. . .sidling shyly in the doorway, pausing to pretend to admire the decor. When really I’m just vetting out the room, getting a handle on the dress code, the temperature, taking a measure of the ol’ joie-de-vivre. In short, this is my first time here. And I’m not sure what to say, other than that you look fabulous (love the hair)–and most of all that I’m a little nervous here. Am wishing this really were a cocktail party, because there might be crab-puffs. Don’t get between me and the crab-puffs.
See, it’s not that I haven’t blogged before–because I have.
Of course I have. It just wasn’t like this (it wasn’t with you!). It was one of those early 21st century scenarios, when Bling was the Thing and the Housing Market floated gaily overhead, blocking out the light of dawning reality. Anonymous. No names, only the sharing of information–movies I’d seen, observations. Even, God help me, a few bouts of righteous rhetoric. It was, after all, the– er– Bush Years. Just a swift movement of my fingertips and a fevered pressing of the “Publish” button. The next morning I’d wake up groggy, find my ankle wrapped in a USB cord and my pupils starry with pixellation, and realize I’d blogged again, dammit.
But now I’m back. And in the open. With a song in my heart and a 100,000 word manuscript burning a hole in my agent’s computer! You should read it–it’s fabulous. She’s fabulous. We all are, on this spinning sauce-dish of a planet. Shall we sit down? No, you first. Let me wipe that seat off for you–someone spilled gravy on it. There you are. Let’s hope that was gravy.
Well, this blog will be about the novel I’ve written, MISTAKEN NONENTITY, about the novel I am writing, THE TAME MAN, and will of course include references to my grand obsession, Hollywood Movies of the Golden Age. And perhaps a bit about NYC and my life as the Yoda of Thrift Shopping. But more about cinema: Basically, if Stanwyck was still in Hollywood, I’ll see the movie. Or I’ve already seen it, and will, with zest & glad pomposity tell you all about it!
You can read excerpts from my book at the links above, and a pitch for the novel there, too. If you’re an editor, ask to see it! If you’re a publisher, please buy it! Also you can read about me in the “About” section, and engage in some profoundly serious Q&A. I’ll be coming back here a few times a week to see how you’re doing, and I hope you will follow this blog. Also, I have to recommend the greatest blog I’ve found on the golden age of Hollywood–The Self-Styled Siren. She’s a Joan Fontaine Woman, and I’m clearly a Barbara Stanwyck Dame (I think we all know who’d win in that catfight)–but she’s also one of the best, funniest, and most insightful writers on women in Hollywood this side of Jeanine Basinger. Seriously, love.
And I love you, my poppets. This could be the start of a beautiful friendship. Sorry about that gravy stain.
xxd
Dana Dunbaugh Burnell 