For those in the Pittsburgh area, I’ll be speaking on April 12 at the Plum Borough Community Library. I’ll be discussing the heroines of pre-code films, those films made between 1930-1934, before the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code that dictated what could be shown onscreen. These films are sexy, funny, raucus, and often celebrate women behaving badly. Come to learn about the Hays Code and how Martin Quigley spoiled all the fun. We’ll celebrate such pre-code stars as Barbara Stanwyck, Jean Harlow, and Mae West.
Want a primer on pre-code heroines? Check out Natasha Lyonne’s article for Criterion here.
You’ll have a good time and leave with a list of films you’ll want to watch, many of which you can check out from the Carnegie Library system for free.
Hope to see you there!
*The event is free, but please register here if you plan on attending.
Thank you all for making 2021 a record year for this blog in terms of visitors and views. Wishing you health and happiness and a trail of footprints in 2022.
Exactly five years ago today, I hung my shingle out on the internet. Over the past five years, I’ve blogged with varying amounts of regularity, shooting for at least a post a week.
When I started, I wasn’t sure how long the blog would last, but I had an idea that I would take to it. For while it’s been five years of blogging, I’ve spent most of my life putting words on paper.
The earliest notebook in the photograph above is a diary I started on Christmas Day, 1990, at nine years old. I’m a sporadic diary keeper at best, and most of the paper in the stack are novels and short stories. The diaries are mainly commonplace books where I collect quotes and ideas. This blog has become the record of my daily life.
Over the past five years, I’ve written 160,000 words across over 700 posts.
To take a quick trip down memory lane, here are links to some of the highest viewed posts in the blog’s history.
Lacey Chabert is the Tom Brady of Hallmark movies, which aren’t that different from watching a football game. A personal favorite, and an opinion I still stand by.
If you thought Bette Davis and Joan Crawford were rivals, you should’ve seen Bette and Miriam Hopkins. They did all but pull one another’s hair onset. Actually, they probably did that too.
And the most viewed post in the five-year history of this blog?
Even in a bad wig, never bet against Barbara Stanwyck.
Time is the most precious thing we have. I appreciate you giving me some of yours. Hidden diaries have their uses, but writers need readers to complete the circle of creative life.
Blinker is here to tell you that moving forward, the weekly blog post will move from Sunday mornings to Friday mornings. We hope it’ll kick your weekend off with a bang!
Today, Melanie and the other 2016 Golden Heart Nominees in the Romantic Suspense category are featured on the “Kiss and Thrill” blog. Melanie talks about the inspiration for “Ruby Red.” You can find the conversation with Melanie and her fellow nominees here.
For more information on the Golden Heart, click here.
Today, Melanie is guest blogging on the Ruby Slippered Sisterhood blog.
The Rubies are the class of 2009 Golden Heart finalists. They are a group of talented writers who blog together. They’ve graciously invited the 2016 Golden Heart nominees to come and play in their playground.
Melanie’s latest novel, Ruby Red, was named a finalist in the 2016 Romance Writers of America’s® Golden Heart® Contest in the romantic suspense category.
The Golden Heart® award acknowledges excellence for unpublished romance fiction manuscripts.
Winners will be announced on July 16 at the Romance Writers of America’s® Annual Conference in San Diego.
