It’s time for another group posting of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group! Time to release our fears to the world – or offer encouragement to those who are feeling neurotic. If you’d like to join us, click on the tab above and sign up. We post the first Wednesday of every month. I encourage everyone to visit at least a dozen new blogs and leave a comment. Your words might be the encouragement someone needs.
The awesome co-hosts for the February 4 posting of the IWSG are J Lenni Dorner, Victoria Marie Lees, and Sandra Cox!
February 4 question - Many writers have written about the experience of rereading their work years later. Have you reread any of your early works? What was that experience like for you?
A few years after my first book (CassaStar) was published, I was given the opportunity to go back through it to make edits. I was surprised at the difference between that and the third book which had just been published. I could see my growth as a writer. It was also very odd to read something I had written!
How about you?
Movie News
Actress Catherine O’Hara passed away last week at the age of seventy-one.
Season four will be the final one for House of the Dragon. I’ll miss watching the train wreck as horrible people do horrible things to other horrible people…
A two-part documentary is coming to HBO - Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man. Such a long and great career! Blazing Saddles is still one of my favorite comedies.
And if you haven’t seen it, here is the trailer for Christopher Nolan’s next masterpiece, The Odyssey.
February Movie Preview
Here are the theatrical releases for February. Descriptions courtesy of the IMDB. Snark provided by me.
6 –
Dracula
Director - Luc Besson
Stars - Caleb Landry Jones, Christoph Waltz, Zoë Bleuv When a 15th-century prince denounces God after the loss of his wife he inherits an eternal curse: he becomes Dracula. Condemned to wander the centuries, he defies fate and death, guided by a single hope - to be reunited with his lost love.
If it’s anything like Valerian, he should just call it Dracula Sucks and save us the time…
13 –
Cold Storage
Director – Jonny Campbell
Stars – Joe Keery, Georgina Campbell, Liam Neeson
When a highly dangerous fungus escapes from a secret laboratory, a former bioterrorism agent is called back into action. Alongside two young employees, he must confront an invisible and out-of-control threat.
Steve from Stranger Things still fighting monsters. Really want this to be fun!
20 –
How to Make a Killing
Director – John Patton Ford
Stars – Glen Powell, Margaret Qualley, Ed Harris
Disowned at birth by his obscenely wealthy family, blue-collar Becket Redfellow will stop at nothing to reclaim his inheritance, no matter how many relatives stand in his way.
Glen Powell trying to set a record for most movie and television appearances in a year…
27 –
Scream 7
Director – Kevin Williamson
Stars – Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, Isabel May
When a new Ghostface killer emerges in the town where Sidney Prescott has built a new life, her darkest fears are realized as her daughter becomes the next target.
I didn’t know someone could scream for this long…
Have you reread your older stories? What’s your favorite Mel Brooks movie? And what movies will you watch this month?
Oh wow! Is Mel Brooks really 99 years old? Jeez...that makes me feel old now...
ReplyDeleteFirst Frankenstein, now Dracula? Ha ha!
ReplyDelete"I’ll miss watching the train wreck as horrible people do horrible things to other horrible people…" This is so true. I'll miss it too!
Scream 7, cool. It's great to see progress as a writer. Good prompt this month.
ReplyDeleteIt's great that you were able to revise your first book. Not all publishers allow this, but you have a great one.
ReplyDeleteI'm not the greatest fan of Mel Brooks. *shrugs* But that's alright -- we all have our tastes. That's what makes hte world go round, eh?
ReplyDeleteI hear you on revisiting an old work. It's incredible how much we can grow just over the course of a couple novels, eh?
Catherine O' Hara will forever live on in my heart. One of the best movie-moms. My mom watched Home Alone when she was a kid and I too watched it as a kid. It's a family tradition on every Christmas though no I've never thought of it as that. It'll be on TV and we'll watch.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how long they'll keep SCREAMing.
Happy February!
I laughed out loud at your comment about Scream 7! :)
ReplyDeleteRenee, I know!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Natalie.
I'm definitely not a fan of reading my older books, no. Actually, not a fan of reading any of my books! I always want to change things.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great question. I'm sorry to miss it! Your movie reviews--love them as always. Didn't know Odyssey was turned into a movie. I'm intrigued.
ReplyDeleteSeeing your growth as a writer must have be incredibility satisfying.
