Alive
Rawhide
Tales of Wells Fargo
Bonanza
Branded

A mess of a show with a couple of great episodes

The Westerner

Western Stories

I love the novels and films that feature grit and determination. Some of my top favorites are

High Noon
The Outlaw Josie Wales
The Good the Bad and the Ugly
Jubal
3:10 to Yuma [original with Glenn Ford only]
Last Train to Gunn Hill
The Last Posse
Yellow Sky
MacKenna's Gold
The Ox-Bow Incident
The Cowboys
The Shootist
Rio Grande
Stagecoach [original only]
The Three Godfathers [John Wayne version]
Westward the Women
Tom Horn
Dances With Wolves

There are more.

I did not really love

The Magnificent Seven and its sequels
Once Upon a Time in the West
Shane
The Way West

A Listing of Top English Language Writers

Arlo 8

Arlo 7

I have to mention Kirk Douglas.

Aside from entertaining me over my entire lifetime, his thinking was remarkably similar to mine, though not as dark. I had forgotten his part in ending the Hollywood blacklist, generated from McCarthyism until reminded on a TV newscast. He hired Dalton Trumbo to work on Spartacus and boldly listed his name in the credits. Shortly after that, the list vanished. 

Vengeance Valley

I shouldn't knock other writers, particularly successful ones. However, I believe Luke Short wouldn't care too much about what I think. When I began work on Mexican Red, his Vengeance Valley was readily available in a used book store. I began to read it to get pointers on how to do the western novel. I recalled beginning it and not finishing it over 20 years prior. This time was different, as I needed that information. But I simply could not enjoy it enough to get any further than the first time. A few months later, I found it as a movie with Burt Lancaster and tried to watch that. Same result. However, I view this as a personal quirk since both book and movie are making the rounds after lots of years. It would be nice if I could have a fraction of that success.

Ulysses

The other three parts are on youtube. I suggest getting a hard copy and following the text as the voice reads.