Last weekend I spent a bit of time set-up to sell at the annual film festival, Cinecon. I have been hitting the Cinecon dealer rooms for well over a decade, so it was exciting to be participant. I lost count of the number of people who came up to my table to thank me for taking the time to write about Ann Dvorak and I even managed to sell a few books. My daughter joined me on Sunday and was doing free Ann Dvorak sketches for anyone who wanted, so if you weren’t there, you really missed out!

My deep desire is to one day find that poster or lobby card from The Strange Love of Molly Louvain at Cinecon. Looks like that will have to wait until next year since I only walked away with stills from Crooner and Racing Lady, along with a jumbo window card from a Carole Lombard film, just because the price was right.

And now for something completely different –

Ever since Ann Dvorak: Hollywood’s Forgotten Rebel was released, I have been asked what’s next. While I am still undecided about tackling another biography, I have been doing some writing the last few months and have even been getting paid for it. Next week, the first finished product of my recent labors will be released which is…My Little Pony comic books!

That’s right, I’ve gone from Ann Dvorak to Twilight Sparkle. In a bizarre twist, my daughter obsessively watching episodes of My Little Pony has translated into my writing multiple issues of the comic series from IDW Publishing. My first issue issue features Granny Smith and those troublesome Flim Flam Brothers and is coming out on September 10th. Tony Fleecs is a longtime friend of mine and my husband’s and both of us will be at Collector’s Paradise in Pasadena on Wednesday for a release party. I can’t say I ever expected to be doing this, but I have been having a great time writing about Ponies and my daughter is very impressed.

Lastly, for those of you who fell under the spell of former Disney engineer Herman Schultheis when I mentioned him here last year, I’ll be doing a program at the library with Schultheis biographer and Disney historian John Canemaker on Thursday, September 11. Canemaker’s book, The Lost Notebook: Herman Schultheis & the Secrets of Walt Disney’s Movie Magic, which is partially a biography with the other part being an in-depth study of Schultheis’ extensive animation effects notebooks is fantastic. I am thrilled to be sharing a stage with him.

Between Ann Dvorak, Ponies, and Herman Schultheis, I like to think I’ve got a little something going for everyone.

See you around town!