When I'm not getting anywhere with my writing, Becky tells me to go to a movie, or go for a drive. Instead, today, I decided to sort through all my old concert and sporting-event tickets stubs, and share them with you here. Lucky you, huh?

This isn't everything I ever attended, just what I have stubs for. I tried to put them in chronological order. All you Texans, look through here and see if we were ever at the same event together....

1979
Boston
Rush

1980
The Kinks
Sammy Hagar
Summer Jam '80 (Black Sabbath, Riot, and others)

1982
Foreigner
The Kinks

1983
Robert Plant
AC/DC

1984
The Cars

1986
Van Halen
Dallas Cowboys v. Raiders
Greater Tuna
John Conlee

1987
Pink Floyd
UT (baseball) v. UT Arlington
Tom Petty
George Strait
The Cars

1988
Astros v. Pittsburgh
UT (football) v. Arkansas
George Strait

1989
Houston Oilers v. Miami Dolphins
Rice v. TCU (football)
Leonard v. Hearns (closed circuit)

1992
The Geezinslaws
Garth Brooks

1994
Johnny Cash
World Cup (soccer)--5 games in Dallas

1995
Lyle Lovett
Hal Ketchum
Merle Haggard
Dallas Cowboys v. NY Giants

1996
Chavez v. De La Hoya (closed circuit)

1997
Lyle Lovett

2001
Lee Ann Womack at Star of Texas Rodeo
Red White & Tuna

2002
UT football v. Iowa State
The Tale of the Allergist's Wife (in NYC)

2004
Simon and Garfunkel
UT baseball regional tournament
UT baseball super-regional tournament

2005
UT baseball v. Texas A&M Corpus Christi

2006
UT football v. Nebraska

2007
UT baseball v. Missouri
UT baseball v. U. of San Diego

Unknown date:
Johnny Dee and the Rocket 88's

Some other events I attended, for which I don't have stubs:
Judas Priest
ZZ Top (twice)
Lots of other UT baseball games
Ray Price
Blue Oyster Cult
Lots of other boxing matches on closed circuit
Several NASL games, mostly the Tampa Bay Rowdies
A Tuna Christmas
The Firm
Willie Nelson
Jesus Chavez versus that guy with the really long name

I'm sure there are many others, but I can't remember them right now.

And yes, I'm man enough to admit the following: The first concert I ever went to--with my mother, no less--was The Captain and Tennille, back in 1976. Muskrat love indeed.

Got any favorite concert memories?

Joe asked some questions, and I knew my reply would be long enough to make it a post, so here goes...

Joe said:

Say you write from the heart and the book isn't as successful as the previous books. Do you hammer on or do you go back to what you had success with? Not necessarily where you want to be, but maybe back to what your readers want.

Follow up question - Do your readers have an impact on what you do? I personally run bar ditch to bar ditch on the books I read. Sci-fi to Blanco county mysteries, politics to shoot-em ups, so I guess I am not a good barometer, but I do hate to stay in a rut. I know what I like but am not afraid to try new authors or genres or authors who try new genres.

How about a kids book? I know you have one in there somewhere.

My answer:

Joe, regarding the first part, the answer is an emphatic "I don't know." Depends on how Holy Moly does when it's released next year. Also depends on what Gun Shy does as a paperback, assuming there is one (which isn't always a given). I wrote the Blanco books from the heart, and they earned me a spot in midlist, with a gajillion other authors. I’m not complaining. I’m happy to have done what I’ve done. But, it’s only natural to want more. More readers, that is. Might be unrealistic, based on the last post I made. Timing can also make this business tricky. For example, what if Holy Moly sold like crazy next year, and it would make sense to do another Blanco book? In the meantime, though, say I’ve been writing something else. Then I’d have to scramble to write another Blanco book, or wait to years between Blanco books, with the other standalone in between. Not ideal, but it could happen.

Regarding the second part, absolutely, readers have an impact on what I do. If my Blanco books had twice the readership they have (or, better, ten times), I’d be happy to write dozens of them. I think what a lot of authors would do in my situation--or, at least, it’s what I’m doing--is to come up with a handful of ideas that I’d genuinely enjoy writing. Then write the one that has the potential to draw the widest readership. This all sounds so crass, talking about sales, but nobody can deny the fact that publishing is a business, and sales matter. Authors get dropped every day--or they decide to try something new on their own--based solely on sales numbers.

