Wednesday, August 2, 2017

The link tower

Been feeling a little blue recently. Jen had to leave my writing group, for personal reasons. She was easily the best friend I had made in two and a half years with the group. Going home, we'd ride the train together. That's how I learned she was a classic film fan. I've met her husband, I've gone to her parties, she came to my bookstore reading. I've even confided in her, on several occasions. I'm gonna miss her.

She and I were the group's moderators, along with this other girl named Claire (who is also terrific). All this year we've lost people who were regulars for months, even years. The group has been smaller, on average, as a result, so Claire and I decided we don't need to name a new moderator at the moment. Still, I kinda feel some added pressure. I did not expect to run the group for as long as I have; it was one of those situations where I took the job because someone had to do it, and I've done it to the best of my ability. 

Now that I'm closer to the end of the first draft of my novel, though, I'm thinking maybe I should switch to a smaller group of beta readers from that point on. I don't wanna run the group indefinitely, and with Jen officially gone, some of my motivation to do so went with her. I'll stick around for now, but I may be next out the door before too long.

The weather on the Fourth wasn't the greatest, so Sandi and me had dinner at this parkside restaurant near the East River and watched the fireworks from her place again. She actually has a great view of them. She kept oohing and aahing excitedly at every little display, as if she had never seen fireworks before. It was the most worked up I had ever seen any adult get over them in perhaps, ever! It was cute.

So chances are you might have heard about this new thing going around called the Classic Movie Marathon Link Party. From what I understand, it's kinda like my monthly link posts, only people get to host a "link party" on their blogs or some such. I'm not entirely sure I grok it all, but Paddy let me in on it, I submitted a post and it got accepted, so thanks to all involved. Nice to be on the receiving end for a change.

Your links:

Debbie reexamines the Disney/Lucas deal, five years later.

Paddy swoons for Errol Flynn as Don Juan.

The death of horror director George Romero prompts Jennifer to reflect on the summer she became a film fan.

I disagree with her assessment of War for the Planet of the Apes, but Jacqueline's story about going to the drive-in is still worth a look.

And then there was the time they encoded a movie onto living DNA.

Ava DuVernay's next film will be an adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time - for an important reason.

What does Christopher Nolan have against Netflix?

What was Romero's favorite film? (It's not what you think.)

Remember when Planet of the Apes was on TV?

Joan Crawford wrote a style book called My Way of Life.

4 comments:

  1. The transitional time with your writing group sounds difficult, but probably inevitable. I'm not one who adapt easily to change, but there's no fighting time. Relationships change, but that's not always a bad thing.

    After a few months, Elaine at the Classic Movie Treasures decided to end the classic movie party link. Apparently, we movie folks didn't get as into it as the recipe and decorating crowd. Sociologists take note.

    Thanks for the shout out for the post. I don't know when I've had as much fun choosing screencaps!

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  2. That's a bit surprising that the"link party" concept didn't take off. One of the first things I noticed about CMBA bloggers was their willingness to promote each other's work. Maybe they prefer to do it themselves instead of having someone do it for them? I dunno.

    As for the writing group, while what I do isn't stressful, I feel like it's my responsibility to keep the whole thing together for the benefit of those who are left, and that in itself feels like a bigger thing now than before because we've lost so many people this year. We used to be much more stable.

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