So have you got all your shopping done? Me, either. And I can't just reach up on my stock shelves for another handful of our super warm, super cool Embarcadero pullovers (which, by the way, I give myself an exceptionally good price on) since everybody in my family already has one. Plus we're sold clear out on several colors/sizes thanks to all of you fine folks (thankyouthankyouthankyou!) but we do have some Larges left (seems most of my friends/fans/followers fall into either the pipsqueak or "Jeez, I gotta start me on a diet come January first" size categories. Go figure. But we do have a couple left, and if you get your order in right away I'll do my level best to get it to you for Christmas (or the tail end of Hanukkah,, take yer pick). We also have signed/personalized books (there are folks who've never read them), our famous garage prints, etc... Or, as some have done, you could buy your beloved a sponsorship in the new book. And it certainly offers more in real return value than those "name a star after somebody" ads I keep hearing on the radio. And yet some people must be doing it, because otherwise they wouldn't still be advertising, right? What was it P.T. Barnum said about "there's a sucker born every minute?"

(Actually, that may not be true. But he did say "every crowd has a silver lining," and that's almost as good). But I digress. The purpose of this little epistle is wish one and all a happy, healthy, worthwhile and wonderful holiday season (and on through all of next year, of course) and to likewise give thanks for what has been a pretty great year in 2014. I got to do a lot of fun stuff, won some writing awards, sold & signed a lot of books, spent time with some special people and special cars in special places and made a lot of new friends. You can't beat that. But now my travels are ended for awhile and, like all writers, it's time to spend a little solitary time with the keyboard and get that new book finished (see below).

Although, in contrast to the obviously posed shot of a rugged-looking Ernest Hemingway against a breathtaking, out-in-nature Idaho sky shown above, I tend to work in my skivvies and a four-day growth of stubble, and usually at 0 Dark Thirty in the morning when it's nice and quiet and my head hasn't filled up with the crud and crapola of everyday life yet again.

Plus, when you're doing historical fiction (at least if you're trying, even just slightly, to be semi-accurate) your desk winds up looking more like this: 

Just ask my wife!

But the point is that you won't be hearing from me for awhile, as I'll be pounding keys and looking things up rather than traveling all over the place to chase stories, cover races and drive other people's really nice cars.

Look for me to come out of hibernation around April (finished manuscript in hand, God willing) although I will keep you posted now and then as to how it's all going.

Which reminds me: we are indeed running the "Be (or name and designate) a character in the new book raffle" literary scam, and a surprisingly large number of folks have responded. Thank you all. If you'd like to get in on it and grab a chance on an appetizer-sized slice of immortality (or just want more information) please see below. If not, well, just remember that sad, lonely grave that the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come showed old Ebenezer Scrooge....