February was a roller coaster month – many good things, several fairly awful things. And in my creative world, I wrestled with productivity and … well, most bluntly – getting up at 5 AM to write. It’s only towards the end of the month when I was finally through a head cold and recovered from an EPIC girls’ weekend* that I started getting up again at 5. And while I spend a lot of time worrying that I’m not writing enough, I remind myself that I’m writing more than I did a year ago. That’s going to have to be good enough for now.
Another wonderful thing happened in February: I went to a pair of locally produced musicals. Watching LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS was a hoot because that was the show that my high school performed my senior year. Annnd, I was in it. My friends and I also saw HEDWIG & THE ANGRY INCH. Given the upheaval in the LGBTQ+ world, I was moved to tears at the end. It was visceral and I am amazed that this show is still controversial some 30+ years after it was originally workshopped?
Here’s what’s interesting in my universe:
Sofia Coppola’s PRISCILLA was one of my favorite movies of 2023. I went with my best friend Anne and we both were gobsmacked by it. I enjoyed the heck out of this profile by The New Yorker about Coppola (the younger’s) overall filmmaking aesthetic and the path that basically got her here. (The New Yorker [might run into a paywall – ope!] Also, I just discovered that PRISCILLA is streaming on MAX.)
R.E.M’s song Nightswimming was released in 1992 as part of the band’s album “Automatic for the People.” And in typical Midwestern form, it seemed to gain traction a few years later and became a huge part of my high school soundtrack. (But maybe that’s because of one of my dearest friends, Rob—I remember listening to this CD in his car and this song makes me think of him.) Anyway – this Substack entry was a beautiful meditation on one of my favorite songs. (Substack)
I came of age right around the time that TITANIC hit the theaters. (I will not disclose how many times I went to see it in the theater, but will admit I ugly cried every time I got to the end.) So I literally hit young womanhood right when Kate Winslet was making the rounds at award shows and in magazine spreads. And I’ll be honest – how amazingly lucky was I to have such a person as a cultural touchstone? (Winslet’s a few years older, so she gets to be my big sister in the universe.) Anyway – this piece was fantastic and sincerely – when my current WIP gets published, you can imagine Winslet as the lead character. (Net-a-Porter)
I am low-key obsessed with this song by boygenius. And I probably amuse the crossing guards at my kid’s school as I’m blasting it on my way home from school drop off. (YouTube)
Monthly minutia:
Here’s what February looked like by the numbers in my creative world:
8,650 – written on novel
1,140 – written on other projects (this month, my output was limited to my blog)
February was the month where I watched ALL THE THINGS.
I am a movie fan, full stop. I like watching TV, but I don’t make a concerted effort to keep up with “much see TV”, etc. But in February, I got together with some fantastic friends, we crashed in a house, and spent an entire weekend in our pajamas. We read books and we watched TV.
Out of all of the films we watched, NYAD was probably my favorite. Based on a true story, both Annette Bening and Jodie Foster were just … wow.
And speaking of movies, no one told me that this SpongeBob movie was a Keanu Reeves movie.
Also – in the interest of Jodie Foster and because I’ve heard about it forever, I’m finally jumping on the True Detective bandwagon. I am only 2 episodes in on the first season and it’s good storytelling.
Books read:
Clouded Waters by Dianna Hunter—I just so very much enjoyed this story. I enjoyed the representation of the protagonist (older, queer) and the story is so very relevant to what is going on up in Northern Minnesota—the struggle between protecting the waters from the allure and money of mining.
The Windsor Knot by S.J. Bennett—I’m not sure how I came across this one. I think someone recommended it and I have now found a new book series to enjoy. In this one, the amateur sleuth is none other than her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth. At first, I was a little “meh,” but this one ended up being an absolute delight.
The Stranger in the Woods by Michael Finkel—I don’t know what it is about my DNA, but every once in awhile I find myself thinking that the idea of just up and getting lost in the woods (on purpose) sounds divine. Well, Chris Knight did that—for 25+ years before he got caught. This book is a really interesting dive into the story of the “last hermit” in America, what prompted him to seek such solace, and what happens when you get booted out of Utopia.
Notes on a Silencing by Lacy Crawford—This was a good book, but it was infuriating to read. The nut of it is that when the author was 15 and at a prestigious private school, she was sexually assaulted by two upperclassmen. Annnnnd, when her parents finally went to report it to the school, school administrators successfully silenced her by threatening to ruin her reputation. It was an absolute heartbreak to read, but there is a cold comfort of some justice meted out at the end of her tale.
The best thing about being a writer is having writer friends. While you see the list of books that I have listed above, I also have access to books that you haven’t even DISCOVERED yet. Sometimes because they’re in the process of publication and sometimes because they are in the generative stages of progress. I am beta reading a book for a friend and I got my hands on an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) that I cannot wait to dive into.
So until we meet again … onward and upward, friends.
– Shelley
*To be clear about the girls’ weekend: I was hanging out with a bunch of my fellow mom friends. Kim’s folks winter somewhere warmer than Minnesota, so we take over her parents’ house for a weekend—eat enough sugar to stun a hippo, read our books, drink *some* wine, but really – it’s very tame. I just apparently cannot stay up past 11 without a week’s worth of consequences.
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What is First Friday? This started originally as “Friday Fare” where I posted a hodgepodge of links and some of the things that were living rent-free in my noggin. This is a monthly version of that.
michellekubitz 