ReplyDeleteSeeing the difference in my writing throughout my series was interesting for me too. It turns out we do get better over the years even if it doesn't always feel like it in the present. :D
ReplyDeleteOne time I was outside a restaurant and there was a review posted on a bulletin board. Halfway through reading it, I realized the writing sounded familiar. I'd written it several years early. That was when I felt really weird reading what I had written!
ReplyDeleteSo awesome that you could see your growth as a writer as you read through your books. I didn't realize Mel Brooks was that old!
ReplyDeleteMy favourite Mel Brooks movie is "Young Frankenstein". It's great to know Mel Brooks has lived so long of a life! He's a genius at comedy!
ReplyDeleteThe Odyssey trailing looks interesting! I love that story. I do go back and reread my stuff, in fact, I'm revising my very first manuscript right now. What I find is that it's like reading someone else's book. I finally have the distance to see mistakes, etc., that I usually can't see right after I finish it.
ReplyDeleteEven when I do readings from my latest books I tend to edit as I go. I very much want to re-edit my first two books, but I'm not sure I want that pain. Nor am I sure I'd know where to stop.
ReplyDeleteThat must've been edifying to see your growth as a writer when you edited your debut novel. What sadness to hear Catherine O'Hara had died. Best in Show is one of the funniest movies I've seen!
ReplyDeleteI'm amused by my early writing--so many run on sentences. 😁
ReplyDeleteMy earliest writing is so melodramatic! @samanthabwriter from
ReplyDeleteBalancing Act
It is sure odd to read what I had written in the past. Sometimes, it feels as it was written by someone else.
ReplyDeleteThis weekend my wife and I went to the movie theater for the first time in about 20 years. I enjoyed the movie we watched and the theater experience was kind of cool, but I'd still rather watch at home.
ReplyDeleteLee
Thanks for the movie trailers! We don't subscribe to HBO, so I'll miss Mel Brooks' tribute. And, while the Odyssey looks grim, my husband and I must go see the epic tale made into film -
ReplyDeleteIt's kinda fun to get sucked back into something I wrote. But that's usually when I'm editing and just trying to figure out where to go from here.
ReplyDeleteAnother Glen Powell movie? Wow, he seems to be in everything lately.
And CassaStar is much stronger now thanks to those edits.
ReplyDeleteMel Brooks has had a really full life.
Oh, wow! Mel Brooks looks good! I remember Blazing Saddles. The beans around the campfire scene is a classic. LOL
ReplyDeleteIt feels like it's been a bad period for movies; at least movies I want to see, anyway.
ReplyDeleteI love all of Mel Brooks' movies, but my 12-year old self has to go with Spaceballs as my favourite. :-)
I agree, Alex. I love Mel Brooks' work, too. I'll need to watch the documentary. Oh and by the way, we ALL grow as writers. Good for us! Even if we are "Insecure Writers" at heart. Thanks for all you do for IWSG.
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteReading something that I wrote years ago amazes me because I see the maturity in my writing. So, I understand your amazement.
Shalom shalom
My favourite Mel Brooks movie is Young Frankenstein. Great that he's still going strong. It's great that your publisher offered you the chance of another edition (not all would) and impressive that you had sharp growth over the series.
ReplyDeleteOh, my. So many things to look forward to this year. Exciting!
ReplyDeleteI loved watching Catherine O'Hara. So sorry to hear about her death. As to Mel Brooks...he's like the Energizer Bunny. Such a force of nature.
ReplyDeleteYou know, it was doing my later book that I realized I should reread my old book, too. Lots of movie news, though I don't think I'll be watching any of the upcoming releases.
ReplyDeleteMel Brooks -what an inspiration! I didn't know he's 99. May he live to be 2,000. Thank you, Alex.
ReplyDeleteMay you be well.
They’re still making Scream movies?
ReplyDeleteReading my older works tend to shock me sometimes. So much that I want to build a time machine and ask past self WTH were you thinking.
ReplyDeleteThey're still making Scream movies? I saw there was a TV series too.
Still waiting and counting down to the new Marvel Doomsday movie in December.
So fun co-hosting this month!
ReplyDeleteTIL that most writers dislike their early works.
I also learned that Substack isn't open for comments from people without an account. 🤷
I liked "Robots," though probably not a popular Mel Brooks answer. It wasn't a very popular animated film. But I like it.
"A good book gets better at the second reading. A great book at the third." — Tyler DeVries
J (he/him 👨🏽 or 🧑🏽 they/them) @JLenniDorner ~ Speculative Fiction & Reference Author and Co-host of the April Blogging #AtoZChallenge international blog hop