Regarding a kid’s book: Maybe, someday, but not yet. No ideas for children’s books have popped into my head. But if one did, and it was compelling and unique enough, sure, I’d write it.

This bit of news was making rounds today....

"One in four adults read no books at all in the past year, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll released Tuesday. Of those who did read, women and older people were most avid, and religious works and popular fiction were the top choices.

The survey reveals a nation whose book readers, on the whole, can hardly be called ravenous. The typical person claimed to have read four books in the last year — half read more and half read fewer. Excluding those who hadn't read any, the usual number read was seven."

If you read four books a year, which is one every three months, and assuming a book is 300 pages, that's 3.3 pages a day. How long does that take? Five minutes? People spend more time on their hair. Or on the toilet. Or talking about how little people read nowadays.

If you told someone they could only spend five minutes on their cellphone every day, they'd go berserk.

It’s amazing how I keep going back and forth on the various ideas I have for my next book. I have to admit, it was easier when I was simply trying to come up with another Blanco book, because that “universe” was already created. All I had to do was come up with the action.

Now I’m looking at a blank slate, and that’s liberating, but also intimidating. I have plenty of ideas, that’s not the problem. The problem is settling on one. I get excited about one, decide that it’s definitely the way to go, then completely change my mind by the end of the day. It’s happened with all of the ideas. I’m fickle.

People say you’re supposed to write what you want to write, without worrying if it will meet market demands. Just ignore what the market is doing. Yeah, good luck with that. How can you not notice that big thrillers are doing gangbusters right now, and have been doing well for several years, and they appear to be the trend for the next few years at least. Could I write a thriller? Yes. Is it what I WANT to write? Good question. I’d say it’s ONE of the things I’d like to write. Maybe not my top pick. When it comes down to it, I like to write humor. Sure, a thriller can have humor in it, but I’m talking about humor a la the Blanco books. I wouldn’t call them thrillers, nor can I think of any thriller written with that level of humor. In my mind, Evanovich and Hiaasen don’t write thrillers, unless you expand the definition to the point where it’s almost meaningless.

A wise people recently advised me to write with my heart, not my head. I think, instead, I’m going to write with my pancreas.

I haven’t been too active on this blog lately, mostly because I’ve been trying to figure out what to write next. I haven’t figured it out for sure yet, but I can share this with you: it’s going to be something outside of the Blanco County series.

Here’s the reality of the situation: Every author out there--at least, all the ones I know--want to reach as wide an audience as possible. I’m no different. I need to keep growing my audience, and sometimes the only way to do that is to try something new.

The Blanco books have been a blast to write, and maybe I’ll return to them someday. There’s no way to know for certain. But, like 95% of the books out there, they weren’t setting the world on fire in terms of sales. They did okay, I guess, but nothing to brag about. My publisher made an offer for the next one, but I decided it was time to move on.

So...what am I going to write? That’s the question, isn’t it? I’ve started three manuscripts--all of them wildly different--and I keep vacillating between them. They all have elements that I like, and I would enjoy writing any of them.

One thing you hear a lot on this business is that you should concentrate on writing a “big book.” Took me a while to figure out what that meant, but, in general, it means there is a lot at stake for everyone involved in the story, and it generally takes places on a large stage (geographically speaking), with a fairly broad cast of characters, usually in third-person voice. Sounds like Gun Shy, doesn’t it?

Regardless, I’m not necessarily sold on the idea that you have to write a big book to leap to the next level of sales. I see plenty of “small” stories that sell well every day. Then again, the thrillers that make the bestseller lists always seem to involve FBI and CIA agents, terrorists, spies, and the like. People are always hopping all over the globe and unlocking conspiracies.

On the other hand, when I think of some of my favorite authors--Hiaasen, Leonard, Robert Parker, etc--I don’t think of their stories as “big.” Some are bigger than others, but for the most part, I don’t think they qualify as big. Of course, they can write whatever they’d like at this point. They were groundbreaking in their work, and maybe that’s what set them apart.

It’s a tough business, and I appreciate every single one of my readers.

PS: All of the above will be moot if everyone reading this runs out and buys 20 copies of Gun Shy.

PPS: When I say “next” book, I’m talking about the one that will come out after Holy Moly, which IS a Blanco book and will be released next year.