Hello again!

Back with a fresh Alphabet Post! Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and New Year. Somehow, the two to three week winter break I’d planned became an almost six week-long hiatus. Time flies when you’re up to your neck in work!

I wasn’t sure what to call this particular “Alphabet Post”–because “F” can apply to so many things just now.

F is for February–a brand-new month! And it just happens to be Groundhog Day. Or Imbolc, Candlemas, Whatever You Prefer to Call It.

F is for Finished. Namely, the edits for A Song at Twilight, my October 2013 release, which I turned into my editor a little over a week ago. Revising is a task fraught with peril, but I do feel that the book as a whole is stronger now, especially the early part.

It’s a strange sensation to have that off my hands at last–liberating and lonely at once, as my mental attic is currently unoccupied. But new tenants are about to move in. Which leads me to . . .

F is for Family–specifically of the fictional persuasion. Two imaginary clans are now competing for my attention, insisting that their stories be told. I’ll be sure to let you know who wins out!

F is for Free. I spent this past week on call for jury duty–always a bit of a nuisance because you must check in every day to see if you’re needed, so it’s impossible to plan anything more than 12 hours in advance. Fortunately, my services were not required this time.

F is for Fun. I’d like to have some soon, which brings me to . . .

F is for Fred Astaire/Flying Down to Rio. One of the Christmas presents I enjoyed most was a DVD collection of Astaire/Rogers films. By this time, I’ve rewatched several of them. And while Swing Time remains my favorite, I got a kick out of watching “the good parts” version of their first film Flying Down to Rio (1933).

Fred and Ginger are humble supporting players here, billed fourth and fifth (and Ginger comes before Fred for the only time in their collaboration), but they run away with the film, stealing it from purported leads Gene Raymond and Dolores Del Rio. (Del Rio is at least decorative, but Raymond is one of the most lumpen, unappealing leading men I’ve ever watched, and his character–a dilettante composer whose eye for the ladies frequently costs his band paying gigs–is annoying too). Fred plays “Fred Ayres” (real stretch in the names department, there!), the one who really runs the band while best pal Roger (Raymond) chases all the wrong skirts, including Brazilian beauty Belinha (Del Rio). Ginger is “Honey Hayle,” the band’s pert lead singer, who may or may not be Fred’s girlfriend. While they partner each other in a lively “Carioca,” they share no kisses (a fine romance, my friend, this is!), but are last seen getting happily sloshed together at the end of the film. Small wonder that audiences wanted more of these two!  So, while Flying Down to Rio is a mixed bag, any Fred-Ginger scenes in it are worth watching, as is the unapologetically over-the-top climactic number featuring chorus girls performing on the wings of airplanes.

So that, in a nutshell, is how I’ve been spending the last five or six weeks. Revising, creating, waiting, and watching. Now that things have calmed down, I hope to be around on this blog a bit more often.

See you around!